Politics
California firefighting aircraft stymied by U.S. Forest Service policy, local chiefs say
An aerial firefighting task force has been thwarted — and sometimes grounded — by a new interpretation of a U.S. Forest Service policy that prohibits contractors from providing flight supervision over federal lands, according to Southern California fire chiefs.
“I don’t understand why they’ve chosen this time to reinterpret this longstanding procedure,” said Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone. “Why are they moving the goalposts now, during fire season? The timing couldn’t be worse.”
The dispute is the latest to have local fire authorities at odds with the Forest Service amid a punishing season that’s seen more than a million acres of land burn across the state. Some county chiefs have also spoken out about Forest Service staffing shortages they say resulted in delayed federal responses to recent fires, including the Airport fire that destroyed homes in Orange and Riverside counties.
Orange County Fire Authority Chief Brian Fennessy has written to Congress requesting an investigation into the issue.
“This policy application defies common sense at a time when we all know wildfire is, if not the worst threat to public safety in the state of California and throughout the West, pretty close to the top,” he said.
The Forest Service said the policy is a longstanding business rule that applies to aviation operations nationwide. “We had a lack of clarity on the policy, so some people were using it inappropriately,” said Adrienne Freeman, an agency spokesperson.
At the heart of the dispute is the Quick Reaction Force, a 24/7 aerial task force staffed by the fire departments of Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura counties. Its fleet consists of three night-flying helitankers, a mobile base that can mix 18,000 gallons of retardant per hour and an intelligence helicopter that is typically staffed by pilots under contract with the Orange County Fire Authority who manage the airspace and tell the other helicopters where to make drops.
The task force has been operating for several years without issue. But in July, the local agencies received word from the Forest Service that contractors could no longer provide aerial supervision over fires burning on federal land. When the QRF is deployed to these fires, it generally must be overseen by an aerial supervisor who is an agency employee.
The Forest Service has 11 aircraft capable of performing this supervision in California, but only one — an airplane — can do so at night, Freeman said. That plane is at times unavailable because it’s already deployed, has logged too many flight hours, needs to refuel or requires repairs or maintenance.
“As a result of that, we’ve had to pull off of some fires that were threatening communities,” Fennessy said.
For instance, as the task force fought the Bridge fire the afternoon of Sept. 11, the Forest Service airplane supervising the effort, AA-52, had to return to base, according to Fennessy and a written statement provided by Ken Craw, an aerial supervisor who was flying Copter-76 under contract with the Orange County Fire Authority.
Rather than call in Copter-76 to relieve the plane as supervisor, all air operations — six helicopters and two water scoping air tankers — were shut down until another Forest Service plane could arrive a short time later, Craw wrote.
“In my opinion the choice of AA-52 to shut down the aerial firefighting operations instead of using Copter-76 put the public and firefighters at risk, and reduced the efficiency of the efforts to contain the Bridge Fire,” he wrote.
A similar situation resulted in a two-hour delay in QRF helicopters dropping retardant on the Fork fire in the Angeles National Forest on July 19, Fennessy said. Helicopters also were released from the Borel fire in the Sequoia National Forest the night of July 28, even though they had hours of flight time left, he said.
Fennessy and other Southern California fire chiefs have met and exchanged letters with Region 5 Director Jaimie Gamboa, sharing their concerns.
The requirement that an agency employee supervise night operations is impractical when that employee is flying a plane, which circles thousands of feet above helicopters and has limited visibility into what’s going on below, some of the county chiefs said.
“The helicopter coordinator position is more beneficial during nighttime helicopter operations than a fixed-wing aerial supervision platform that’s way too high above the fire,” said Marrone, who was previously in charge of the county’s air operations.
Robert Garcia, fire chief of the Angeles National Forest, has called on the QRF many times, as he has just one night-flying helicopter — the Forest Service’s only night-flying helicopter in the nation, he said.
Garcia said the Forest Service plane can provide adequate nighttime supervision to helicopters because it has technology on board to monitor the effectiveness of drops.
Still, he said, he’s expressed concerns about the policy interpretation to others in the Forest Service because of his forest’s reliance on the QRF intelligence helicopter to provide relief when the Forest Service plane is unavailable.
