SAN DIEGO (AP) – The Southern California wildfires have been vanquished, but the second-guessing is in full swing.

Politicians and residents have a lot of questions about how the wildfires managed to do so much damage, scorching more than 740,000 acres, burning about 3,600 homes and killing 22 people. They were the most destructive wildfires to ever hit California.

In hard-hit San Diego County, they want to know whether a lack of coordination and equipment hindered the firefighting effort and prevented communities from being saved. President Bush, Gov. Gray Davis and a 1932 state law have all come under criticism.

“There’s a distinct amount of anger, fear, confusion and concern,” said San Diego County Supervisor Dianne Jacob.

Unlike other large counties in California, San Diego County does not have a consolidated fire agency. Instead, more than 50 agencies serve the county, including small volunteer departments, city crews and the U.S. Forest Service. But when wildfires hopscotch across boundary lines, communication and coordination can suffer.

“I think the county should step up to the plate and take responsibility for fire protection,” said Kevin Dubler, fire chief of the Julian Cuyamaca Fire Protection District.

Jacob has pushed consolidation for years, but said it has been opposed by many communities, especially rural ones. A county task force is to issue a report in December, something Jacob hopes will lead to a combining of county firefighting resources.

The lack of air support at times, and the red tape involved in putting firefighting planes in the air, have also led to scrutiny.

The first helicopter to spot the big San Diego fire radioed for backup, but never got it. It was too late in the day and state rules regulating night-flying prohibited it. Officials and residents say the rules need changing.

Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., who lost his home in the fire, criticized Gov. Gray Davis for not deploying available military planes. But the Davis administration cited a 1932 law that requires civilian resources to be exhausted first. Now many say those restrictions need to be scrapped.

The one helicopter the city of San Diego had on hand was not used because the city and county let the lease expire and it was sent to the fires in San Bernardino, earning Mayor Dick Murphy his share of criticism.

“It’s just a matter of which is more important,” Murphy said. “More firefighters? More firetrucks? Or a helicopter? You have limited resources.”

The Board of Supervisors voted Wednesday to create a regional aerial fire protection district. The county wants to put the measure before voters by March. The Legislature would also have to sign off on the idea.

But in the past two decades, most ballot measures that would have raised money for county fire protection were rejected.

State officials are also pointing fingers at the Bush administration, saying it was slow to combat the threat posed by tinder-dry trees killed by a bark beetle infestation. The governor asked federal emergency officials in April for $430 million to clear the dead trees, but the request was rejected just as the wildfires began to spread.

“This finger-pointing is not going to do anybody any good any more,” Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge said in defending the decision.

The government said it turned down Davis’ proposal largely because Congress had already agreed to provide $43 million this year for fighting the beetle infestation and the sum seemed appropriate at the time.

Bruce Cain, director of the Institute of Governmental Studies at the University of California at Berkeley, said the finger-pointing between state officials and Washington is “a legacy of the bitterness that we’ve had in our politics over the past couple of years.”

It doesn’t much matter to Marcia Seiler-Christy, whose daughter, Christy-Anne Seiler Davis, 42, died in the fires.

“They need to stop blaming each other and learn from what happened and correct the problem,” Seiler-Christy said. “I’m sure it could have been done better, but I just can’t see blaming. It doesn’t help anything.”

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EDITOR’S NOTE – Angie Wagner is the AP’s Western regional writer, based in Las Vegas.

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