PERSPECTIVES ON THE FIRES : Priorities Are Seriously Skewed : If the state can afford $60 million in aid to Disney, why can’t we afford the proper firefighting equipment?

When it comes to fire protection, Californians are entitled to the best that exists. Tragically, we’re not getting it.

We know when the fire season is. We know that Santa Ana winds raise the ante. And we know arson and carelessness all too often provide the initial spark.

This year, the native brush, the chaparral, is especially lush because of the many winter rains. With the coming of fall, the hills and mountains that provided our spring color have turned brown and are highly flammable.

Despite a long history of these conflagrations, we have neglected to make brush-fire safety our No. 1 priority.

When fire officials appear on local television morning shows following our current round of fires and account for the devastation by laying blame to homeowner negligence, it’s further insult to the overwhelming hurt.

In Los Angeles, hillside and canyon dwellers receive brush-clearance notices in the spring, and most adhere to them. When it comes time to reroof, longtime residents do so with fire-retardant materials.

But fire protection is woefully inadequate in the hills. Motorists and parkland visitors continue to smoke in the mountains with little or no enforcement from authorities. I’ve even seen people in cars casually flick ashes or lighted cigarettes out their windows.

Aside from the crucial issue of better fire protection, we’re also entitled to better equipment to put fires out once they start. For years, we have been working with legislative leaders to add water-scooping aircraft to our firefighting arsenal. Assemblyman Terry B. Friedman (D-Brentwood) has led this effort with support from Sens. Herschel Rosenthal and Art Torres, both Los Angeles Democrats. But last fall, in the midst of the fire season, a host of misplaced political machinations shot down the latest effort.

The water-scooping fixed-winged aircraft, nicknamed “Super Scooper,” can take on 1,600 gallons of water without landing. It can scoop from a lake, a reservoir or the ocean in 12 seconds, even in 6-foot waves. It does not have to land to reload nor does it need the ground support team required of helicopters. And, it can fly for four hours without refueling.

Unfortunately, within the departments charged with fire safety, there is a preference for the helicopter and a prejudice against the scooper. To us in need of fire safety, this feels very much like the old interservice rivalries of the Pentagon.

Our taxes ought to provide the best available protection against fire. No one piece of equipment is able to do it all. Certain situations require specialized tools. There’s a time for C-140 bombers, helicopters, fire crews and scoopers.

While salt water scooped from the ocean is not desirable for open brush fires because it damages native vegetation, it would have been most effective on the houses in Laguna Canyon last week. Inside of three minutes, scooping aircraft could have dropped water, swung out over the ocean for a reload, returned to the scene and dropped again. I’m sure the folks in Laguna wouldn’t have complained if it was salt water that saved their homes. And now, tragically, perhaps the same thing is true for parts of Malibu.

The aircraft are expensive, about $16 million each. Even so, the manufacturer has been willing to enter into lease-sale arrangements.

The fire season comes every year. Urban housing continues to press into our open areas. The cost to homeowners and insurance companies is staggering, far exceeding the cost of additional fire signs in mountainous areas and water-scooping aircraft.

Gov. Pete Wilson recently announced $60 million in state aid to the Disney Corp. to help construct parking facilities and new freeway off-ramps for its expansion. We have to ask where our priorities lie when public financial aid is given to one of the most successful conglomerates in the world, while the cost of additional fire safety is considered too expensive.

We’re sitting here in our homes, doing our part, and expecting the best protection available. Even now, after still another tragedy, there’s time to add a very powerful arrow to our firefighting quiver. As those Santa Ana winds vamp and regroup and threaten once more, we’d be wise to have those scoopers headed our way.