A message from Sen. Jennifer Fielder

SPECIAL NOTE TO READER: Recently I released the article below to the Sanders County Ledger with the headline “Feds won’t let state put wildfires out”. The Ledger retitled my article, “Feds don’t help firefighting effort”. This is an egregious misrepresentation of the content of my article (which, you can see below, in no way indicates that the feds are not helping firefighting efforts). Of course, the federal government has hundreds of firefighters and support contractors working the fires, many putting in valiant efforts to combat the blaze. My column points out, factually, that the federal government will not allow state firefighting aircraft to work on putting out the fires. With the state’s help, some of these fires likely could have been extinguished before they grew out of control, as the state of Montana has a stellar track record for stopping wildfires before they exceed 10 acres in size.

I have requested that the Ledger publish a retraction and apologize to their readers and the firefighters for the horrendously incorrect statement, “Feds don’t help firefighting effort”, and to make it clear it was the Ledger who made this remark, not me. The Ledger subsequently issued an apology to me and said they would make a correction.

Here is my article, the way I submitted it:

By Sen Jennifer Fielder, R – Thompson Falls

Aug 24, 2015

What’s wrong with this picture? The federal government admits they don’t have the resources to fight the fires. But when Montana mobilized our state firefighting aircraft, the feds told Montana firefighters to stand down.

It’s been happening all over the west. People are being evacuated, homes burning, thousands of wild animals and livestock destroyed. Billions of dollars in valuable timber and other property is going up in smoke. Lakes, streams, and fisheries decimated. And state owned firefighting aircraft are barred from putting out fires on federally controlled lands because of the incessant federal bureaucracy that is crippling America.

Last Friday Governor Steve Bullock wrote a letter to the Obama administration asking them to lift the “nonsensical restrictions”. The Governor declared a state of emergency and authorized Montana National Guard troops and the state’s wildland firefighting aircraft to assist in putting out the wildfires burning on federally controlled lands in Montana.

“I am doing my part to mobilize every available firefighting resource at my disposal, and make them available to all fire protection agencies,” Bullock wrote in the letter. “I encourage you to do your part by directing leadership within your respective agencies to rescind this unnecessary and artificial restriction on Montana aircraft as soon as possible.”

Newsmax reported late Friday: Bullock spokesman Mike Wessler said U.S. fire managers barred the use of UH-1H helicopters over federal land because they have objected to modifications to the state’s fleet that made them faster and able to carry more water. Bullock said in the letter that Montana pilots who have flown UH-1H helicopters on hundreds of wildland fire missions have been told to stand down as blazes broke out “in full view of our aviation staff, who watched them grow as federal firefighters waited for other ‘approved’ aircraft to be dispatched from distant locations.

The modifications made on the fleet did not impact its flight worthiness and it has been used numerous times to battle blazes on state and private lands, with no accidents, Wessler told Reuters on Friday.

Bullock’s letter comes as U.S. fire managers have said the nation’s firefighting resources, including crews and aircraft, are stretched thin amid a season that has brought destructive and even deadly fires to the U.S. West.

CBS News also released similar accounts: The State of Montana has five specially-modified military surplus Bell helicopters that it uses to fight fires. [Montana DNRC Director] Tubbs says the Forest Service doesn’t acknowledge the special modifications the state has made that make Montana’s choppers safer and more effective than similar helicopters that the federal agency restricts.

“They’re very effective,” Tubbs says. “The first firefighter that can get to a scene is one of our Bell 205s, most times. They carry a crew of 7 firefighters, so there’s a manager, 6 firefighters and a pilot. They deploy the firefighters on the ground, the firefighters hook the bucket up, the bucket goes up, they find a water source, and they start fighting that fire both on the ground and with water [dropped from above]. They’re one of the reasons that [the state of Montana is] so effective at stopping fires at less than 10 acres, and that saves money and cuts risk.”

CBS contacted the U.S. Forest Service Region headquarters in Missoula and said, “they responded with a statement, but said they’re not taking questions on the issue at this time. Public Affairs Staffer Elizabeth Sloan declined to comment on the accuracy of Governor Bullock’s letter, but, as part of a prepared statement, said:

“The Forest Service and the State of Montana have different standards and regulations to which each must adhere.”

This is the second year that Montana has been barred from deploying state helicopters to put out fires on public lands controlled by the United States Forest Service.

“This makes no sense, and puts the safety and property of Montanans at risk,” Bullock said. On this the governor and I agree. Perhaps now we can convince him to join with other states in preparing for management of federally controlled public lands to be turned over to the states. I have no doubt Montanans can and will do better than WADC.