Letter to the Editor | Thursday, Nov. 22, 2018

Castle perfect spot to put a fire base

Re “Self-driving cars part of Merced’s future” (Page 9A, Sept. 1): I get having Google on Castle Airport. What I don’t get is why we seem to ignore the obvious. The dead tree zone in California shows the most trees affected are located within minutes of Castle, doesn’t it make sense to locate a year-round fire base here?

Our airspace is clean and aircraft located at Castle would be in a position to respond immediately to an incident like those we are seeing in Paradise – a tragedy never before seen in California. Sadly, it will happen again, as it almost did to Mariposa County during the Detwiler Fire. We cannot wait any longer. The Merced County Board of Supervisors has to act now and work to bring in CalFire and the U.S. Forest Service. Yes, it is that important. And the money they generate for our area will far surpass anything Google generates or will generate. The time to act is now.