Letter from 30 Year Firefighting Veteran

  Dear Editor:

    I often wondered who was in charge when assigned to a campaign fire. We often felt like it was one big cluster.

       I have heard a lot of comments lately, and questions asking why was the Placer County fire
allowed to get so large, and are they letting it burn?

   Once I started working in management teams and saw what had to be done to organize the huge effort to fight a big fire like the Robbers Fire in Placer County, I got a better appreciation of things and realized that what looked stupid to the line fighter and the public, might be a necessity in the larger scheme of things.

   I admit there is still a lot of waste and dumb decisions made, especially by those who are not on the fire line or even in the base camp.

    A lot of political crap goes on at the very top during the fire season.
   We can only hope no one starts one in Calaveras County.

     A 30 year Firefighting Veteran.