Editorial
Read the letter
On August 5, 2010, some 341 days after the Station Fire decimated Big Tujunga Canyon within the Angeles National Forest, no less than seven members of Congress signed a formal request for an investigation into the Station Fire. That request, addressed to the Comptroller General of the United States, specifically asks for “a full and complete accounting of the events surrounding the response to the Station Fire Incident from its inception on August 26, 2009 until its containment on October 16, 2009.”
For those of us who lost so very much in that fire, this letter marks a major victory.
The letter goes on to describe how the need for this outside investigation stems from the fact that dispatch records were withheld from federal review teams. But, nearest and dearest to my heart, it specifically asks that investigators explore whether or not “all available and appropriate resources were brought to bear against the fire in Big Tujunga Canyon to protect life, property, and homes“.
I wish I could tell you that this investigation will answer all the questions left in the wake of the fire. I wish I could promise that justice will be done to those who (I believe) dropped the ball and let the Station Fire destroy so very much. I wish this investigation had begun before four former residents of Big Tujunga lost their lives, passing away after all that they held dear was literally turned to ash and smoke and twisted metal debris.
I can’t.
Don’t get me wrong. I whooped and hollered and frightened my co-workers when I read the contents of this letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). But after years of dealing with the Forest Service, and after this past year of trauma and grief, my ability to hold out hope for a miracle is somewhat strained.
What is hardest for me to bear is the knowledge that whatever comes from a Congressional investigation will come too late to make a real difference for too many of my friends and neighbors. Whatever the outcome, it won’t undo the damage the fire wrought. It won’t restore the historical structures and artifacts incinerated nearly a year ago. It won’t bring back those who died in the wake of the fire and the suffering of its aftermath. And it certainly won’t make it any easier for those who are trying to rebuild. There is far too much red tape, paperwork and hoops to jump through for insurance companies, government agencies and permit policies. No investigation, Congressional or otherwise, is going to make rebuilding any less complicated or costly. And that simple fact leaves me hopping mad.
Am I glad this investigation is going forward? You bet! But the sweetness of this small victory is too small to overcome the bitterness left behind by so much loss. If the GAO investigation confirms even a few of the theories surrounding those fateful days, I cannot believe that anything will be done to improve the lot of those left behind. Investigation or no, we are still on our own.
It would take a miracle to change that, and I just don’t believe in fairytales anymore.
~B~
