The president of the National Air Firefighters Association, which is sending about 200 pilots to Southern California to fight ongoing massive wildfires, told Fox News Digital that the scale of the fires is “completely demoralizing. '', he said, and it is becoming the worst scale in the United States. National history.
“What we're seeing, especially in the United States and around the world, is that there's no longer a fire season, there are fires all year round,” Paul Petersen said Wednesday. . ”[This] “It could end up being one of the deadliest and most climate-damaging fires in U.S. history.”
Aviation firefighters, like airline pilots, are limited to eight hours in the air. But Petersen said they work 24 hours a day. He said pilots wear night vision goggles at night. The location of the flames is communicated to firefighters on the ground from above, and water and flame retardant are sprayed from above.
Among the aircraft the association supplies are helicopters such as the Blackhawks and ACH 47 Chinook, and air tankers that can carry thousands of gallons of water, such as the Grumman S-2T and Lockheed C-130H planes. They also “Scooper” airplane, According to Cal Fire, it “captures water from oceans, lakes, and reservoirs and can either drop it as regular water or mix it with anti-foaming agents.”
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A plane descends amidst smoke from the Palisades Fire in Mandeville Canyon in Los Angeles, California, USA on January 11, 2025. (Reuters/Carlos Barria)
These planes will join a huge fleet trying to put out the fires in Southern California. Cal Fire currently has more than 60 planes and helicopters in its fire department. Cal Fire also counts three King Air A200 twin-turboprop aircraft among its “tactical aviation aircraft.” The Air National Guard is flying a C-130 Hercules aircraft “equipped with a modular aerial firefighting system” to the Los Angeles area, where it conducts missions.
“I’ve only seen pictures and I’ve talked to the fire chief who’s there. [are] “We need to make sure that the devastation is worse than what you see on TV, worse than you can imagine,” he continued, “and from a firefighter's perspective, firefighters are there to solve the problem. “It just completely demoralizes the firefighter people because they're there to solve problems,” he continued on his worst day. And no matter how much you try to solve the problem, you can't. ”
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As of Wednesday, more than 40,000 acres and more than 12,300 homes had burned across the state between the Palisades, Eaton, Hearst and motor vehicle fires, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The Palisades Fire, which has burned more than 23,000 acres in the Los Angeles area, is only 19% contained, the agency said.
“When you say 13,000 homes were lost, you know a lot of firefighters are angry because they didn't have the resources to do it,” Petersen said. .
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On Monday, January 13, 2025, a mural by Sergei Statsenko, who also goes by the artist name Steek, thanked firefighters in the Venice Beach neighborhood of Los Angeles, where wildfires are raging. (AP Photo/Damien Dovarganes)
“There are several different components [this]As for why recent fires have been so devastating, Petersen said, “Fires occur when we have extreme weather and Santa Ana winds are blowing at 50, 60, 70, 80 miles per hour.'' …It’s happening so fast that people aren’t prepared for it.
“Communities that are not prepared for it, firefighters are surprised by this…When we start losing homes from house to house, block to block, we're just thinking, how can we stop this? ? And, you know, there's really nothing. “The Book of How to Stop a Fire.''
Fox News Digital previously reported that the department's budget was cut just weeks before the Palisades Fire broke out after the city's hydrants ran out of water while firefighters battled the blaze.
“If we don't increase funding for wildland fires, we're going to see this happen again and again,” Petersen said. ”[It’s] It recognizes that it is a year-round fire season, but also that it has the resources and funds to invest not only in fire suppression, but also in hazardous fuels and community strengthening. is also required. The United States needs to take seriously that we must do everything possible to protect our communities from wildfires. ”
California Department of Corrections members work on containment lines ahead of the Palisades Fire on Tuesday, January 14, 2025 in Santa Monica, California. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
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“There's a huge need to look at the local, state and federal level on how we actually start fighting, with shooting and suppression being a big part of it,” he continued. “We have to fight. We have to fight the fires that start. But we also have to do the fuel treatment, the logging, the grazing, the stripping of green space. We also have to deal with the fuel treatment, the logging, the grazing, the green stripping. We need incentives, too. All three.''You have to work all at once for that. ”
“It takes a tragedy for people to really wake up to this,” Petersen said. “And firefighters have been talking about this issue for 25 years.”
Two men were charged with felony arson this week in Los Angeles as authorities battled firefighters and looters amid the chaos. Petersen said it was highly unlikely that the fire started naturally by lightning or spontaneous combustion.
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A helicopter descends amidst smoke from the Palisades Fire in the Encino neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA, on January 11, 2025. (Reuters/Daniel Dreyfuss)
“I can probably say with 99% certainty that it wasn't lightning, it wasn't actually a natural beginning… [With] When lightning occurs, the weather usually improves or high clouds with cumulonimbus clouds form. Cumulonimbus clouds do not form in strong winds. [like the] Santa Ana winds…lightning is the number one culprit,” he said.
“So, is it arson, or is it carelessness on the part of the public, or is it the utility company? [it is likely a] “Man-made fires…wind is a natural phenomenon, fire is natural, but the cause of the fire is not natural,” he said.
