Buried in President Obama’s request last week for emergency funding to deal with the immigration crisis at the border was a little-noticed item that could significantly improve the outlook for wildfire suppression.
The president asked federal lawmakers for an extra $615 million for firefighting this year, but more importantly, requested that the federal government be able to treat wildfires like any other natural disaster.
The immediate money would be helpful, to be sure, but the second piece about using disaster fund money for wildfires could solve a lot of problems long-term, and we hope Congress sees it that way.
Wildland fires are largely, but not exclusively, a Western plight that has been getting worse during the past decade.
In the 1990s, the average annual cost of fighting wildfires was less than $1 billion, according to a report by Headwaters Economics. But since 2002, that number has ballooned to $3 billion a year.
The costs are gobbling up the U.S. Forest Service’s budget, diverting money from forest maintenance work that helps keep small fires from turning into major fires.
And it’s not just the federal government that is facing higher bills from fires that threaten homes and other assets. State and local resources go toward this as well.
In an effort to up the ante, Colorado lawmakers this year committed $20 million to a new aerial firefighting fleet. That’s in addition to the resources already spent on wildfires.
This editorial board questioned the fiscal prudence of the aerial fleet, particularly since the federal government has long maintained and managed aerial firefighting assets.
Earlier this year, the president asked Congress to allow Federal Emergency Management (FEMA) disaster fund money to be used to fight the biggest fires.
That request has not been approved, and last week the president again asked that wildfires be treated like other catastrophic events.
In his letter to Congress, the president asked for authority “to respond to severe, complex and threatening fires or a severe fire season in the same way we as we fund other natural disasters such as hurricanes or earthquakes.”
The request would put this Western problem on par with other calamities. And it would enable the Forest Service to use more of its resources for forest-thinning and other fire-reduction activities. Congress should see the wisdom and parity in this approach.
