SAN DIEGO -- The Board of Supervisors agreed Tuesday for the county to contribute $218,000 to help pay the lease on a firefighting helicopter over the next six months.

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The chopper has been leased by the city of San Diego, but Assistant Fire Chief Augie Ghio recently asked the county and 17 area cities to help with funding. The helicopter costs $230,945 a month to lease.

"We respond everywhere throughout the county of San Diego," Ghio told the San Diego Union-Tribune in December. "Truly, this is a regional fire rescue air support resource."

San Diego renewed the helicopter's lease on an emergency basis during the October fires, after it lapsed just days before the blazes began.

Nearly half the 165 emergency calls the helicopter crew answered from July 1 to Dec. 1 were outside the city limits, Ghio said. The county's share equaled $36,415 each month.

San Diego would pay $105,671 under City Manager Michael Uberuaga's formula, based on each entity's population and the property value within its jurisdiction.

The board will begin considering a permanent helicopter solution next week.