elder999
26th June 2003, 14:06
Well, this past weekend we had to prepare to evacuate because we were in the path of the Virgin Mesa forest fire, not an act of arson, but an incorrectly doused campfire. That fire burned itself out, after many air drop slurry runs and fighting the fire on theground at a cost of about $450,000 for three days. While it was burning, someone set two fires in the forest to the west of it. Those fires were quickly put out, but it was arson.
Yesterday, they extinguished a 400 some odd acre fire in Albuquerque’s bosque-the woods that girdle the Rio Grande river. This was also not arson, but set by someone’s firecracker. Just as that fire was under control, though, someone set the woods nearby on fire in several places, a deliberate act of arson that has resulted in a massive costly mobilization of firefighting assets, including the National Guard
Aside from the personal inconvenience-forest fires are one of the risks of living in the forest in New Mexico, though evacuating takes on a whole new meaning when it includes livestock.-I’m more than a little torqued that this is how someone gets their jollies. :mad:
I looked at all of this from an emergency management standpoint-the cost, the massive mobilization of resources,and the terror of those people who live in Albuquerque’s bosque, and I thought, geez, we could just substitute “act of terror” for “arson,” and “terrorist” for “someone” ( though the Friends of the Forest, or Forest Guardians or some other eco-terrorist or just a plain firebug are the likely candidates) and you see just how vulnerable we all can be, just to a guy with a book of matches, never mind a WMD.
Yesterday, they extinguished a 400 some odd acre fire in Albuquerque’s bosque-the woods that girdle the Rio Grande river. This was also not arson, but set by someone’s firecracker. Just as that fire was under control, though, someone set the woods nearby on fire in several places, a deliberate act of arson that has resulted in a massive costly mobilization of firefighting assets, including the National Guard
Aside from the personal inconvenience-forest fires are one of the risks of living in the forest in New Mexico, though evacuating takes on a whole new meaning when it includes livestock.-I’m more than a little torqued that this is how someone gets their jollies. :mad:
I looked at all of this from an emergency management standpoint-the cost, the massive mobilization of resources,and the terror of those people who live in Albuquerque’s bosque, and I thought, geez, we could just substitute “act of terror” for “arson,” and “terrorist” for “someone” ( though the Friends of the Forest, or Forest Guardians or some other eco-terrorist or just a plain firebug are the likely candidates) and you see just how vulnerable we all can be, just to a guy with a book of matches, never mind a WMD.