Firefighters at Work in a Dangerous Environment
There is a Fire raging in and around the Yosemite Park in California, the oldest National Park, putting a Damper on Visitors as well as Vistas during Labor Day, the last Holiday of the Summer Season.
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/08/28/20218572-yosemite-wildfire-blankets-region-with-choking-smoke?lite
Before this, there was a Fire in Arizona where 19 Firefighters („Hotshots”, we were not familiar with this Term before) some say, needlessly died. Before that, there was a Fire in Idaho. Before that, one in Colorado. Before that, one in Wyoming and several others in California. The List goes on and on.
All this Firefighting costs Money and Lives, „Blood and Treasure” as President Obama so eloquently put it in another Context.
And, obviously, Fires must be fought, before they cause greater Danger and Damage, irrespective if they were true „Wildfires” caused by some Act of Nature or caused by a malicious or negligent Human Act. Such Fires can put at Risk the Electric Grid or the Water Supply System, to cite to Examples from what is happening at the „Ring Fire” (Yosmite), right now.
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/08/25/20169597-raging-california-wildfire-threatens-more-of-yosemite?lite
Furthermore and this is just so we can see this in Perspective, if a Fire erupted in some major City or Metropolitan Area, be it New York, Los Angeles or Kansas City, just to name Examples, the Fire Department is responsible first, to save those Lives which are in Danger and then, to the extent possible, either the affected or the adjacent Property.
Carried further, this might seem to imply that there is a Responsibility which, in this Case, extends beyond Local, County and State Lines, to also save Property located in some of these Areas which are not only indescribably pictureques but also, very, very inaccessible.
Clearly, the Local, State and Federal Authorities have a Responsibility to defend and protect Infrastructure which happens to be located in an Area threatened by Fire. However, when it comes to private Property, often built at the Expense of literally invading the Natural Habitat, for the Pleasure and Enjoyment of Few (and not for agricultural or industrial Purposes, such as Mining), a Reexamination of the Policy that Public Resources, Fire Equipment, Helicopters, DC 10 Jets, not to mention Human Lives, should be placed at such a Level of Risk and Cost, appears to merit re-examination. The Cost of fighting These Fires, this, in Addition to the Cost in Human Lives, has been stratospheric.
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/08/20/20110054-spending-to-fight-raging-wildfires-tops-1-billion?lite
When Lives are in Danger, a Rescue Effort should be made. However, when it comes solely to saving Property, simply because it was built somewhere where it is so inaccessible,(sometimes only by Air, for Fire Fighting Purposes) a Re-Examination of Priorities could be in Order, so that those who choose, simply for their personal Pleasure and Enjoyment, to build lavish or even not so lavish Properties out in the Middle of Nowhere, know that they are doing so at their own Risk and at the Risk of their Fire Insurance Provider.
