WASHINGTON — The federal government abruptly canceled longtime contracts for 33 air tankers to fight wildfires in the West, saying the fleet's airworthiness cannot be guaranteed.
The Forest Service told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Tuesday it is scrambling to find other aircraft to fill the void. But anxious senators expressed doubt that it can do so quickly enough for the upcoming fire season, which is predicted to be worse than normal in the West because of continuing drought.
"You're going to be shorthanded," said Sen. Craig Thomas, R-Wyo.
Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., added, "I seriously doubt your agency will be able to fight the oncoming fires efficiently and effectively" without those aircraft.
But Mark Rey, undersecretary of agriculture for natural resources, said, "I think we will not be shorthanded. We will have to stretch, to move quickly, to reconfigure the fleet, but I think we will be just fine in terms of firefighting capability."
Like much of the West, the southeastern half of Utah is considered to be at higher than normal risk of wildfire this year because of continuing drought. The northwestern half of Utah is considered to be at roughly normal risk this year.
The Forest Service and U.S. Bureau of Land Management this week canceled contracts for all privately owned large airtankers after the National Transportation Safety Board concluded in its probe into why the wings fell off two such aircraft in 2002 that no way exists to certify their airworthiness.
Most of the airtankers were designed and used for military operations before they were sold to private companies that utilized them in firefighting, and their complete histories of maintenance and inspections are not available. The average age of those tankers is 48 years, and some are 60 years old.
"To continue to use these contract large airtankers when no mechanism exists to ensure their airworthiness presents an unacceptable level of risk to aviators, the firefighters on the ground and the communities that we serve," Rey told senators.
He said the government is seeking to contract for more helicopters, smaller single-engine tankers and for C-130s now used by the military reserve or National Guard. Most of the grounded airtankers are also C-130s, but Rey said the Reserve and Guard aircraft have complete maintenance records that allow certification of airworthiness.
Thomas warned that the Forest Service may find that the military cannot offer as much help as hoped. "You have been working with the Wyoming National Guard, but now the National Guard is very involved in Iraq and I think you will find there will be some real difficulties there," Thomas said.
Rey said canceling the old contracts and securing services of other aircraft will increase firefighting costs between $26 million and $40 million this year.
Senators from the West also complained at the hearing that they still see too many forests with excess trees, bushes and other fuel that could turn small fires into catastrophic fires. They asked why President Bush's new Healthy Forest Initiative to accelerate thinning has not seemed to accomplish more.
Rey said 2.6 million acres were treated for excess fuels last year, an all-time high, and about 4 million acres will be treated this year.
However, he said 80 million to 90 million acres near urban areas need such treatment, and it may take 12 years or more to accomplish it as the thinning projects pick up the pace.
Still, he said, "This is the most that any administration has ever asked for."
Rey also noted that federal agencies are studying the possibility of letting smaller fires burn to thin out excess fuels naturally to accomplish thinning for free.
But Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, said to that, "Remember Los Alamos," when an intentionally set fire in New Mexico became one of the largest ever and destroyed towns when weather conditions were misjudged.
E-mail: lee@desnews.com