The economy is tough on everyone right now, but scrapping the Superscooper airplanes that was so successful against the wildfires to save some dough could be playing with fire.
County supervisors say they have a lower-cost plan now that will up the aircraft presence available to the county, the North County Times reported. By not bringing back Superscoopers, Supervisors Dianne Jacob and Bill Horn said that they could put up at least four more aircraft on call.
If the Board of Supervisors approves it, $250,000 would be put away for the service of the new planes if necessary. Last year, the three-month contract for the Superscoopers cost the county $3 million.
The Canadian owned Superscoopers helped put out the Juliet fire that burned about 4,000 acres of Camp Pendleton and threatened several hundred Oceanside homes.
The region already has four firefighting helicopters, two owned by the county and two by the city of San Diego.
