Since July 4, our local firefighters have spent $81 million fighting the Zaca fire — 2,900 folks are fighting the fire with 21 helicopters and five planes — and they haven’t gotten the fire out.

A state of emergency was announced Aug. 19, and now access to more equipment is available to fight the fire. It looks to me like the original equipment hasn’t been put to proper use at all. Are the firefighters and equipment operators just cleaning up overtime?

— Howard Cottrell, Ventura