Just like the gas line explosion in San Bruno, it'll never come out of their profits. And the PUC doesn't have the balls to force them to eat the cost.

They ought to be in fucking jail.

Four people died in that fire, and no cause has been announced yet. There are strong rumors going on that it was caused by Calfire people conducting a training exercise at their helipad near the start of the fire. It is a fact that they were doing training there that day.

30 percent of CalFire firefighters this past season were prisoners angling for early release, and obviously with no firefighting experience.

I have toured the facility and met the management from there. They are model prisoners and are professionally trained and very experienced, not only in firefighting but in fire prevention work during the non-fire season. The program is very difficult to get into and excludes those guilty of certain crimes, such as sex crimes. A number of former convicts from this program have had and are having successful careers as Calfire employees. They are a huge asset to local fire departments in small towns who are underfunded and understaffed, considering the size and variety of terrain they protect.

the first men on the fire were helicoptered in from that helipad within minutes after the fire was identified. Interesting, the men got in trouble real fast and were pulled out by a pickup truck operated by a Cal Fire division chief who lived nearby and had been monitoring the radio.


The four rescued men were seriously burned and hospitalized, but had nothing to do with starting the fire by all accounts.

Calfire has released no official word on the cause of the fire, and say the investigation will take more than a year in all likelihood. Bear in mind, all I am claiming is rumors I have read on blogs. I just think this is unusual. Today they announced that they think PG&E is at fault for the Butte fire, which started shortly before the Valley fire. There was a fire in Ventura not long after and the cause was announced the day it started. They announced the cause of the Rocky fire in Lake County which was just before the Valley fire in a matter of a few weeks.

You are correct about the injured firefighters and their rescue.

accounts of people that were there that day: a retired fire captain, a property owner, and an off duty Cal Fire chief. All I know is what I read in the newspapers, and it read like the boys at the helipad were wearing the white hats that day.

Until something official is released, rumors are going to circulate, it's just the nature of the beast.That being said, if there was a pyromaniac amongst them, and we learn Cal Fire was trying to keep a lid on it, all Hell is going to break loose!!!!!