Also, they're responsible for my aunt's gout.

[Robb]

Oy.

Are terrorists targeting forests? It’s why we need firefighting air force, state senator says

DENVER – As if 4 million acres of dead, standing timber and an ongoing drought weren’t enough to worry about as Colorado enters the wildfire season, a few Republican senators say it’s past time to prepare for terrorist attacks in the forests.

They’re making the argument to convince colleagues to pay for the state’s own fleet of aerial firefighting tankers. If terrorists ignited several fires at once, the small federal fleet would be overwhelmed, the state senators say.

(snip)

“We know for a fact that forest fires started in California were started by al-Qaida,” said Sen. Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch, during debate in the Senate on Wednesday.

However, California fire officials say it never happened.....

Read More: http://durangoherald.com/article/20130426/NEWS01/130429643/-1/News01/Are-terrorists-targeting-forests?-

I'm not sure the internets can provide a large enough facepalm.

[pinboy3niner]

1. So now they hate us for our trees?

[Robb]

3. It's where the eagles hang out, man!

[TDale313]

2. Oh FFS!

[JNelson6563]

4. More lunacy. It never ends.

[pacalo]

5. If we weren't in the Twilight Zone, that would raise suspicion for investigative journalists.

[Warren DeMontague]

6. It sort of makes sense.

Lots of oil comes from Saudi Arabia, and so does some of Al Qaeda.

Perhaps this is how we get the right wing to finally give a shit about global warming. It's a terra plot!

[Downwinder]

7. Arrest that man for giving terrorists material support.

Ideas.

[randome]

8. Oh! Oh! Me! I want to be the next Al-Quaida target! It's my turn!

[LondonReign2]

9. We know from St. Ronnie

that trees actually cause pollution, so maybe al-Quida is actually trying to curb global warming.

Right?

[newfie11]

10. These people must be on a bad trip. Nt

[Hekate]

11. The usual causes of wildfires are sufficient without dragging Al Quaeda into it

Campers who don't know enough to never have a campfire in the first place, careless smokers, weed-abatement equipment that strikes a spark, lightning, and of course the occasional firebugs who just like to watch it all burn.

People, the West is DRY.

State and county firefighting budgets are so stretched, though, that locally there was talk of giving up the airplane that we count on to dump fire-retardant chemicals and water alike. That would be insanity, imo.

Maybe this politician is thinking along those lines, and is hoping that he can tap into military money if he drags the Commies -- I mean, the terrorists -- into the discussion. Or maybe he is just a lying paranoid Republican.

In California there is a policy to pretty much let the back-country burn itself out, and protect inhabited areas. Colorado has its 4 million acres of dead timber -- SoCal does too. The forest will eventually regenerate in some fashion when the dead stuff is gone. It won't be the same, though, with drought and climate change.

[curlyred]

12. Oh, please. Republicans don't read the newspaper

[politicat]

13. Sorry that words came out of their mouths.

I guess if this is what they need to believe to get their vote for it, then we'll let them believe it. With that contingent of the State Lege, the typical response is "Cool story, bro," and back to work.

We actually do need dedicated air support for wild fires. Last year, while we had fires, so did Arizona, New Mexico, California and Utah. The AZ and NM fires might have been more quickly contained if there had been enough tankers to go around, but since ours was threatening a city (Fort Collins was 8-10 miles from the line) and the others were mostly out in BFE, ours became first priority. Having another tanker support available not only helps Colorado, but the rest of the West, because we have interstate agreements for aid in place.

It's $17M to buy the tankers and $3-5M per year. Not cheap, but we do have a brazillion over-grown acres of dead and dying trees waiting to become smoke. We can either bulldoze (which doesn't kill the beetles that are the root cause), controlled burn, or uncontrolled burn. That middle option is best, and best handled if we have some gorram air support.