Archive for June 6, 2013
2013 EXTREME Fire Danger Note to Public 6.6.2013
by Arlene Perea and Karen Takai, Fire Information Officers, Mountainair and Sandia Ranger Districts
Attention Fire Information List,
As most of you know by now, the Mountainair and Sandia Ranger Districts are going into closures this Monday, June 10, 2013. As we ratchet up safety issues please be extra cautious with prevention around your home. Have a plan and be ready to go at a moment’s notice.
This is a different climate we are in now. We know the Sandia area has never seen catastrophic fires in the last 100 years but the landscape has changed and we need to change with it. The Manzano and Gallinas Mountains have seen their fair share of catastrophic fire in the last 10 years. Even our firefighters over the last 10 years have had to adjust how they fight fire. It’s a different world. Be Ready and Have a plan!
FYI – The Mountainair and Sandia Ranger Districts currently have additional resources being staged on the districts to assist with prevention and fire suppression. Current resources based upon Wednesdays schedule includes 9 engines, 1 hotshot crew, 3 lookouts in the lookout towers, 2 Fire Information Officers and 1 Prevention Officer. We are staffed early and late hours, 7 days a week until we are out of the extreme fire danger. Our interagency partners City of Albuquerque, NM State, Bernalillo, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Valencia and Torrance County Fire could also assist and support our fire season as we do for them.
The system in place is quite interesting as to how we staff fire season across the nation. We are able to order extra supporting resources during our high/extreme fire season. The crews come from all over the nation dependent on their fire danger at the time. We in turn will go to their states during their fire season and support. The process allows us to have needed crews in the states most of the time. The issue that comes into play is when everyone is under the same high to extreme fire danger. There have been times when there is a competition for air tankers and then decisions get prioritized at a regional or national level as to who will get the resource first. Normally the situation is handled fairly and efficiently. If our national resources start to get depleted, we have the option to call on Canada and Australia for additional resources and there have been times when our fire personnel have traveled to these countries as well.
The availability of resources is constantly subject to change as fire situations throughout the region and nation change. All resources are national resources so they could be relocated at any time.
We have put this short note together with the hope that it has lessened some of the stress knowing that we are here and ready. Please help our fighters. Have a Plan and be ready at all times. Call us with any questions. Be Fire Safe!
But On Us, It Looks Good – Good And Boring
by John Weckerle
In a June 3 article titled “Stranger Than Fiction: Which It Appears To Be,” Sandia Tea Party official internet spokesman Chuck Ring denounces the Evangelical Immigration Table – a coalition of evangelical organizations seeking immigration reform – and its logistics partner, the National Immigration Forum, on the basis of a Breitbart.com (once the web site of the late serial liar Andrew Breitbart) article. Mr. Ring and the Breitbart writer, Mike Flynn, take issue with the fact that the coalition had announced a $250,000 ad buy as part of its efforts to support the immigration reform bill currently slogging its way around (note that we did not say “through”) Congress. The criticism is based on two premises: that the coalition “doesn’t legally exist as an incorporated entity or nonprofit organization,” and that the organization is not transparent with respect to its funding and activities to the point that Mr. Ring, speaking for the Sandia Tea Party, accuses the organization of “hiding its true agenda.”
Let’s deal with the legality of the group’s existence first. There is no legal requirement that coalitions or other groups of people exercising their First Amendment right to free speech (and, as legal precedent based on the First Amendment dictates, free association) be registered or recognized by government in any way, and there is no prohibition against such groups purchasing advertising. The Breitbart article states: “There are strict limitations on what (c)3’s (sic) and (c)4’s (sic) can undertake” (somewhat true, but these limits apply primarily to interference with elections and lobbying and can be fairly murky; see the IRS web site on exemption requirements for charitable organizations for more information) “and clear prohibitions on them coordinating on an issue campaign” (an absolute falsehood in the grand tradition of the site’s founder).
As far as transparency is concerned, those who have already clicked through to the two organizations in question will have seen what we did: both organizations list their leadership and/or key members, something that the Sandia Tea Party has neglected to do on their web site. Neither does the Sandia Tea Party publish the names of their contributors and the amounts of their donations. We challenge them to do both. On our own, we can’t gather much information about the latter, but a little research has provided us with some information regarding the Sandia Tea Party, its officers, and its (at least as far as we can find out) “nonexistent” status as a Federally recognized tax-exempt organization.
Crime Alert
by John Weckerle
Yesterday afternoon, the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department received a call from a concerned citizen reporting that the alarm at a neighbor’s home on Mountain Valley Road had gone off. According to the Department, the attempt to gain entry was aborted when the alarm went off. The suspects are described as “three juveniles, Hispanic.” The Department indicated that “It was unknown if the driver of the get away car was an adult or not.” The the neighbor described the vehicle as “a mid-90s Ford Explorer with faded green paint.” Citizens who have information regarding this incident should contact the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department. The release we received was signed by Lieutenant Broderick Sharp, Watch III North/East Commander, phone 468-7441.