The Cost of Fighting Fires

As of Monday morning, news outlets are reporting more than 100 wildfires burning in Western states. Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and California have the worst of it at the moment. The US Forest Service is reportedly spending $100 million a week to battle the fires and will have used up its budget for the year in another week’s time. The US Department of Agriculture estimates that so far this year, about 6.4 million acres in the US have been burned.

Last week, the USDA announced that, because of the number and severity of fires, the National Multi-Agency Coordinating Group (NMAC) had raised the National Fire Preparedness Level to 5, the highest level, allowing federal and state agencies to commit more resources.

As of Monday morning, news outlets are reporting more than 100 wildfires burning in Western states. Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and California have the worst of it at the moment. The US Forest Service is reportedly spending $100 million a week to battle the fires and will have used up its budget for the year in another week’s time. The US Department of Agriculture estimates that so far this year, about 6.4 million acres in the US have been burned. Last week, the USDA announced that, because of the number and severity of fires, the National Multi-Agency Coordinating Group (NMAC) had raised the National Fire Preparedness Level to 5, the highest level, allowing federal and state agencies to commit more resources. [text_ad] At the same time, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack warned that long-term funding is inadequate and called on Congress to change the way firefighting efforts are funded. Jewell said that the additional money needed to fight this year’s fires will divert funding from other programs—ironically, some of the very restoration efforts that could reduce the occurrence of wildfires in the first place. “The conditions we are experiencing this fire season are stretching our resources and may force us to divert funds from prevention and restoration efforts just to keep up with fire suppression costs,” Jewell said. “That’s why we need a better way to fund severe fires, similar to how we manage costs for other natural disasters. This would give us the flexibility to fight these fires without taking away from important efforts like forest and rangeland restoration, fuels management and proactive community protection.” Vilsack noted, “Fire seasons are growing longer, hotter, more unpredictable, and more expensive every year, and there is no end in sight. Within just 10 years, two out of every three dollars the Forest Service gets from Congress will be spent on fire programs, which leaves much fewer resources for the very restoration projects that have been proven to reduce the risk of wildfire and improve forest health. We are at a tipping point. Congress must change the way it pays for wildfires by providing a fiscally responsible way to treat catastrophic wildfires more like the natural disasters that they are.” Also on Monday, the Department of the Interior released its National Seed Strategy for Rehabilitation and Restoration—guidelines for “healthy landscapes,” particularly in areas already damaged by fire. Steve Ellis, Deputy Director of the Bureau of Land Management, noted, “Large disturbed areas must be replanted quickly to avoid severe erosion or colonization by non-native invasive plant. In many cases, it has been difficult to obtain and deliver adequate quantities of the appropriate seed to meet a region’s particular need.” The strategy outlined on Monday calls for creating a national network of federal, state, local, tribal, and private facilities to provide seed storage resources and help increase the availability of native seed.