And when, Dr Swickard, did we morph from a small government, budget slash-to-the-bone conservative to a Clear-beetle-killed-trees-from-the-forest-like-it-was-your-front-yard Bleeding Heart Lib? 

  Maybe a few billion in Obama stimulous money  should have been used to send crews all over the Southwest to prune the millions of dying trees?  I’m sure the taxpayers would love that.  
   I’d rather have rebuilt bridges and highways,  Head Start and community health programs, thanks.

  A significant factor in the volatility of wildfires in our forests is that natural fires have not been allowed to burn (put out as soon as they start) as nature intends.  Underbrush and deadfalls accumulate and add greatly to the fuel available for wildfires.  The beetle trees just add to what’s already been accumulating for many years, so we get conflagrations like New Mexico has seen this month.  Maybe the Feds should rake the Gila wilderness and the forest at Ruidoso….keep it nice and tidy…. there must be money somewhere for that, though Congressman Pearce hasn’t told us how much he’ll be asking for  in appropriations.

   The fires are a costly tragedy, but are part of a natural process.  This doesn’t help the poor folks who’ve lost their home or vacation cabin, but it does explain the reality of the situation.  If you build a home in fire prone areas. you might get burned out.
  If you build on  barrier islands in North Carolina, your cottage might get washed away in Hurricane Michael.  You pay your money, ignore known hazards, and you take your chances.  And you thank God the Feds and our taxes are there to rescue your family and try to save your property.  
  Gee….I’m starting to sound like a radio talk show libertarian.         

  I believe these are the transcripts mentioned.  http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5374638.pdf
 

  I’d like to see the transcripts which officials have released.  Heath, can you locate the actual transcripts? Here is the closest I can get:  http://lubbockonline.com/filed-online/2012-06-16/ruidoso-fire-little-bear-fire-response-nm-questioned#.T935WZg8VIE

I really don’t know what to think about this issue, but with all the diametrically opposed opinions and “facts”, it is not surprising so many politicians are into this discussion instead of technical experts.  Politicians are more comfortable of course, dealing with opinions and perceptions, sad.

“Remember: The Forest Service tried to do a controlled burn in May of 2000, against the advice of locals, which jumped the fire lines and, before it was done, over 400 families in the Los Alamos community lost their homes”
Evidently Mr. Swickard himself doesn’t “remember”…it wasn’t the Forest Service that started Cerro Grande in May of 2000 it was the NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, BANDILIER NATIONAL MONUMENT (DEPT. OF THE INTERIOR)!!

Governor Martinez said it best about rumor-mongers like Congressman Pearce and Mr. Swickard: “A great deal of misinformation had made its way throughout the community, and that needed to stop.” Mr. Swickard – learn the facts!
“I back what Gov. Martinez said, we need to stop the rumors,” Ruidoso Police Chief Joe Magill said. “If you don’t know the facts, don’t spread it.”
Here is the article:
http://www.ruidosonews.com/ruidoso-breaking_news/ci_20849405/officials-move-quash-little-bear-fire-rumors

I guess I missed the part where MS and Mr. Pearce advocated for more tax money so the USFS could thin out millions on diseased trees in the West which has been a problem for the last couple of decades.  What would the story line be if resources were pulled off the Whitewater Baldy to fight the Little Bear fire and more private homes in the Gila had burned while none were at the point threatened by the Little Bear fire?  

You want less taxes and smaller government you have fewer resources in times like these.

MS, has it occurred to you that the firefighters are still out fighting fires?  They don’t have time to write a detailed answer to your uninformed questions.  YOU do some research.  How many gallons of water does the helicopter carry, fully loaded?  How much does it weigh?  Water weighs 8.35 pounds per gallon, so a thousand gallons, which is probably the minimum that would be needed to put out the fire, weighs 8,350 pounds, or over 4 tons. 

You state “I did ask a family relative who flies helicopters about a service ceiling of 10,000 feet and he said that the tech manuals show a much higher ceiling.”

