Mr. Chairman, the initial projected net suppression cost for 2008–2009 was $5.6 million. We ended up with $3 million more than that, with money that was approved.
One of the things we do every fire season is a debriefing on what happened, how it happened, in what areas and what we can learn from that. We’ve
also had discussions with the department about looking at the current values at risk system and the command and control structures to make sure we are being as timely as possible and that everything is working as effectively as can be.
I want to point out that we have very capable fire staff. One of the things we always struggle with, of course, is the weather and things that we can’t control. It’s like being in a military campaign. You have to make decisions
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you have to make
decisions sometimes in a hurry
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and you have to
move as a result of those decisions. You don’t have often the luxury of hindsight or an extended length of time.
Having said that, we are going to take a look to make sure that if there are improvements, we can be ready for the next fire season.