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| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
| FBI: al-Qaeda detainee spoke of fire plot |
| 2007-10-25 |
| The FBI alerted law enforcement agencies last month that an al-Qaeda terrorist now in detention had talked of masterminding a plot to set a series of devastating forest fires around the western United States. Rose Davis, a spokeswoman for the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, told The Associated Press that officials there took note of the warning but didn't see a need to act further on it. The contents of the June 25 memo from the FBI's Denver office were reported Friday by The Arizona Republic. Davis declined to share a copy of the memo and an FBI spokeswoman in Denver didn't immediately return a telephone call. The Republic reported that the detainee, who was not identified, said the plan involved three or four people setting wildfires using timed devices in Colorado, Montana, Utah and Wyoming that would detonate in forests and grasslands after the operatives had left the country. The memo noted that investigators couldn't determine whether the detainee was telling the truth. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #8 Few links, but I read elsewhere today that Congress years ago authorized upgrades to military C-130's to be outfitted for new tanks to fight fires. The number of mods performed so far has been less than authorized. Peterson AFB news release mentioned the C130's from there were ordered into action Tuesday morning, seems rather late to me. Also read that CA state regulations mandated "fire spotters" on each military plane used to fight fires. Some of the mobilized fire spotters didn't show up for the first 24 hours while the mil crews waited, and the fires spread. No need to have terrorists when you have bureaucracies and human inertia. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2007-10-25 23:00 |
| #7 that one that lost both wings was in the Sierras at Walker, CA between Bridgeport and Topaz Lake - there's a memorial on the east side of 395, just past the great burger/BBQ place.... |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-10-25 19:01 |
| #6 The 302nd Reserve Airlift Wing here at Peterson AFB has three aircraft that convert readily to aerial slurry bombers, and are currently flying to help fight the California fires. IIRC, there are eight other squadrons/wings that have similar equipment. It costs $250,000 each for the kits, takes about 18 hours to insert, and the aircraft cost about $7000/hour to fly. The C-130 is a superb aircraft to fly these missions, as they were designed to fly into impossible terrain to support US troops in all kinds of combat. The one that came apart a couple of years ago had not received military levels of maintenance, and metal fatigue was overlooked. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2007-10-25 17:11 |
| #5 Red Dawg: agree about the need for more aircraft. majority of current aircraft are ex-military and are, at best a compromise for effectiveness. several platforms have been grounded by the FAA due to age / fatigue issues ( goggle up videos of a C-130 or C-119 ,can't remember, losing both wings during a fire run. crew had no choice but to ride the tube in) dedicated firebombers-like the CL-415T are excellent and as seaplanes can scoop from lakes, reducing turnaround. many kits exist for converting most current helicopters into fire bombers, and most of these have snorkels for sucking from any water source, even swimming pools. all that is needed is the political will to pony up the $$. these fires may be the catylyst for such action. |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2007-10-25 14:01 |
| #4 Red Dawg, you are right. Anybody who has lived in SoCal for any length of time could have told you last Sunday morning that there were going to be fires that day. Actually, it was as far back as last Thursday when they started predicting Santa Ana winds. With those hot, dry winds coming in from the desert and the bone dry conditions that we have as a result of several years of drought, it didn't take a genius to predict fire. Those planes and their crews should have been on standby and ready to go at a moment's notice. And, yes, I heard it on Channel 8 yesterday that officials estimate this fire to have cost at least $1 billion. The official death toll will likely be small but has yet to be announced. Two bodies were found in Poway this morning. As far as Al Qaeda, I haven't heard of any evidence linking them with the fires. It would be an easy way for them to strike at us because we have made ourselves so vulnerable. But we have had wild fires for a heckuva lot longer than we've had Al Qaeda and we have no shortage of local idiots who will start fires either deliberately or through sheer stupidity. Last year they caught some guy who started a devastating fire up near Banner and they threw the book at him. He was a local firebug, a very sick individual, but a local. As I recall, he was charged with murder because people died in that fire. The guy who started the Cedar Fire in 2003 was a hunter who got lost and started a fire to keep warm after it got dark. The fire got away from him because of the wind. He was just felony stupid. Yes, Al Qaeda could easily take advantage of this but it's really just a part of the Southern California lifestyle. |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque6305 2007-10-25 13:01 |
| #3 The Japanese has similar plans in the day. It's a low risk, low cost, way to cause all sorts of confusion. I'm amazed the bad guys haven't tried to take credit already. Leads me to beleave they weren't involved and in fact are hiding in really deep holes right now. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2007-10-25 11:53 |
| #2 In this particular case, we need to take fire prevention all the way back to its overseas source. I keep wondering exactly what it's going to take for Americans to finally realize just how evil Islam truly is. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-10-25 02:12 |
| #1 The West needs a significant increase of large fire retardant capable aircraft, hangers, aircraft engineers, mechanics and standing flight crews that can jump all over these fires when they are small... especially under dry summer conditions, windy areas and areas prone to arson. Expensive as hell up front yes but these assets will save billions later in damages and dislocation of US CITIZENS.. Mother Nature causes way more fires than the sickos and terrorists. In addition we have tremendous fuel loads locked up in brush, grass and forests due to legacy anti-burn and anti clearing rules and laws. There's a smart way to do this which can improve habitat for people and for our fuzzy varmits. |
| Posted by: Red Dawg 2007-10-25 01:51 |