“I think it’s worth taking a hard look at this policy, because the QRF is really, to my knowledge, a singular example of this particular scenario,” he said. “But the consequences are high.”
The Forest Service may deviate from the policy when it’s in a unified command, or if there’s imminent threat to life or property, he said. Garcia has done so at least two or three times since July, enabling him to use the QRF helicopter for aerial supervision. Such supervision is needed only if more than two aircraft are flying over a fire, he added.
Garcia acknowledged that confusion over the new policy interpretation has at times resulted in some delays in decision-making, but said that hasn’t affected the outcome of any fires in Angeles National Forest. The probability of success in keeping the Bridge fire small was low from the start because of hot, dry conditions and steep, rugged terrain that hadn’t burned in more than 100 years, and the Fork fire was contained relatively quickly at 301 acres, he said.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection also prohibits the use of contractors as aerial supervisors, a policy that was formalized this year but was in practice for a couple years before that, said Nick Schuler, deputy director of communications for Cal Fire.
But that hasn’t posed as much of an issue to the QRF because Cal Fire has agreements with Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura counties for them to provide initial attack fire suppression in many areas where the task force does its night flying work, Fennessy said. As a result, the counties dictate operations within those areas, he said.
The timing of the Forest Service’s change in policy interpretation has left him scratching his head. The contract pilots are “the best of the best,” with all the appropriate training and qualifications, and no one has raised safety concerns about them, Fennessy said.
He wonders whether the shift was retaliation for a 2022 60 Minutes episode in which he said the Forest Service was slow to use the QRF to fight the Caldor fire in Northern California and only greenlighted its use when he threatened to take the helicopters back home.
“It caused a lot of tension between the agencies — L.A., Ventura, Orange — and the Forest Service,” Fennessy said. “That’s the only thing I can think of because why now, years into this?”
Freeman of the Forest Service vigorously disputed that allegation. “No one gave that a thought, and we continue not to,” she said.
The Forest Service has been working to beef up its night flying operations, including by changing policy in Region 5 so that its employees can fly in contract aircraft to gain experience in nighttime aerial supervision, she said.
“We have worked incredibly hard to try to get to a place where we can utilize the QRF as well as all the resources in these counties,” she said. “This shouldn’t be about who has what. This is about trying to figure out ways to work together.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., received public support from Republicans in the Senate as he faces an uncertain vote Friday to determine whether he will maintain the role in the new Congress.
“My friend [Johnson] has done an incredible job in the House, and I’m glad he’s at the helm there as Congress looks forward to growing our economy and safeguarding our communities in the new year,” said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., on X.
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Sens. John Kennedy, left, and Bill Cassidy, right, threw their public support behind fellow Louisiana Republican Mike Johnson for speaker. (Reuters)
Johnson also got the backing of the other member of Lousiana’s Senate delegation, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La. “I agree with President Trump that [Johnson] is the right man to lead. He’s a committed conservative and a man of integrity,” he wrote on X, referencing President-elect Donald Trump’s recent endorsement.
During the last-minute government-spending fight last month, most Republican senators were careful not to call for Johnson’s replacement. However, that didn’t stop others, such as Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, from suggesting that someone else would do a better job.
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Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump listens as Speaker of the House Mike Johnson speaks during a press conference at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate on April 12, 2024, in Palm Beach, Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
“Technically, the rules of the House—I don’t think you have to be a member of the House to be speaker. And other people talked about it,” Paul told reporters in December. He noted that he has previously gotten stray votes to be speaker, as has Trump.
“And so, we’ll leave it open to interpretation. I think that, hey, seriously, Elon Musk is having an impact.”
When asked about his confidence in Johnson, Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., sidestepped, saying, “I can’t make a decision. I don’t know him that well. He’s got to work with everybody else. He doesn’t have to work with us.”
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Since the House speaker will be selected solely by the lower chamber, few Republican senators are expected to weigh in publicly. But the fact that some have is notable in and of itself.
In order to be elected as the speaker of the House, a member must get a majority of the votes cast. Depending on whether all House members are there, how many vacancies there are, and whether anyone chooses to vote “present,” thereby lowering the majority threshold, Johnson could be in a situation where he can only afford to lose one GOP vote.
