Double Whammy Against Wildfires : L.A. County leases ‘Super Scooper’ airplane and beefs up safety regulations

By leasing the firefighting plane known as the “Super Scooper” and moving swiftly to adopt a series of tough new fire safety proposals, the Board of Supervisors has taken laudable steps to protect the residents of Los Angeles County.

The Super Scooper, an amphibious plane that can snatch up seven tons of water in flight, comes highly recommended by fire experts. But over the years, the plane has seen very limited action in California because of what most state and local officials viewed as its prohibitive cost--a single craft costs $17 million, or about $1 million per fire season to lease and operate.

That view began to change after last year’s firestorms, which destroyed more than 1,000 homes, burned about 200,000 acres and resulted in nearly $1 billion in public and private losses. State officials now acknowledge the need for a test program for the airplane. Yet Gov. Pete Wilson and the Legislature have yet to come up with a dime.

This inaction stands in marked contrast to the performance of the L.A. County supervisors, who last Tuesday gave final approval to a three-month contract with the Quebec government to lease a Canadair CL-215T Super Scooper. In addition to its $719,000 lease fee, the plane will cost $515 for every hour it is aloft. Expensive, yes, but a bargain in comparison to the cost of an untamed fire.

The supervisors also approved a long-overdue ban on wood shake and shingle roofs in the county’s high-risk fire zones, as well as stricter building and fire codes, improvements in water delivery systems in fire-prone areas, and stronger brush clearance rules.

L.A. officials should consider sharing the Scooper--and its costs--with neighboring Orange, Ventura, San Bernardino and Riverside counties. Nature has a way of reminding us that, when it comes to a fire, political boundaries are meaningless.