OP-ED....Rim Fire "Remote"?

   Every day since the Rim Fire was allowed to grow out of control by the USFS and CalFire joined the battle to try and save some of the Stanislaus National Forest and Yosemite, we have received notices or status reports from Daniel Berlant, spokesperson for Ken Pimlott, who is CalFire Chief over all of California CalFire.

   Even after we corrected their statements of the Rim Fire being "near" Yosemite National Park when it was well inside the Park, the statement continued.

   When we suggested that Mr. Pimlott learn the facts before making such statements, we received a "nasty" email from Berlant.

   Now Berlant is calling the Rim Fire "remote"!!  Well, it may seem remote to him living in the Sacramento area, but it is not "remote" to us who live in or near and love the Stanislaus National Forest and Yosemite National Park.

   It seems that the CalFire Chief's  are trying to minimize the fact that so much of our forest land, which the environmentalists say is absolutely vital to our future, affecting climate, water retention and a safe haven for the forest creatures, simply doesn't matter.

   And what about the $60 million of our tax dollars they are all spending to NOW try and stop the fire? I'm sure that doesn't bother them either.

   If they had called in the tanker planes the first day, the fire would never have exploded like it did. Is this the fault of Susan Skalski, who has now closed the Stanislaus National Forest as a result of the fire, or someone above her?

   Now both state and federal officials must accept the blame for what has happened! And where is the investigation into the cause.

   Since there was no lightning, it must be human caused. Why hasn't it been made public?

   Another disaster that the government wants to sweep under the rug (the trees, the bodies of the animals, the utter devastation of an eco-system.)

   Having once lived in a Redwood Forest, their line of bull that it takes fire to grow new Redwoods is also an absolute fallacy.

   Put these fires out immediately and save the forest and the animals and our tax dollars? Probably not likely to happen in our lifetime!