A very dear friend of mine's brother-in-law was one of the firefighters that was killed. Their family is devastated! Please pray for them and for all the families who are mourning today! :tears:
My husband flew with Tanker 21. He knew several of the HotShots and smoke jumpers. These guys when not dispatched to a fire somewhere in the country... bbq, nap, watch movies and dine together. I have been to AZ and Redding, CA and FL to fly in for anniversaries and such and met these great men on the Tanker bases. I am devastated and I am angry. The Air support was pulled off this fire because the present air tankers they have flying take days to set up, and cannot always load up on the normal sized tanker bases. This fire was NOT contained. These Hot Shots needed those planes in the air, marking the retardant line to protect them. They were gone, sent to another location and set up. The Aero Union planes my husband flew on as crew chief of 21, are sound, have/had the best safety record in the firefighting business but the Chief of the USFS wants to use military MAFFS so the govt can get/keep funds to fly them but they are not safe. In the time Aero Union planes have been grounded, a C130 crashed because of pilot error in the mountains where they cannot fly slow or low enough. The large DC 10 tankers almost crashed sucking up a tree in the same fashion.Minden, Neptune, have all lost tankers because of their airframe or lack of experience. The DC10 flew briefly on THIS fire but it cannot fly LOW and SLOW enough to drop sufficient retardant that makes it ALL the way down to the ground before it dissapates to supress and make a fire line so these Hot Shots can get out.
I have cried at the loss of life of the firefighters in Colorado, TX, citizens, the momma and her baby in TX. This has to stop. Those six p-3 airplanes need to be back in the air doing their jobs and keeping us and the firefighters safe. There is zero reason why they shouldn't be. The FAA says they are airworthy, safe and best in the USFS arsenal. There WILL be more killed if they don't. I am back on the phones tomorrow to the USFS, the WHITE HOUSE, whoever I can get to listen to me. These firefighters are family. They died needlessly, over politics.
My prayers to the family and friends of the fallen. They have lost the ones who were bravest and best.
It has been a very sad year for firefighters this year. And they aren't being lost one by one, we are losing whole companies.
Fireman’s Prayer
When I am called to duty, God
whenever flames may rage,
Give me the strength to save some life
Whatever be its age.
Help me to embrace a little child
Before it’s too late,
Or some older person
from the horror of that fate.
Enable me to be alert
And hear the weakest shout,
And quickly and efficiently
to put the fire out.
I want to fill my calling
and give the best in me,
To guard my neighbor
And protect his property.
And if according to Your will
I have to lose my life,
Please bless with Your protecting hand
My children and my wife
http://www.aspiringfirefighters.com/firemans-prayer.html
They lived it. Now their labors are over. May they rest in peace.
May God Bless their families.
ETA: And esp. God Bless their colleagues and their colleagues families. Their fellow firefighters will continue to step up to fight fires, even during their grief. And for every firefighter who goes on, there are mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, husbands, wives, children who sit at home in even more fear, and they pray a little harder.
