The county spends almost 18 million dollars a year on fire protection, but its General Fund is only about 17 million. So it's asking residents to take an online survey to weigh in on what they'd like to see. The county's contract with Cal Fire has been a financial problem for years, but now something must be done. County Administrator Paul Hahn says the county is looking at several options.

He says plans are to continue the contract with Cal Fire for another year, but after that the county must make a change. One of the main problems is the county has no say in cost increases that come from the state. The online survey takes about 5 minutes and is available through buttecounty.net.