Go back and ask your relative again, with the correct information on the weight of the water involved.  What is safe with no load may well not be safe with a full load of water.  Don’t forget to research what the wind velocity was at 10,000 feet during those days.  

Let us look at the fire issues in our New Mexico forests from another angle. In May 2000, the Forest Service was going to do a controlled burn year connected to the Bandelier National Monument plan upwind of Los Alamos. People on the ground pleaded with them to not do so in such a dry time. The summer rains had not come. It was to no avail. The citizens were told that the experts said there was no harm. Somewhere around 400 families lost their homes.
 
But that was twelve years ago so maybe the lesson was lost or forgotten.
 
This spring a small plane on the way back from Las Vegas, Nevada flew over the Gila and noticed smoke coming from below. According to FAA regulations, the pilot circled and took photos which were sent to the FAA along with exact coordinates of the fire. At this point a fire-fighting aircraft with a few loads of slurry probably would have extinguished the fire. Either nothing was done or there was a great delay. We all know the outcome in the Gila which turned into the largest fire in New Mexico history. Perhaps the experts were just unlucky and we should not smack them around, mistakes can happen.
 
However, on the heels of the largest fire in New Mexico history which could have been prevented, it is fair to assume fire officials would be very cautious with how dry New Mexico is currently. It is reasonable to assume that the experts would have redoubled all efforts to protect the tinder dry forests. It is reasonable to assume all small fires would be taken seriously and there would not be any talk of “controlled burns” at this point.
 
Making the Forest Service even more cautious should have been two conditions: the last couple of years have been very dry in Southern New Mexico. Secondly, the keepers of the forest, for reasons that I do not understand, allowed large infestations of beetles to have a devastating effect upon the forests west of Ruidoso. The dead trees were left standing, dead, dry and one spark away from being a tinderbox. Someone made the decision to leave diseased and dead trees in the living forest where the diseased trees could continue infecting healthy trees and the dead trees would provide a fire ladder into the crowns of the trees thus allowing a catastrophic fire.
 
It would seem we have not gotten the best effort of the administrators.
 
The Forest Service asks that we not criticize them before we understand everything about these fires. Others have joined that call saying the Forest Service has a tough job to do and any criticism is harmful to their efforts. I have been told any criticism of the Forest Service is the same as speaking ill of the first responders who died in the September 11 attacks. I have been told that any questioning of the fire officials is a direct and heinous attack on all fire personnel everywhere. Know this: I do not question the actions of the fire crews; my entire concern is with the administration.
 
My column showed the frustration that citizens have when bad things happen that we suspect did not have to happen. My family ranch is in Lincoln County. I owned the Lincoln County News, the weekly newspaper for three years, and have many friends who are in the middle of this crisis. I feel their pain.
 
In New Mexico we have lost previously, but did we also lose the lesson. Who let the forests be full of dead and dying trees? Who did not foresee the danger in the Gila and Ruidoso one year after the devastating fires in Arizona and New Mexico?
 
I hesitate to speak to the how of dealing with fires; however, I am concerned by the statement that helicopters could not bring water to the Little Bear Ruidoso fire because of the altitude. Is that the same reason for the Gila fire also not being addressed when it was so small, eh? I did ask a family relative who flies helicopters about a service ceiling of 10,000 feet and he said that the tech manuals show a much higher ceiling. But that is the call on the pilots. I was told that the decision to deal with the fire was made in the administrative unit, not the tactical unit. The story about this says the pilots said they could not fly. I heard from someone that they were told not to fly. Which story is true? I do not know. Show me the paper trail and I will be glad to admit I am wrong. Still, there were three days where the fire could have been put out while it was still small. Who let these three days go by? These are reasonable questions that do not take away from the efforts to deal with the fire. Don’t want to address them now? OK, when?
 
Finally, did the officials get the lesson? Are they going to let little fires turn into big fires again?