Officials seek to contain wildfire costs

ZACA Fire Related story over at the LA Times By Steve Chawkins, Times Staff Writer is very timely and interesting reading in light of the Zaca Fire blowup yesterday he describes the almost total Demobilization of the fire camp including all CAL FIRE crews and aircraft just prior to the large slop over yesterday in an effort to reduce expenses.
He also discusses the worst case scenario and the possibility of a 800,000 acre fire

Officials seek to contain wildfire costs - Los Angeles Times:
"Officials seek to contain wildfire costs
After a sharply critical federal report on efforts to hold down expenses, managers begin to alter long-used strategies and front-line practices."

A few snippets from the whole article:

"SANTA YNEZ, CALIF. — For a tense couple of weeks, the 31,000-acre Zaca fire threatened to scorch more than 1,000 square miles of wilderness and reach the outskirts of communities as far-flung as Santa Barbara and Ojai."

"With the Zaca fire just 51% contained early last week, hundreds of firefighters from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the U.S. Forest Service and other agencies already had been released to go home or battle fires elsewhere. At base camp eight miles from the bucolic Santa Ynez Valley, giant bulldozers were being loaded onto flatbed trucks, one of two mobile showers was hauled away and workers were dismantling a huge tent where managers had been meeting to discuss daily strategy."

"At the Zaca fire, the more than $35 million spent so far could have been a mere down payment if the flames had swept into the adjacent Bob Smith and Matilija wilderness areas. Much of that acreage has not burned in at least 100 years, and officials said fire could have roared through the rough terrain unabated.

"If the weather hadn't cooperated with our firefighting efforts, this could have been much, much worse," said Capt. Eli Iskow, a spokesman for the Santa Barbara County Fire Department. "We were 'what if-ing' this situation to death."

"The worst-case scenario was outlined in blue on a huge map at Command Row, the dozen trailers that served as executive suites at Zaca's base camp. It showed the fire spanning about 800,000 acres — a vast swath that would have threatened the fringes of coastal Santa Barbara and inland Ojai. To prepare, firefighters carved nearly 200 miles of containment lines, some as far as 15 miles from the flames.

The aggressive — if costly — air campaign paid off, Ferris said: "It was a question of pay now — or pay a lot more later."