Editorial: More firefighting resources needed
At Friday’s press conference in Spokane, U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell asked, “If warm and dry is going to be the new normal, how can we work to better fortify these communities?”
Whether or not recent fire seasons represent the new normal – remember last year’s huge Carlton Complex blaze – government should prepare as if they do. Current resources don’t match the challenge, and the shortfall has exacerbated the devastation.
For example, when the Carpenter Road fire in Fruitland expanded, Stevens County Fire District 2 Chief Rick Anderson called nearby fire agencies, the state Department of Natural Resources and the state Emergency Management Division. But nobody came, because they were tied down at other fires. So Anderson had to choose which homes his small volunteer crew would save and which ones they’d walk away from.
The more than 100 large fires spreading across the West have forced agencies to call in firefighters from as far away as Australia and New Zealand. A crew from Jackson, Mississippi, is battling blazes near Twisp, where three firefighters were killed after being overrun by the unpredictable flames.
As the number and intensity of Western wildfires have increased, the resources to prevent them – and manage federal forests in general – have dwindled, according to a U.S. Agriculture Department report released last summer. The U.S. Forest Service spent 16 percent of its budget on firefighting 20 years ago; last year it was 42 percent. This year, the agency has already spent half of its annual firefighting budget, so once again it will probably have to borrow from its other programs.
To break the burn-and-respond cycle, Congress may need to increase the Forest Service budget overall.
As for firefighting itself, agencies need more people. Fire crews have descended from all over, and about 200 troops from Joint Base Lewis-McChord joined the fight over the weekend after receiving some impromptu training. But the effort is still stretched thin and crews are fatigued. It’s gotten so bad that DNR has begun accepting offers of help from citizens. Normally, the agency would balk at the lack of training for volunteers, but the severity of the problem has forced its hand. Volunteers will serve in support roles and not on the front lines.
On Friday, President Barack Obama signed an emergency declaration that will free up funds for communications equipment, power generation, crisis counseling and public health issues. But that won’t bring more people to fight the fires, which is what the 11 counties under the declaration need most.
The nation needs to train a reserve force that’s ready to hit the front lines when needed. The courageous crews currently doing that work can only do so much. Furthermore, we must have a better plan for managing increasingly parched and diseased forests.
We can’t control wind, heat and lightning, but we can choose how to respond. The time to plan for future fire seasons is now.