Poor Controls Over State Firefighting Aircraft Found

California’s firefighting planes and helicopters could be taken away by the U.S. government because of sloppy state management of aircraft parts, the state auditor reported this week.

The first complete, independent government investigation of whistle-blowers’ allegations revealed that the California Department of Forestry is inadequately controlling federal aircraft parts loaned to keep its fleet of military surplus air tankers and helicopters flying.

Failure to meet U.S. government guidelines for handling the parts could result in federal officials canceling the loan program, said auditor Kurt Sjoberg. The Forestry Department operates the largest state fleet of federal surplus aircraft in the nation.

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Without the federal loan program, the cash-strapped state government probably would be unable to afford the $75 million or more it would cost to buy planes and spare parts.

The Forestry Department’s fleet aids ground forces in battling wildfires.

The forestry agency said it generally agrees with the audit’s findings, released Tuesday. The department said it has tightened its tracking of federal property but is taking further steps to improve controls.

State auditors reported that the department has failed to count and reconcile its federal property inventory, accurately record its federal inventory in records, appropriately tag federal property as required and adequately safeguard federal property.

Auditors also found that:

* Department officials lied in June, 1992, when they said they had conducted a complete inventory of parts.

* A Forestry Department air tanker remains grounded in Arizona because the department lost control of the government plane to a private contractor.

* There is a lingering potential conflict of interest between an employee and private businesses that have done work for the Forestry Department air program. Auditors said inadequate policing of potential conflicts could allow department workers to improperly influence contract awards.

* The department failed to follow government property disposal guidelines in trading aircraft radios and a U.S. helicopter tail-boom to private firms.

* The department violated state travel rules in a trip to Canada to acquire aircraft engines.

The Forestry Department has been flying old Navy S-2 patrol airplanes and helicopters, loaned by the federal government, to douse wildfires since the mid-1970s. The department must return the aircraft and parts when finished with them.

Whistle-blowers revealed alleged improprieties in the program in 1992 after a series of Forestry Department air tanker crashes that resulted in the deaths of 10 pilots.

The anonymous whistle-blowers said, in part, that federally loaned parts had been stolen or mishandled. Auditors said that because of the lack of inventory controls they were unable to determine in some cases whether federal property was lost, stolen or misplaced.

Auditors found that for most of the whistle-blower allegations, the Forestry Department had taken defensible action, had policies in place to prevent recurrences, or did not need to take additional action.