Best-kept secret of California fires
Heroic prisoners saved lives
'We save million-dollar homes for a dollar an hour'
By Preston Wood
Los Angeles
The raging wildfires that devastated Southern
California for more than 10 days have finally subsided. A line
of fire that extended from San Diego to Ventura County is under
control. A break in the weather that brought rain and snow to
the affected areas helped quell the deadly flames.
Who are the great unsung heroes who risked their lives to
save homes and the lives of others? They are prisoner fire
fighters. And they earned just $1 an hour putting their lives
on the line.
"We save million-dollar homes for a dollar an hour," said
Ricky Frank, a fire fighter who is also a prisoner. (Associated
Press, Nov. 3)
More than half of the state's 3,800 full-time wildfire
fighters are prisoners. "We wouldn't be half the fire
department we are now without them," said Karen Terill,
forestry department spokesperson. "I could tell you stories
that would bring tears to your eyes. These inmates, making a
buck-an-hour, formed a human chain to get people down the hill.
After all were safe, the hillside erupted in flame."
The 2,150 prisoners, who were jailed for non-violent
offenses like drug possession and theft, also helped many
homeowners save their prized possessions from burning buildings
about to collapse.
The fires left 20 dead, destroyed more than 690,000 acres
and left thousands homeless. Many people have fallen ill of
smoke-related respiratory problems. The long-term effects of
the fires on the environment and eco-systems of Southern
California are still unknown, but are of great concern.
The deadly billows of smoke that blanketed Southern
California have unleashed tons of pollutants into the
atmosphere. Tons of copper, lead and zinc particles, plus
pesticides, will eventually settle into the rivers, streams and
the ocean, harming aquatic life and filtering gradually into
the food chain. "Aside from the obvious effect on everyone's
breathing, these toxic compounds fall out of the sky, wash down
and affect aquatic life," said Keith D. Stozenbach, a UCLA
professor of civil and environmental engineering. (Los Angeles
Times, Nov. 2)
While fires are inevitable in the dry brush landscapes of
Southern California, such loss of life and property could have
been prevented.
As with every natural disaster, it is the people who suffer
the consequences when corporate greed overrides public safety
and security.
President George W. Bush has been pursuing legislation to
help the timber companies reach deeper into public lands to
steal from the rich publicly-owned forests in the Pacific
Northwest. At the same time, the huge fire danger in Southern
California has been virtually ignored.
Of the $53 million spent by the federal government for fire
protection in 2003, only $4 million went to the affected areas
of Southern California. Of the 150,000 acres that the
California Forestry and Fire Protection agency recommends
burning out in pre-emptive fires, funds were available for only
about 30,000 this year.
Months ago, the U.S. Forest Service ranked the current burn
areas in Southern California as the most hazardous in the
country. At the same time, various California state agencies
went to Congress asking for $120 million to finance the removal
of dry brush and grasses, as well as dead pine trees destroyed
by a massive infestation of bark beetles. These pleas were
ignored by Congress, which was too busy approving Bush's war
plans for Iraq.
Now, instead of rushing to meet the needs of thousands who
have lost their homes, the Bush administration, with the full
backing of multi-millionaire Demo cratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein,
is using the tragedy to promote his so-called Healthy Forests
legislation.
This latest cynical exercise, which amounts to a giveaway of
rich timber lands in the Pacific Northwest, does nothing to
promote fire safety in Southern California. Peter Galvin of the
Center for Biological Diversity described proponents of the
legislation as utterly shameless for exploiting the fire
tragedy. Jay Watson of the Wild er ness Society said, "It's
searing in its ruthlessness and irresponsibility. The Healthy
Forests initiative would have nothing to do with chaparral
fires in South ern Cali fornia, because no money is being made
available to treat that or do brush removal near threatened
communities." (Los Angeles Times, Oct. 29)
The fires have subsided, for now. While those whose economic
policies allowed this disaster to happen are still in power,
the prisoner fire fighters have been locked back in their
cells.
Those who have lost their homes and every thing in them are
now staring at a Kafka-like bureaucratic nightmare created by
insu rance conglomerates that will do all they can to avoid
paying out compensation.
Reprinted from the Nov. 13, 2003, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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