There are still several House members that have said they are unsure whether they will back Johnson.
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Speaker Mike Johnson, left, and Rep. Thomas Massie (Getty)
Additionally, at least one Republican lawmaker is a “no,” even after Trump’s endorsement.
“I respect and support President Trump, but his endorsement of Mike Johnson is going to work out about as well as his endorsement of Speaker Paul Ryan,” Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., wrote on X. “We’ve seen Johnson partner with the democrats to send money to Ukraine, authorize spying on Americans, and blow the budget.”
The speaker vote is set to take place on Friday to set the new Congress in motion.
Politics
Column: L.A. County's Hall of Administration should stand, Janice Hahn says. And not because of her dad
I drove around downtown Los Angeles on a recent Friday morning looking for one of the Civic Center’s ugly ducklings.
The Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration … um, which building was it again?
It had been years since my only other visit, so unmemorable that I had forgotten how the ten-story structure looked. Google Maps gave me an address, but I was lost in a sea of architectural grandeur when I finally parked in a small lot near Temple and Grand. To my left was the majestic Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. Behind me were the Music Center’s elegant triplets of the arts: the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Mark Taper Forum and Ahmanson Theatre.
In front of me was a building with cream-colored tiles that connected to a taller building that looked the same, except with windows.
Oh, yeah. That’s the Hall of Administration.
Seat of the county of Los Angeles since it opened in 1960, it looks like a Lego block with slits. No wonder it’s never gotten as much love from Angelenos as its flashier neighbors, especially L.A. City Hall, which looms to the south like the haughty older civic cousin it is.
That’s why there hasn’t been any uproar since the county Board of Supervisors voted in November to buy the 52-story Gas Co. Tower for $200 million — a bargain worthy of the late, great 99 Cents Only chain, since its appraised value is $632 million — with plans to relocate county workers there, from the Hall of Administration and elsewhere, as early as this summer.
Nearly a third of the purchase price came from funds originally set aside to seismically retrofit the Hall of Administration and update its electrical system, effectively sentencing the place to the literal and historical scrap heap. The county’s preliminary plan calls for razing it, except for the portion where the supervisors hold their public meetings.
The sole “no” vote came from Janice Hahn, daughter of the Hall of Administration’s legendary namesake, the longest-serving supervisor in L.A. County history. She was waiting for me in the parking lot to give me a tour of the unloved building and argue for its virtue — and survival.
“This is Nate’s Lot,” she told me, explaining that it was named after a parking attendant who told her father he didn’t like working in the Hall of Administration’s underground garage. So the supervisor created the lot just for him.
“There’s history like that all around in a building like this,” said Hahn, Starbucks chai latte in hand, as we walked through the doors. Three staffers accompanied us, including Mark Baucum, who is both her son and her chief of staff.
“It has a warm feel, not like …” Her face scrunched as if she had stepped on a snail, and she waited a beat before referencing the county’s recent purchase. “That soulless skyscraper.”
Gloria Molina Grand Park is nestled alongside the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration, left, in Los Angeles. City Hall towers in the background.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
The halls gleamed with vintage charm. Marble walls and terrazzo floors. Frosted windows on doors with the old-school gold sans serif font long used by county departments. Phone booths that still work. Wood-paneled elevators that Janice and her brother, former L.A. mayor and current Superior Court Judge Jim Hahn, rode as kids like they were at an amusement park.
We walked through the spacious main lobby, where people waited in line to pay their property taxes, and out of the building toward Hill Street.
“That soulless skyscraper doesn’t have a lobby like this,” Hahn said. Across the street was the Hall of Records, built in 1962. To our left were the Stanley Mosk Courthouse, opened in 1959, and Gloria Molina Grand Park.
“They’re not on the chopping block,” she said, referring to the buildings. “People once thought City Hall was too expensive to retrofit. Were it not for civic-minded people, it would’ve been torn down. What a tragedy that would’ve been.”
As we rounded the Hall of Administration’s western side to look at large, gold-colored statues of Moses and Thomas Jefferson, the wear-and-tear of the 75-year-old building quickly became evident. Chunks missing from window ledges. Chipped granite base. Cracks on the walls here and there.
