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Besides ordering the California National Guard on Monday to make 1,500 guardsmen available for
firefighting efforts, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asked the Pentagon to send all available Modular Airborne
Fighting Systems to the area. The military Lockheed C-130 cargo/utility aircraft carry a pressurized 3,000-
gallon tank that can eject fire retardant or water in fewer than five seconds through two tubes at the rear of
the plane. This load can cover an area 1/4-mile long and 60 feet wide to create a fire barrier. Governor
Schwarzenegger also directed 2,300 inmate firefighters and 170 custody staff from the California
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to work hand in hand with state and local firefighters.
Residents and government officials alike are noting the improvements with gratitude, even amid the
loss of homes, churches, businesses, and farms. Despite such losses, there is a sense that the speed,
dedication, and coordination of firefighters from several states and jurisdictions are resulting in greater
efficiency than in past "siege fire" situations.
"I am extraordinarily impressed by the improvements we have witnessed between the last big fire and
this," says Ross Simmons, a San Diego-based lawyer who had to evacuate both his home and business on
Monday, taking up residence at a Hampton Inn 30 miles south of his home in Rancho Bernardo. After fires
consumed 172,000 acres there in 2003, the San Diego region turned communitywide soul-searching into
improved building codes, evacuation procedures, and procurement of new technology. Mr. Simmons and
neighbors began receiving automated phone calls at 3:30 a.m. Monday morning telling them to evacuate.
"Notwithstanding all the damage that will be caused by this, we will not come close to the loss of life
because of what we have ... put in place since then," he says.
