Homes Now Being Lost in Orange County

Up until this point the Orange County fire had burned a lot of brush but hadn't gotten any homes. That's now changing. A local radio reporter has just been run out of Modjeska Canyon by a wall of fire that not only chased him but the fire crews that had been standing by as well. They now expect to lose 25-30 homes in the area.

I have to give credit to Assemblyman Todd Spitzer who represents my area. He has been screaming loudly and longly to anybody that would listen that Orange County was being shorted on air assets. This fire had a low priority because our crews had been so good they managed to save all the homes that had been threatened. There's now been a wind shift that has put some of the areas bypassed by the flames into jeopardy again and we could really use some air support. With the problems going on in L.A., Running Springs and San Diego County, aircraft are hard to come by. Orange County only has two small water dropping helicopters and a couple of other copters capable of slinging 500 gallon buckets. We don't have any fixed wing aircraft.