The helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft touring companies operating out of the airport are private businesses, and as long as they make there lease payments and don’t violate any safety regulations, they are free to enter into any legal business contracts that they may choose just like any other business.

I was supremely disgusted with the Chamber’s “Visit Sedona” facebook page which continually posted “Come to Sedona, we’re open for business!” during the slide fire. I responded with the truth and they deleted my posts.

Thank you Ron Vernesoni for a well thought out letter with practical solutions.

I’m afraid that the USFS guiding principles will never be practically applied due to the greed of the city and Chamber. They raised the bed tax and gave the Chamber over $1m to attract more visitors. The Chamber continued to encourage visitors in the heat of the devastation with a complete disregard for public safety. They do not give a crap about the forest or the beauty of this wonderful place. They care even less about visitor experience. Who cares if visitors have to sit on HWY 179 for 2 hours to get to uptown, where there is no parking. It’s all about the money with them and to heck with the environment.

I grew up in Southern California and Disneyland was the same way. Instead of closing the park when it’s full, they keep taking your money and you can pay over $100 to ride 2 or 3 rides all day. It’s just not right.

No, they did not use the Wetlands Preserve water as far as I know. The point is, though, even if a small town has aerial assets and experienced pilots for airborne firefighting, it has to have a water source as well. We have it!

Wildfires greatly increase the risk of flooding. To read this important information on the National Flood Insurance Program, please view this brochure or visit http://www.floodsmart.gov.

This is the supreme analysis of the risk inherent in the current fire season coupled with solutions that will work. Thank you Sir. May I add this…I would like to ask if the combined Board of the SFD and the City Council of Sedona would consider, as soon as is bureaucratically possible, one other matter for early-wildfire limitation consideration which may be vital to the survival of Red Rock Country…and, that is, joint venturing between the Sedona Fire District and the City of Sedona in contracting with local private air assets companies, such as Arizona Helicopter Adventures, to provide early wildfire aerial firefighting (including wildfire night-fighting) in order to mitigate wildfires in our general vicinity BEFORE they become a holocaust in the sixty or so hours it usually takes federal and state air assets to arrive on the scene to support the SFD or county firefighters. All monumental wildfires such as the Brins Fire and the recent Slide Fire start small but accelerate quickly.

Sedona is one of a handful of small towns in the country who actually does have this capability sitting right at our own airport. Right here in Sedona, right now, we have the skilled and experienced pilots in day and night fighting of wildfires, the necessary aircraft, save some firefighting add-ons to their aircraft priced at a very reasonable cost, the qualification standards for necessary federal licenses and permits as well as favorable new private contractor provisions under the new federal Incident Command System…not to mention the availability of current water assets they would need vis a vis the Wetlands Preserve. All these Sedona Airport-based aerial firefighters need is some modest funding for firefighting aircraft add-on equipment and on-call firefighting contracts with the SFD and City of Sedona, possibly to be followed by contracts with the counties. The idea is to seriously limit a wildfire’s spread, if not extinguish it outright, before the SFD has to put their firefighters at risk of fighting a holocaust before federal/state air assets arrive, almost always belatedly!

JRN

The people of Sedona do happily clean up most of the trails in the forest and in return, more and more of the forest is being closed off.

What about the USFS employees?
Cut back on your never ending meetings…This should give the forest service employees enough time to drive themselves in the overabundance of green trucks at the Red Rock Ranger station to the forest and get to work…get a little dirt on those uniforms. Stop spending money on green trucks and hire some help instead.

I was very embarrassed that our Sedona Chamber of Commerce was promoting tourism during what was tested as extremely unhealthy air. One step from hazardous. Someone needs to step down from the Chamber. You know who you are.