Governor Crist just declared State of Emergency for wildfires. I fear we are not ready.

[madfloridian]

Not hurricane season yet, but wildfires are taking their toll. I have been posting about how unprepared I fear my state is in this area. Senator Nelson spoke out on this, saying we are being sapped of our supply capability by the Iraq War.

Gov. Crist declares state of emergency as more wildfires ignite

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Gov. Charlie Crist declared a state of emergency Thursday as more wildfires - blazing across parched Florida - ignited overnight.

Crist's order said 15 wildfires covering 1,400 acres ignited overnight and over 90 percent of the state was experiencing drought. No injuries have been reported in any of the fires, officials said.

Dry weather conditions were in the forecast and danger for wildfires will increase over the next 90 days, so responsible agencies will need additional authority and firefighting resources, the order said.

"What that does is it allows additional resources to be applied to the fire," said Brian McKee, state officer in charge at the Florida Division of Forestry.

The most significant impact will be that the National Guard will be able to assist in fighting the fires, McKee said.

Florida National Guard situation is dire.

It is amazing we are not hearing much about this from many governors. Crist is quiet, Senator Bill Nelson spoke out once and appears to be aware that something needs to be done.

Three hurricane eyes hit Central Florida in 2004. Another hit North Florida. Devastation was all around. All the news talked about how great Jeb's response was. It wasn't really that great. There were too many instances of spoiled food, no gas, people being turned away from trucks filled with ice. No plans, just a lot of chaos.

Little Boots stood in an orange grove and said for neighbors to look out for one another. It was a good thing, too, because FEMA was screwed up by then.

Now with hurricane season nearing, little is being said about the lack of national guard and the equipment they need for emergencies. I expect Bill Nelson, Mel Martinez, Adam Putnam, Charlie Crist...to be far more vocal.

Florida's National Guard in serious situation

Troops of the Florida National Guard, at least for the moment, have apparently avoided participating in President Bush's planned "surge" in Iraq, although almost half - about 13,000 - of the 30,000 U.S. troops slated for that mission will be Guardsmen from Arkansas, Indiana, Ohio and Oklahoma, reports the Pentagon.

But the Bush administration's decision to rely so heavily on these, in normal circumstances, part-time soldiers has raised questions about the preparedness of the Guard for its duties closer to home, including in Florida. As if plucking these cogs of our communities away from their families and jobs for service in Iraq wasn't stressful enough - many Guard members will be entering their second tour of duty in Iraq when the surge reaches high tide later this year - National Guard units are woefully lacking in supplies.

...."This month, Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, chief of the Army's National Guard Bureau, told the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee that "the National Guard today, I'm sad to say, is not a fully ready force." Blum testified that the Guard faces a $40 billion shortfall in providing equipment and training necessary to respond to missions at home.

The Florida guard must leave 50% of its equipment in Iraq, leaving Florida vulnerable to more emergencies.

What I did not realize is that Florida and other states must negotiate with the Pentagon to use their own National Guard equipment which is in storage. Nelson plans to do that later. I don't know how much later.

In the interim, however, Nelson is hoping to broker an agreement between the state and the Defense Department that would allow the Florida Guard to use the equipment stockpiled around the state by the U.S. Army Reserve units, which are commanded by the Pentagon.

Did you read that? Florida must negotiate to use its own stockpiles of equipment.

I think we could be in serious trouble here. Crist and Nelson are not speaking out nearly enough on this issue.

Here is more about what Bill Nelson is doing. I have not heard anymore from him since this article.

Nelson: War Sapping Fla. Of Supplies

If the state doesn't have the equipment it needs, Tittle said it can borrow it from Guard units in other states or rent it. But Nelson questioned the lag time and the fact that the other state Guard units also are facing the same depletion of equipment problems.

Florida is not the only state with depletion problems, the GAO report states.

Texas only has 51.6 percent of its dual-use equipment available to non-deployed Army National Guard forces. In California, the figure is 50.3 percent. Louisiana is at 49.5 percent, New Mexico is at the bottom of the list with 33.8 percent.

Despite their shortages, "National Guard officials in California, Florida and West Virginia express similar levels of confidence in their forces' ability to respond to typical state missions using currently available equipment," the report states.

"However, some state National Guard officials expressed concerns about whether they would have enough equipment to respond to large-scale events similar to Hurricane Katrina or those described in the Homeland Security Council's national planning scenarios," the report states.

