By Donna Westfall — August 23, 2023 I got a call from a guy in the Bay Area asking, "Why don't they call in the helicopters with 1,000 gallon buckets? I had never heard of that before. Let's do some research. In Maui, high winds prevented helicopters from going in. The winds fueled the blaze. But when the winds died down, seawater was indeed used. The Pentagon activated the National Guard and sent in helicopters. Three CH-47D Chinook helicopters were used. Max speed 184 mph. Range 400 miles. 100,000 gallons of water was dumped on that fire and helped put it out. Seawater was used. When I was told that my friend in the Bay Area called the Joint Command at 916 854 3440 and requested helicopters be sent in to our fire, he was told that only the Board of Supervisors or the Sheriff of Del Norte County could make that request. He tried calling Sup. Valerie Starkey who ignored him. He tried calling others on the Board of Supervisors but got nowhere. He called me. On Tuesday, August 22nd, I subsequently sent an URGENT email to the Sheriff with this information, but have not heard back from him. I also sent an email to all the Supervisors but have not heard back from any of them. The next step is to ask our elected officials like Sen. Mike McGuire, Assemblyman Jim Wood, Congressman Jared Huffman and Gov. Gavin Newsom to do something. Public pressure would help. Here are their contact #'s: Email and telephone numbers: senator.mcguire@senate.ca.gov. – (916) 651-4002 assemblymember.wood@assembly.ca.gov – (916) 319-2002 John@jaredhuffman.com – (415) 258-9657 gavin.newsom@gov.ca.gov. – (916)-445-2841 What is that red stuff dumped on the fire from planes? It's a fire retardant. Someone said it's cancer causing, however if it's branded as Phos-Chek, not only is it less toxic, but it also contains fertilizers to help in the regrowth of plants after the fire. It is considered safe.