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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1,2000
Rain brings hope to fire-stricken states
by William Claiborne
The Washington Post
August 30, 2000
BOISE, Idaho A series of
weather systems moving from the
Pacific toward the Northwest
Wednesday brought the promise of
weekend rain and blessed relief to
thousands of weary firefighters, but
officials said it was too early to pre
dict an end to the most costly fire
season ever.
Fire directors from five federal
agencies emerged from their daily
strategy session at the National In
teragency Fire Center here Wednes
day morning to say they were more
optimistic than at any time this year
that they would see at least a brief
slowdown in some of the 85 fast-
spreading blazes that now engulf
1.64 million acres of woodlands in
16 western and southern states.
Since January, 6.4 million acres
have been destroyed in 73,357
wildland fires, more than double the
10-year average for January
through September. Fire suppres
sion so far this year has cost a
record $626 million and currently
Fatal crash renews
debate
elderly
by Greg Risling
and Solomon Moore
Los Angeles Times
August 30, 2000
LOS ANGELES A 91-year-old
driver who backed into a bank
lobby and killed a 1-year-old boy
said Wednesday that he won’t drive
again but disagreed with those who
say some people are simply too old
to drive.
“I don’t want to drive anymore
because of what happened at the
bank,” Val Conrad said the day af
ter the fatal accident in the San
Fernando Valley community of
Sylmar. “I’m very shook up about
it and would rather not be on the
road anymore.”
In the past, Conrad said, he has
ignored those who told him he was
too old to drive. He also touted his
clean driving record and defended
his legal right to drive. He passed
a road test seven days ago, obtain
ing a valid, though heavily re
stricted license.
“If they pass the tests, why
shouldn't they be allowed to drive?”
Conrad said at his home in Sylmar.
The accident that killed 1-year
old Nathaniel Escudero, also of
Sylmar, occurred on the same day
the California Assembly passed the
Senior Drivers Bill, which would
require the Department of Motor
Vehicles to review elderly drivers’
abilities more closely at the request
of a police officer, doctor or family
member.
The case also highlights an issue
of growing importance as
America’s population of seniors
and their political clout increase:
more older people are on the road
than ever before.
The trend has led auto companies
to target senior citizens with safer,
more comfortable cars and has led
to the creation of special driving
courses for older people. Aging
motorists also have sparked a de
bate about what additional driving
restrictions, if any, should be ap
plied to them.
According to the Insurance Insti
tute for Highway Safety, people age
65 and older are involved in more
fatal car accidents than any age
group except people younger than
25. Still, legislators have been re
luctant to impinge on senior citi
zens’ driving privileges for fear of
attracting the wrath of powerful and
well-financed advocacy groups,
such as the AARP, which lists 34
involves 25,000 firefighters in the said. “But these folks have been in
field. this business 25 or 30 years, and
“The rains won’t be a season- they don’t want a big adrenaline
ending event, but they could modify rush and then a big letdown.”
“The rains won y t be a season-ending
event, but they could modify the fire
season and, at the very least, give us
time to redeploy our resources and
catch our breath. ”
-Larry E. Hamilton,
director of fire and aviation
for the federal Bureau of
Land Management (BLM)
the fire season and, at the very least,
give us time to redeploy our re
sources and catch our breath,” said
Larry E. Hamilton, director of fire
and aviation for the federal Bureau
of Land Management (BLM).
“This morning people here were
happier than I’ve seen them in
weeks, because they see that per
haps the end is in sight,” Hamilton
over
drivers
million members nationwide
“I ran into a wall,” said Califor
nia state Sen. Tom Hayden, who
wrote the original Senior Drivers
Bill that would have allowed the
DMV to target elderly drivers for
more frequent testing. The AARP
opposed the version of the bill.
“Anybody who voted for that bill
would be accused of taking seniors’
licenses away,” Hayden said. The
AARP endorsed the final version,
which did not mention any particu
lar age group and passed the state
Assembly by a vote of 68-7.
Pat Luby, an AARP lobbyist
based in Sacramento, said one’s
driving ability should be evaluated
on an individual basis.
“The easiest thing to do when you
have a tragedy like yesterday is say
he shouldn't be driving,” he said.
“But we don’t know that.. . some
thing might have happened to him
right before the accident, a stroke
or something.”
Detective Tom Whetzel of the
Los Angeles Police Department’s
Valley Traffic Division said police
remain unclear about what caused
the accident.
