El Dorado County officials were prepared to dip into reserve funds to pay for the cleanup when they issued a request for bids from timber companies… 

"…and Sierra Pacific Industries came back with a zero bid, in other words no cost to the county for the tree removal work." 

Mike Applegarth with the county says the SPI bid is nearly $1 million lower than the next lowest bid. The bid includes a not-to-exceed amount of $100,000 to cover any unforeseen costs.  

"But it’s not expected that that will be necessary." 

Applegarth says there’s enough salvageable timber to make it a good deal for SPI. Tree removal could start as early as today. The Angora Fire burned 3,100 acres in South Lake Tahoe in June.