A young Navy sailor who was accused of setting fire to the USS Bonhomme Richard was acquitted Friday by a military judge of charges stemming from the July 2020 blaze that burned for several days while the ship was docked at Naval Base San Diego.
Seaman Recruit Ryan Sawyer Mays, 21, had been charged with arson and willful hazarding of a vessel, but he denied any involvement in the fire. The military judge, Capt. Derek Butler, delivered his verdict Friday, one day after hearing closing arguments in May’s court-martial.
Following the verdict, Mays told reporters outside the Naval Base courtroom that he was “thankful” for the judge’s decision.
“I can say that the past two years have been the hardest two years of my entire life as a young man,” Mays said. “I’ve lost time with friends. I’ve lost friends. I’ve lost time with family and my entire Navy career was ruined. I’m looking forward to starting over.”
Military Judge Acquits Sailor Accused of Arson in USS Bonhomme Richard Fire - Times of San Diego (Sep 30, 2022)
I thought we were supposed to keep this thread on the topic of rivers, flooding and wildland fire🧐
Thanks. Sorry to have polluted you. This will probably be the conclusion of my participation here. Feel free to follow the technical work, and intel follow-ups, on other forums, if you care to. I hope it won’t be too toxic for readers there.
I have an archive of my activity here. I’m ready for deletion of the topic. Good luck with the solicitors.
Hi ghost…I don’t think there is anything wrong with your post. I took WTS110’s question simply to ask if that particular post belongs in this thread. I like the info you’ve been posting and hope you continue to do so. Stick around, buddy. Thanks
Hard work, low pay, miserable conditions, sir. The truth is that I’ve seen more DAT, than wildfire, per se.
I really don’t know where all this fits together. As long as the DAT help is useful to your mission, your welcome to it. If its a crowding issue, then perhaps you don’t need so much DAT. These are plain facts. The pressure seeks relief. That’s up to leadership.
I have a blue flag there, about reviving 3 year old zombie topics, I have a WTF here, about filing. What do we do?
I copy. So, I got two things, what happened, and then what; first, I respected the blue flag I got when I went to post on the topic, then, after some clarification, we arrived at a link to the current topic. As to the value of rising that topic, vs linking to a current topic that might have room for it, there is the convenience of threading the archived, and blue flagged. Fair warning, I might go ahead and respect a blue flag again one day, and not thread that content. If that happens, I hope there is no need to stop and sort, but to just tag that link in at convenience. We there yet?
I don’t get why you got the blue flag, my opinion is you should have been fine posting the article there because it was specifically about that incident but it also fits here in your thread. From one Corpmember to another keep up the good work, it is very much appreciated. Hard work, low pay, miserable conditions, and more!..Hard work.
I’m not certain crosslinking back here would be necessary to post that article to that topic in the first place. Nor, that it’s too late to do just that. I’ll grant you there and back again its intel. Not incredibly timely intel. That article was published last year.
4 Air Tractor Fire Boss scoopers, a UH60, and an AC90 Turbo Commander on the Hood River. It appears to be training, or qualifications, as I haven’t seen them go off the river in the time I’ve been observing, but it could be a fire.
Ah. Thank you.
The Data.World GoWF Practical RDF data integration project is concluded.
Warlords and Deadbeats: CAL FIRE Edition
"For the second year in a row, CAL FIRE is boosting its seasonal fleet across California — with more than $72 million provided by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration. The funding secures an additional 24 firefighting aircraft (19 helicopters and 5 planes) for a contracted period of 90-120 days. The Fullerton Observer reported that these aircraft are located in communities across the state and will be pre-positioned as needed.
“The deployment of more aircraft dedicated to the people of California marks a historic milestone, with the highest number of firefighting aircraft ever available for initial attack in the state for the second consecutive year,’ said Director and Fire Chief Joe Tyler. He said rainfall this year has resulted in increased fuels; last week alone, CAL FIRE responded to over 300 wildfires.”
Rather than reprint Kelly Andersson’s sharp article in its entirety, I’ll just say its pretty good, although the actual count of available aircraft for the State of California goes up fairly significantly if you add in the Bell 412s, AW139s, Hueys, Firehawks, and Chinooks of the Contract Counties and the QRF fleet. In addition, NSW RFS has sent over a VLAT full of firefighters.
I’m still sort of curious as to how soon we will see CAL FIRE C-130Hs on fires.
Sacramento has figured out how to use the Emergency Fund
( 0900) preemptively instead of reactionary to support the “10 acres or less” mission. Credit goes to Chief/Director Tyler and his Executive team for navigating the MINE FIELD that is state law, state administrative law(when it comes to procurement & contracting).
Not to be unrecognized is Mother Nature herself. She seems to have figured out “her meds” and returned to what was “normal” during the 1990’s and early 2000’s.
What isn’t talked about is the “competition” for scarce resources (look at how many management teams & IHC) have been rotated to our brothers & sisters in Canada. And the fact California/CalFire was able to get the last remaining LAT available in the world. A Coulson built, maintained, and flown 737(B210) that is on long term lease / sale to the governmentof New South Wales (Back story, the list of contract aircraft on EU for Calfire is not the same in 2023 as it was in 2022). There are over 50 T1 rotorwing aircraft available in California when you add up State, Federal, & LG owned or EU / CWN ships. It is not uncommon to get 1 on IA dispatch and have 2 more respond for a total of 3 T1 Helicopters on an IA fire. That heavy & hard hit of water from the sky has a positive effect.
Finally, the “CalFire C130’s” are still owned by the DoD. Calfire hasn’t “Offically” taken delivery of them because the work mandated in the 2013 and 2019 “Defense Authorization Act” (Required Maintenance to include TANKS) has not been completed. The DoD has the RESPONSIBILITY to finish the job Congress gave them to do. They have contracted with the manufacturer and approved depot level contractor LOCKHEED MARTIN. That has “contracted” with Coulson for their PATENTED TANKING SYSTEM. Coulson owns the patents and has more than enough work with its own aircraft (fixed & rotary wing) that they don’t need the LOCKHEED work at 30% discounted rate. So there is not money left from the 2013 & 2019 budgets, the tank manufacturer and installer, doesn’t need the money, and the contractor won’t work for free.