From the Los Angeles Times: The former U.S. Forest Service commander who led the initial attack on last year's Station Fire conceded to a House panel that a "window of opportunity" to contain the flames was lost when aircraft arrived two hours late on the second morning of the blaze.

Will Spyrison, the then-division chief who oversaw the operation on the second morning, told the panel that he made several calls for the air tankers between about 12:30 and 3:25 a.m. and was never told that they would not arrive until two hours after he needed them.

The fire, which broke out a day earlier, became the largest in Los Angeles County history, blackening 250 square miles of the Angeles National Forest and destroying more than 200 homes, commercial buildings and other structures. Two county firefighters were killed trying to defend their Mt. Gleason camp.

Spyrison also said he did not know that a separate Martin Mars tanker had been in the air the evening before and was available to dump more than 6,000 gallons of water and gel on the fire but was turned away and directed to unload at another location.