Take Two translates the day’s headlines for Southern California, making sense of the news and cultural events that affect our lives. Produced by Southern California Public Radio and broadcast from October 2012 – June 2021. Hosted by A Martinez.
Over the past two months, a wildfire in Northern California has ripped through almost 125,000 acres around Big Sur. It's also burned through more than 200 million dollars.
Fighting fires is not cheap. And California fires, according to the U.S. Forest Service, are particularly expensive.
The Soberanes Fire in Big Sur is turning out be be one of the costliest to fight in U.S. history. That's according to data out this week from the National Interagency Fire Center.
And that $200 million and counting? That's just the cost of extinguishing and containing the fire, not the cost of damage done to structures and woodlands.
Char Miller, professor of environmental analysis at Pomona College and author of "Not So Golden State: Sustainability vs. The California Dream," joined Take Two to talk about what makes firefighting so expensive.
To hear the full interview, click the blue player above.