SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego County Board of Supervisors signed off Tuesday on a letter to be sent to Cal Fire and U.S. Forest Service officials, asking them to begin negotiating rules that will allow for nighttime aerial firefighting in their jurisdictions.

Water-dropping helicopters were unable to attack the destructive 2003 Cedar Fire in its infancy because of state rules that prohibited aerial water drops at night. The 273,250-acre blaze, started by a lost hunter near Ramona, quickly raged out of control, ultimately killing 14 people and destroying 2,232 homes.

Supervisor Dianne Jacob acknowledged "inherent risks" involved in flying through smoky air in the dark in often treacherous terrain, but she said pilots with the proper training and equipment should be allowed to do so if they believed it was safe.

Supervisor Pam Slater-Price called night flying by water-dropping aircraft "a must-have" for the county.

"We can't afford to have out-of-date bureaucratic rules compromise public safety," Slater-Price said. "I'm tired of excuses as to why it can't be done."

The measure -- passed 4-0 on the consent calendar with Supervisor Ron Roberts absent -- calls for county staff to work with the state and federal agencies and the San Diego County Fire Chiefs Association to establish an agreement allowing for night aerial firefighting.