Tue, Mar 16, 2010
"Staff Training" Flights Tied Up Two Emergency Services Helos
For Several Hours
A Democratic Congresswoman from Long Beach requested the use of
two Los Angeles County Fire Department helicopters in order to take
both her local and D.C. staffs on an aerial tour of the
region. Congresswoman Laura Richardson (pictured) said
the tour was to provide training for the staff on transportation
corridors and homeland security issues at the Port of Los
Angeles.
The Los Angeles Times reports that the fire department
accommodated the request, despite what the congresswoman's aide
admitted in an e-mail were concerns regarding compromising
emergency services, and a price tag that could reach $25,000. "This
level of expenditure ... possibly opens both L.A. County Fire and
our office to public scrutiny," Richardson's district director Eric
Boyd said in his e-mail to Fire Department Air Operations Chief
Anthony Marrone.
In the end, two helicopters were supplied for the congresswoman
and her 19 person staff, one from the county and one from the city
of Los Angeles. The county helo reportedly was out of service for
about 6 hours due to refueling, a weather delay, and travel to and
from Long Beach. The actual aerial tour lasted just under two
hours.
John Tripp, the chief of emergency operations for LA County told
the Times that he deemed the trip to be worthwhile to provide an
understanding of the infrastructure in the community. He was not
directly involved with granting the request.
Richardson said she considered the tour necessary to train her
staff in what she said were the district's "unique complexities" to
better be able to obtain funding for local projects.
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