Florida is at 53 percent of the dual-use equipment it once had for responding to a storm or domestic disturbance. the Guard was down 500 Humvees, 600 trucks, short 4,000 pairs of night vision goggle and needed 30 more wreckers.

And another thumbs down about preparedness from the TCPalm:

Thumbs Down

THUMBS DOWN:

IS 'GUARD' READY? The Florida National Guard was a source of salvation for hundreds of thousands of state residents battered by hurricanes in 2004 and 2005.

The Sunshine State got a much-welcomed reprieve from violent, tropical weather in 2006. However, 2007 is shaping up as a potentially active hurricane season — and there is reason to believe the National Guard may not be prepared to handle the challenge.

The Government Accountability Office recently analyzed the readiness of Guard units in different states and found the Florida National Guard only has 53 percent of the dual-use equipment it needs to respond to storms.

"Problems from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have stretched the Florida National Guard further than ever before, leaving it without all the resources it should have for responding to a domestic crisis," said U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla.

This revelation comes only a week after a member of William Gray's hurricane forecasting team at the Colorado State University predicted a "very active" hurricane season in 2007 — one that could produce nine hurricanes, with at least one major hurricane hitting the U.S. coast.

Crist needs to speak out more on this. Many other governors do as well. So many states are unprepared.

[Dawgs]

1. South Georgia is having it just as bad.

The Okefenokee Swamp is burning up as we write.

[madfloridian]

3. I know. Thinking about you....getting your smoke for days.

We have had it hanging down low in Central Florida. I have been afraid to go outdoors. Now that it is moving into Florida it is worse. There was a spot of rain near us tonight, but it is dissipating.

Best of luck there.

[alittlelark]

19. The company that is sending us our bee packages is in S Georgia

They have been delayed 2 weeks so far due to the fires and subsequent weird weather (bees need to be shipped in good weather). Strange how things connect.:(

[Me.]

2. Sorry To Hear That

K & R

[whistle]

4. Where are these fires located in Florida?

[madfloridian]

6. Appear to be mostly in Flagler, Lake, and Volusia counties

For now, anyway.

[tyedyeto]

5. 1,400 acres is a significant fire???

In the late 80's, a 165,000 acre fire devastated the area in which I lived. I lost 1/2 of our property to it (5 of 10 acres). My family received NO help from any government agency and never asked for help. Now, a MUCH smaller fire is considered a 'state of emergency'?

Just one of my more recent :wtf: moments.

[madfloridian]

7. Just quoting the source.

I don't know the measurements for crisis. :shrug:

[tyedyeto]

10. I know you were...

just giving some previous wildfire experience.

When a Gov. says 'OMG! we have a fire out of control'... it is sometimes good to remind others that fires many times larger have happened with NO thought to the residents who lived through it.

[madeline_con]

8. How long have you been in FL?

This happens most years, just before the rains come.

[madfloridian]

12. I am a native. I was not claiming special fire privileges.

Something I wrote just setting forth what I fear is a shortage of guard and suppplies must have come across wrong.

Think I best retreat and lower my expectations some more.

I was quoting articles, quoting Crist, and saying I thought we were in dire straits.

We have had many many fires many many other years, but now that we have been bogged down in Iraq, I question how ready we are.

I have been blasted at DU everything I posted today. I hope I did not offend any one too much with this. I am going to hide my head under the covers now.

Not just you, someone else was bothered by it. :shrug: :shrug:

[tyedyeto]

17. I'm sorry but I just saw how small the fire was that he was calling...

for a state of emergency. I had lived through a much larger one.

I understand your concern for readiness and the depletion of this country's National Guard resources.

Not sure if your last sentence was pointed toward me but wanted to clarify my position somewhat.

:hi:

[madfloridian]

24. There are 14 starting throughout the state...

Suddenly, with a water shortage. We have a water shortage because under Jeb's rule developers took over our state. Now we live under water restriction.

Nelson and Crist have been pushing for more water restriction while the building goes on and on. Not a word about national guard or equipment or war....well, one word from Bill.

[madeline_con]

20. Nor were you accused of petitioning fire privileges.

When Volusia county went up in flames, the NASCAR races were cancelled and Daytona Speedway was used as a staging point to fight the fires. We'll be o.k.

[Cha]

9. I hope the fires are

kept under control and you Floridians are safe in spite of bush sending the National Guard to Iraq and abandoning the States.

I'm sure most of the National Guard would rather be in their home states helping with the natural catastrophes instead of getting blown up in Iraq for bush's oil. Poor things!

