Calls for spending hundreds of millions of dollars to expand the county professional firefighting forces to battle the next major wind-whipped brush fire - an event that happens once every four to 20 years - is madness. As it now stands, professional firefighters spend only 3 percent to 4 percent of their average shift actually fighting fires.

What will the hundreds of additional firefighters be doing 24/7, 365 days a year between those rare, huge brush fires? Besides getting paid, that is.

Moreover, another 500-800 professional firefighters would not have stopped the Santa Ana wind-driven fires - no way. With 10 times as many firefighters brought in, we were not able to stop such fires during the full fury of the winds.

As the cliche says, it's time to think outside the box.

The important thing to understand is that few homes immediately burn down when a brush fire roars by. Indeed, most San Diego homes burned not from roaring fires but from the embers from fires - fires sometimes a mile away. A glowing ember settles in a bush beside an abandoned home, the bush slowly catches fire and eventually the flames spread to the house. Wooden roofs used to be a prime ignition point, but few such flammable structures remain.

Aside from better and more prompt use of air support (I may cover that scandalous screw-up in a later column), there are other options to consider:

1. San Diego County is rather unique in that it has thousands of trained government firefighters ready and eager to fight the blazes on short notice - but they are never used. Every Navy sailor - officer and enlisted - has received at least rudimentary firefighting training. Moreover, the ships and shore stations have tons of firefighting equipment - firefighting masks, clothing gear, portable pumps and enough fire hose to reach to Kansas.

In addition, although Marines are not trained firefighters, they are more fit - ideal for defending structures from ember fires using garden hoses, shovels, buckets of water and wet blankets.

Would the military provide ground firefighting assistance if asked? In a heartbeat! The brass would love the positive publicity, and the sailors and Marines would relish the opportunity to fight fires.

2. We have volunteer city and county reserve police officers. Why not volunteer reserve firefighters as well? This option is common around the world.

For a relatively small cost of equipment and basic firefighter training, we could have thousands of motivated citizens fighting a fire - especially the ember fires. Some could even be trained to man small, simple firetrucks.

Outlandish? Not hardly. Three out of four trained firefighters in America are volunteers. People love to be firefighters.

3. End mandatory evacuations - especially in suburban areas. It's un-American to order people to abandon their homes when clearly firefighters cannot defend most abandoned abodes from fires. Instead, make timely evacuations voluntary, leaving to the individual the final decision to stay or go.

Government should be providing advice, training and perhaps even hoses for willing homeowners who want to stay and fight the fires. Over and over, suburban residents who defied evacuation orders in the 2003 and 2007 fires - remaining behind to fight the threat - were able to save their homes. Plus, they often saved nearby homes with simple firefighting tools and garden hoses. Apparently not a single such suburban firefighting lawbreaker died.

Higher taxes are not needed. New ideas are the solution.

- Richard Rider, chairman of San Diego Tax Fighters, is a freelance columnist for the North County Times.