“Yes, it needs work,” Hahn acknowledged, as Baucum helped a woman who couldn’t tell the difference between the Hall of Administration and the Stanley Mosk Courthouse. “We had some of that money, but it was used to buy … that soulless skyscraper. And we have a budget of $50 billion. We can do this.”
Hahn estimated the cost to be $700 million. A spokesperson for L.A. County Chief Executive Officer Fesia Davenport said the seismic retrofit is expected to cost about $700 million, with renovations and other needed repairs bringing the estimated total to $1.8 billion.
But should it be done? I wondered as we went back inside the Hall of Administration. What possible role could an empty building play, when the other four supervisors want to get the hell out of there, and all of the money set aside to take care of it has already been spent?
One person I figured might have some pity for the Hall of Administration was Supervisor Kathryn Barger. She’s worked there since 1989 — first as an aide, then as chief of staff to then-Supervisor Mike Antonovich, and for the last eight years in her current role.
“From an aesthetic point of view, not much there,” said Barger, who voted to buy the Gas Co. Tower, in a phone interview. “You go to City Hall, you’re like, ‘Wow.’”
She gets Hahn’s point that it’s a historic structure, but Barger is more focused on the price tag for renovation, which she put at $1.2 billion. “I cannot discount Janice, but we have to do right by the taxpayers,” she said.
Barger mentioned that the supervisors are going to need much more office space after voters in November approved an eventual expansion of the board from five members to nine. She also brought up the late Gloria Molina, who served alongside Kenneth Hahn and whom Barger got to know well while working for Antonovich.
“Her vision and dream was to create more open space, and it was always shot down,” Barger said. She suggested that the Board of Supervisors could knock down the Hall of Administration, which spans the length of two city blocks, and expand Gloria Molina Grand Park.
“This issue is emotional for [Hahn],” Barger said, “but you have to separate the emotional from the reality.”
Supervisor Janice Hahn points out the word “beloved,” referring to her late father, on a plaque at the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration in Los Angeles.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Hahn brought up that charge herself, then disputed it.
“Every story written implies it’s because of my father,” Hahn told me as we stood in front of a plaque near the lobby praising Kenneth Hahn’s “unsurpassed legacy of good works” in 40 years as a county supervisor. He died in 1997.
“It’s not,” she continued. “People have said, ‘We’ll put his name on the skyscraper.’ Oh, hell no. He would’ve questioned the rationale of using certain budget stats to prove” the necessity of leaving the Hall of Administration, she said. “He would find holes in their argument and find $700 million to save this hall.”
The tour went on for about an hour, with Hahn greeting every single person she passed. We visited the Board of Supervisors’ meeting room, which will remain standing (“That’ll make a disjointed county government”), and finally went up to her office. A painting hangs near the entrance, depicting her on a couch with a portrait of her dad hovering above.
“This is my life,” Hahn cracked. “My dad always looking over my shoulder.”
We briefly sat down, then went outside to a terrace ringing the length of the Hall of Administration. The floor was peeling, but the view before us of the Civic Center and downtown was stunning.
I understood, and even appreciated, Hahn’s argument that moving the county offices from here, where other parts of L.A. government reside, would create “a gaping hole in the idea of civic togetherness,” as her son put it. But the fiscal reasoning against it was strong, I said, before asking if her crusade stood any chance of succeeding.
“I think so,” she said. “I think we’ll get the momentum. And Dad always loved a good fight.”
Her son pointed out a sliver of a skyscraper poking out behind another skyscraper. That was the Gas Co. Tower.
“Ugh,” the supervisor said, shaking her head. “Soulless.”
After we said our goodbyes, I walked the four blocks to Hahn’s Moby Dick, which was built in 1991. She wasn’t wrong. The exterior is a bunch of charmless windows going up and up. The lobby, with its collection of elevators, scowling security guards and small glass turnstiles, is cold and anodyne. No amount of bureaucratic lipstick can pretty up this political pig.
Maybe Hahn was right, I thought as I headed back to Nate’s Lot. Then I ran into Miguel Santana, president of the California Community Foundation and a longtime Molina confidante.