[merh]

11. Do you know how many Mississippi National Guardsman

were available for Katrina? 1500 and they were all north of here, they weren't dispatched until well after the storm. I've spoken with business owners that were accustomed to finding guardsman protecting their businesses immediately after the storm. That's how it was after previous hurricanes. That is not how it was with Katrina. Looting was rampant, entire police departments in 5 of the cities along the coast were destroyed. Many lost all but a few of their squad cars. Those businesses that did not loss everything in Katrina lost most of their furnishings and stock due to looters that were desperate. I watched a dollar store as it was ransacked, the police were on one corner and I was on the other.

It wasn't until other states offered to send Guardsman did we have any true presence.

Gas tanker trucks were hijacked -- ice & water & supply trucks were turned away or rerouted to areas in need, but not in the greatest need as those of us on the coast.

Family and friends couldn't make it down the highways and streets to the Coast to check on their families for the first couple of days after the storm. The clearing of the roadways that did occur in the first couple of days that was done to allow people to get to the Coast was done by the citizens with chainsaws, chains, private bulldozers and trucks or by public works employees with what equipment they could salvage. But again, most lost all of their heavy equipment.

So yeah, if anything bad happens, don't count on the guard. Stock up with what you need. You cannot count on the gov, take care of each other.

[madfloridian]

13. We are very stocked up.

We went through three hurricane eyes in 6 weeks. I was not advocating anyone not being prepared.

[merh]

16. I didn't think you were.

All I can tell you is, living the ongoing Katrina nightmare, the gov is clueless and all you can do is be prepared.

And no matter how floridians think they have had it bad, there is nothing like what was Katrina. I'd take your 3 over her any day.

[madfloridian]

18. Ok.

I thought I was posting something that covered my feelings for most every state. I guess I did not succeed.

Somedays one wins, somedays one doesn't.

I tried to point out an issue which all governors need to address.

[merh]

22. That's just it

The governors are not going to address it, not as long as bushco is in power.

This admin uses the power of fema/emergency declarations to punish anti-bush govs.

Those that get the gov help use the money to help enrich their buddies and for political collateral.

That is how it is and will be until 2008 - natural disaster are not concerns for the citizens of the nation, they are the way to buy political clout and reward donors.

That is the sad, but very real truth of it.

[madfloridian]

14. To clarify further....Florida does not appear to be prepared for crises

We have had many wildfire crises through the years. I was not trying to infer this was the worst.

I was not doing that. I was pointing out that Florida is in denial about our preparedness. Bill Nelson spoke once, Crist has said little.

Our governors are failing us by not speaking out on this crisis.

Also I am not inferring that other states are any less in need than Florida.

And yes, we are so stocked up we even bought an expensive generator.

If I have hurt any feelings I apologize.

[mod mom]

15. Perhaps Governor Crist should cause a constitutional crisis by demanding his

national guard return home, where they belong. It could set off like dominoes to de-troop bu$h's war.

[madfloridian]

21. That is how governors need to start thinking. Now, not later.

Most states are in crisis and don't realize it because their governors are not speaking up. None of our legislators are, and only Bill Nelson has said a word....he then disappeared back into the woodwork where he stays.

[mod mom]

23. Bob Fitrakis used this in a campaign platform in the governor's race in Ohio.

I happen to think it makes sense, especially knowing we are headed for natural disasters like these fires or Katrina.

[FloridaJudy]

25. I'm over 100 miles away

From the closest fire, and the smoke is still heavy enough to make my eyes tear when I step outdoors. This cannot be good for anyone with respiratory problems, even if their homes are untouched.

We had similar wildfires back in the late eighties, and it was an absolute nightmare. The counties involved have a lot of long-term care facilities (hospitals, retirement communities, nursing homes) filled with the fragile elderly. I remember being a shelter RN, faced with hundreds of Alzheimer patients who'd been loaded - still dressed in pajamas - on to buses in the middle of the night and dumped into local high school cafeterias. These poor folks were confused enough at the best of times: you can't imagine how terrified they were.

Things are likely to be even worse now, with resources diverted to Iraq, and the state's infrastructure undermined by eight years of Jeb's neglect, and developer's lining their pockets.

Crist, bless his heart, actually seems to be doing his best to remedy the worst effects of Gov. Bush's mismanagement (and I never believed I'd have anything nice to say about a Republican!). The problem is, it's too little and too late.

I'm heartily glad to be retired from Public Health in this state.

[gatorboy]

26. If the trees were armed this would never have happened.