Story thread · 2 reports / 2 sources

Trump official feels heat as he calls in massive air force to fight small fire near home

rawstory.com · 1h · first reportShare

When an unattended campfire near Idaho's Sawtooth National Forest grew into what would become the seven-acre Cabin Creek Fire on July 12, the Forest Service didn't send a truck and a crew. It sent an air armada – helicopters, air tankers, tactical planes and a Black Hawk. Nine aircraft in all, converging on a blaze so small and so easily reached by ground crews that veteran officials say the response defies explanation, except for one detail, reported the Washington Post . The fire started 15 miles from the mega-ranch of Michael Boren, the Donald Trump-appointed undersecretary who oversees the federal agency he called for help. According to two Forest Service officials, Boren phoned regional and national offices repeatedly that day, including once in the middle of the night, demanding to know why more aircraft weren't already in the air and when reinforcements would arrive to battle the blaze. The Washington Post's flight-path analysis found aircraft streamed in from across the West, i