I know few people who care about L.A. history and responsible leadership as much as he does. What does he think about the county abandoning the Hall of Administration?
“Great!” he said, barely breaking his stride. “I’m all for it. Gloria always wanted to knock it down and turn it into more park.”
Good luck with your fight, Supervisor Hahn: You’re going to need it.
The House of Representatives will soon vote for a speaker of the House to lead the chamber for the next two years under the incoming Republican administration.
The previous race for the top House post was plagued by infighting among the GOP, who have been unable to easily find consensus on a speaker candidate in recent years. Former Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was ousted as speaker by his Republican colleagues in October 2023, and it took lawmakers several weeks to finally elect their next leader: Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La.
Johnson is running to retain his position in the next Congress but has not yet received support from all of his Republican colleagues. The 2025 vote carries particularly intense pressure as the House must agree on and elect a speaker in order to certify President-elect Donald Trump’s election victory just days later.
When will the House speaker vote take place?
The House is scheduled to vote on Friday, Jan. 3, 2025, at noon, as dictated by the Constitution.
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House Speaker Mike Johnson is running for speaker of the 119th Congress. (Valerie Plesch)
A speaker must be elected before the 119th Congress can be sworn in.
Who is running?
Republicans have the majority in the House for the 119th Congress, so they are in charge of choosing a speaker.
Current House Speaker Mike Johnson is running again as head of the chamber. At this point, no other candidates have thrown their hat into the ring, but in past years, alternatives have been floated during the day of the vote.
How many votes does a candidate need to win?
Republicans currently hold a slim, four-seat majority in the chamber with 219 seats compared to the Democrats’ 215.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy swears in the officers of the House of Representatives at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 7, 2023. (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times)
The GOP majority is to dwindle even further when two of Trump’s Cabinet picks, Reps. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., and Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., assume their roles pending Senate confirmation, which is expected to take place several weeks after the speaker vote.
A candidate for speaker must receive an outright majority to win. Given the number of seats held by the GOP, a Republican candidate would need 218 votes if all 434 members vote.
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Which Republicans have not committed to supporting Johnson?
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., recently told reporters he won’t vote for Johnson for speaker.
Another GOP member suggested that he has not yet committed to voting for Johnson: “Right now, I think that Mike has done an admirable job under tough conditions, but I’m going to keep my options open. I want to have a conversation with Mike,” Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., told Fox Business’ “Mornings with Maria.”
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., recently told reporters he won’t vote for Rep. Mike Johnson as House speaker. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call/File)
House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., recently said Democrats won’t bail out Johnson if he does not receive enough GOP votes.
How could the recent government funding bill affect the vote?
Johnson introduced a government funding bill in early December, but the first proposal failed before it even reached the House floor after opposition from Republican lawmakers and outside Trump allies Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.
A second government funding bill was brought to the House floor, but bipartisan lawmakers voted against the legislation. Johnson introduced a third package, but many of his GOP colleagues didn’t support it. While 34 Republicans voted against Johnson’s bill, it passed in the House with unanimous Democrat support.
With more than two dozen Republicans breaking with Johnson on the government funding fight, he could face potential pushback against his speaker re-election efforts. Anywhere from four to 10 Republicans could oppose Johnson in the speaker’s race, Fox News’ Chad Pergram previously reported.
Could the House race affect the certification of the election?
The vote for speaker will take place on Friday, just three days before Congress is scheduled to certify the results of the Electoral College for Trump.
President-elect Donald Trump is endorsing Rep. Mike Johnson for speaker of the House. (Andrew Harnik)
The House cannot proceed with any official business, such as counting the presidential election votes for Trump, until a speaker is elected and the next Congress is sworn in. In January 2023, it took House Republicans four days and 15 ballots to elect a speaker.
Trump announced he would back Johnson for the position, a pivotal endorsement that could help determine the Louisiana Republican’s chances come Friday’s vote.
“The American people need IMMEDIATE relief from all of the destructive policies of the last Administration. Speaker Mike Johnson is a good, hard working, religious man. He will do the right thing, and we will continue to WIN. Mike has my Complete & Total Endorsement. MAGA!!!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Monday.
Fox News’ Chad Pergram contributed to this report.
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