Calif. Wildland Fire’s Price Tag Tops $5 Million
Calif. Wildland Fire’s Price Tag Tops $5 Million
20 September 2010
published by www.firehouse.com
USA — Investigators are still trying to determine the cause of last month’s 1,307-acre Bullards Fire in the Yuba County foothills. But there is a projected cost: $5.3 million.
The amount is what Cal Fire and the National Forest Service believe the final total will be, though Ann Westling, a Forest Service spokeswoman, said an exact total is still months from being compiled.
“There’s a variety of purchase claims, investigation costs, mileage and other costs still coming in,” Westling said.
Yuba County, too, is still determining its share of the price tag for the blaze, which started in the Yuba River canyon below Bullards Bar Dam on Aug. 27 and came fully under control four days later, after an unseasonable squall of rain assisted the effort.
Scott Bryan, the county’s emergency services officer, said the Sheriff’s Department spent about $11,000 in traffic controls and evacuation assistance for the fire’s tenure. Officials with Public Works, which helped with road inspections and closures, are still tallying their costs, he said.
“People don’t think of Public Works as a first responder, but in these situations they really are,” he said.
Because Yuba County got a disaster area declaration from the state, the county is eligible for reimbursement for those costs, Bryan said.
The costs borne by the state and federal agencies will be split in proportion to where the fire burned, according to Westling. A Cal Fire spokesman said because about 60 percent of the lands burned by the fire were on Tahoe National Forest lands, the forest service will cover about 60 percent of the costs.
Local independent fire agencies, such as Dobbins-Oregon House Fire District, can apply for reimbursement to whichever agency requested their assistance, Bryan said.
Cal Fire said 593 personnel fought the blaze with 31 engines, 16 fire crews, two helicopters, three dozers and 11 water tenders.
The $5.3 million amount might seem high for a fire that burned no structures and caused no serious injuries, Bryan said, but it reflects the difficult, steep terrain where it happened.
Because attacking it from the ground was difficult, commanders had to call in air tanker drops, which can be up to $50,000 for each drop, he said. “That’s what really drives up those costs.”
Westling said the fire’s cause is still under investigation, and did not give a timeline for when it’ll be determined. Bryan previously said the cause appeared to be man made in some way.
