A $52,000 state grant paid for the firebreak. Compared to $1.5 million per-day cost of fighting a wildfire, it appears the firebreak was a sound investment.

“Even when you know the science, you doubt yourself,” UC Cooperative Extension natural resources advisor Glenn Nader told reporter Ben van der Meer. “You see this, and you know with the right kind of fire, the right kind of wind, this will work.”

Middlebrook said he nearly abandoned the idea of building a firebreak when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service asked that anyone working on it be trained to understand the life cycle of the red-legged frog, which could have habitat in the area. Nader responded to the issue diplomatically.

“I know every agency has the best of intentions, and I work for one,” he was quoted. “But I do not run from the fact (Fish and Wildlife staff) were a hindrance."