Cost-Saving Controlled Burns

* The wildfire that consumed thousands of acres a day of decadent chaparral north of Castaic should serve as a wake-up call for federal, state and local fire agencies. At a suppression cost of over $1 million per 24-hour period, it would appear that a prescription burn program at a cost of less than $25 per acre, in this type of terrain, would be dollars well spent.

Critical watersheds would be protected, wildlife enhanced and air pollution impacts significantly reduced. In addition, the disruption of interstate highways as well as power and communication outages could be avoided. This same wild-land fuel condition presently exists in many locations. Large, unbroken fields of chaparral can be managed. The cost of catastrophic wildfire suppression needs to be assessed against a proven vegetation management program.

Note: I retired from L.A. County Fire Department in 1991 as the vegetation management officer. I prescribed burns over 25,000 acres from 1982 through 1990. Former Supervisor Ed Edelman appointed me to the county wildfire safety panel following the 1993 “firestorm” fires.

SCOTT E. FRANKLIN

Santa Clarita