City's wildfire clean-up exceeded estimates

Following the October 2007 wildfires, the city of San Diego contracted with two companies for demolition and clean-up of homes destroyed in the fire. Original estimates for the service was around $28,000 per home, but the final costs surpassed the original estimate by more than 68 percent according to a watchdog report by Dana Wilkie, Brooke Williams and Danielle Cervantes of The San Diego Union-Tribune. Cost overruns have been attributed to gross misjudgment on the amount of ash and landscaping debris removed, as well as the amount of erosion-control supplies used. The city of San Diego is responsible for $1.6 million of the overage, funds that will come out of taxpayers pockets.