Nov. 21--Some Lincoln County officials are not excited about kicking in any money toward the price of stationing a single engine air tanker at Ruidoso's airport during wildfire season next year.
"I have a problem with anybody coming up with extra money," said County Commissioner Kathryn Minter Tuesday. "We pay enough to the feds and I really think we all need to be working together, the federal, the state the county and the village.
"I've made the observation that whenever we have a fire that goes off in the county, the closer it is to homes, the faster the response."
A call to the state Forestry Division results in aircraft being in the air within five minutes, she said, adding that the system works pretty well.
"I think the U.S. Forest Service is going to respond better next time," Minter said, referring to the Little Bear Fire in June that blew up with the wind after a few calm days and burned more than 44,000 acres, destroying 250 homes. "We should work with the existing groups and look at the resources and if they are available. If they want to move one up here, great. But I just have a problem with us coming up with additional funding and then they can divert the resources somewhere else."
County Manager Nita Taylor told commissioners that she attended a meeting of the Little Bear Forest Reform Coalition Monday for a presentation by Ted Stallings of Aero Tech, Helicopter and Fixed Wing Aviation Services.
The organization supports stationing a SEAT at Sierra
Blanca Regional Airport during the high danger months, she said, in addition to thinning of overgrown forests across the county.
"The stand-by costs are $2,800 per day," Taylor said. "But it is anticipated that the SEAT would be dispatched to various locations for fire-fighting activities, and during the that time, expenses would be paid by the ordering agency."
Taylor said input is needed from the Forest Service, the state forestry and other agencies during follow-up meetings to be scheduled. Funding sources also must be identified and contacted, she said.
The cost to cover the 90-day fire danger period would be about $252,000, Taylor said.
County Clerk Rhonda Burrows, who was displaced temporarily by the Little Bear Fire, said she was invited to attend the presentation, but she offered some words of caution.
"I remember when Capitan had a ranger district and we had a helicopter in the days when the government had a lot of money and could use resources differently," she said. "But as the budget shrunk, they consolidated to a resources center and utilized the few resources they have nationwide and this created problems.
"I think a SEAT plane would be lovely to have and reassuring to the public, but I also think the problem would be like placing a bet, paying $2,800 a day to have it sit on the ground with the potential that it could be called to another fire."
The contract for the plane would force the county and others to share on the chance another entity might reciprocate some other day, Burrows said.
"One of the inherent problems is that you may be paying for that plane to be present, but there is no 1000 percent guarantee it will be there when a fire breaks out locally," she said. "The benefit is the initial attack. That being said, it has been used effectively. It's just a matter of cost and availability."
In past years, the village of Ruidoso has participated in the cost of a SEAT, as well as the Bureau of Land Management and state forestry.
Copyright 2012 - Ruidoso News, N.M.