“I didn’t hit the brake,” Conrad
said. “But I don’t remember hit
ting the accelerator either. I really
don’t know what happened.”
DMV spokesman Evan Nossoff
said Conrad obtained his most re
cent license Aug. 24.
“We’re obviously concerned
about that,” Nossoff said. “We’re
going to look into that, being that
he just passed a drive test.”
According to the DMV, Conrad
was prohibited from driving at
night, on the highway or without
corrective lenses.
Nossoff said Conrad’s license
was up for renewal on a yearly ba
sis instead of the standard five-year
period. Conrad is due to renew his
license Dec. 5 because he applied
so late in the year.
“Generally, one-year licenses are
issued when there is a physical or
mental condition at issue,” Nossoff
said. Conrad’s specific case is con
fidential, he added.
But Conrad said he takes daily
medications, including insulin for
his diabetes.
Elderly drivers typically experi
ence slower reflexes and impaired
vision, said Dr. Ed Schneider, dean
of University of Southern
California’s Leonard Davis School
of Gerontology. For example, se
nior citizens often lose some depth
perception, particularly at night.
WORLD & NATION
He said that in the past, weather
systems brought relief, only to pass
quickly. Then temperatures
warmed up, and the tinder dried and
became highly combustible again.
Hamilton said that there is still a
danger of high winds whipping up
forest fires in Montana, Wyoming
and Utah. But the expected one to
two inches of rain over the week-
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end should slow down the spread
of fires elsewhere in the Northwest
enough to allow the repositioning
of smoke jumpers, aircraft and
other personnel, and equipment to
new areas, depending on the
changes in the fire pattern.
At high altitudes, the precipita
tion will be in the form of snow and
could smother some small fires as
they break out, Hamilton said.
Heavy rain fell Wednesday on
Wyoming's biggest fire, a 14,750-
acre blaze north of Kemmerer, and
significantly slowed its spread, of
ficials there said.
At the Northern Rockies Coordi
nation Center in Missoula, Mont.,
spokesman Tom Valluzzi said:
“Things are looking a little bit bet
ter. It’s beginning to cool off.”
Meteorologists said new rains
if they materialize would mark
the West’s first real weather pattern
change in three months. Though
thunderstorms always present a
danger of increased lightning, offi
cials said the rains, moist air and
cooler temperatures could have a
significant effect.
Rick Ochea, the chief National
Weather Service meteorologist
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here, said one low-pressure system
moving from Alaska to Idaho,
Washington state and Oregon over
the weekend is a “lock” to happen,
and that another one expected to
arrive on Tuesday or Wednesday is
a "near lock.” In addition, a third
thunderstorm system developing
over the Pacific could follow the
first two systems.
"They aren’t going to be a knock
out punch, but the cumulative ef
fect is that they’ll help,” Ochea
said. “They should come close
enough together so there won’t be
time enough to dry out in between.”
Cooler air across the Northwest
spread optimism to firefighters on
the lines as well. Crews Wednes
day battled nine new blazes, many
of them in hard-hit Montana.
Jim Olson, 46, a BLM smoke
jumper here who has made 420
jumps since 1978, greeted the
weather reports with a great smile
of relief and cautious hope for some
rest.
“Maybe the door's open. We sure
need it, because it’s been a long sea
son and everybody’s ready for a
break,” said Olson, who also serves
as parachute loft manager at the
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sprawling national l ire center adja
cent to Boise’s airport. "But three
rainstorms won’t kill the season.
Only snow will put the tires out."
In Montana, the worst wildfires
in half a century prompted Gov.
Marc Racicol (R) earlier this week
to ask the Clinton administration
for federal assistance to offset the
spiraling economic losses. Racicot
said 31 large fires burning on
656,000 acres in Montana are cost
ing state businesses S 3 million a
day.
But fire managers in Montana
said most of the state’s fires made
no significant advances after over
night temperatures dipped to the
mid-40s in some areas. Crew s were
able to complete fire lines around a
20,800-acre fire south of Big Sky
and started discussing mop-up and
rehabilitation plans.
About 100 of the 150 families
who were forced to leave their
homes in Red Lodge, Mont., alter
a 2.500-acre fire advanced to w ithin
three miles of the town were al
lowed to return on Tuesday, as
firefighters and equipment poured
into the area.