Dick Johnson

The simple one size fits all answer to the complex problem is bound to fail. with "spotting" proven to advance the fire more than a mile, a buffer will not significantly halt the spread of the fire. A change in the type of fuel of 30-100 feet as advocated by the NFPA is but one portion of an answer. As "Headwaters Economics" of Montana has shown. the additional cost of making new structures "fire proof" within the threatened areas solves many of the additional problems. Having a structure that is not adding fuel to the fire and reduces the need for first responders to concentrate their efforts on this problem and allows them to concentrate on stopping the fire. Modifying structure already in place costs more and I believe that it will require another answer by society.

I began assisting with LODD investigations with the "Loop"fire, and continued through another 10. Don't ever ass-u-me that you know the answers to these horrendous events until the investigation is completed and published! To do so only shows YOUR ignorance and lack of experience and a desire to puff up your ego at the expense of our brothers who gave it all. Mistakes where probably made, rarely by an individual, but usually by a series of events that accumulated into this tragedy. We have all made these errors and live to pass on our mistakes to others so that we may reduce the chances, but we won't eliminate, the reoccurance of this particle loss. Honor our brothers by learning from them and not diminishing them.