SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
A fire engulfs the Gila National Forest, New Mexico. The fire has become the largest wildfire in the state's history (Photo: Handout/Reuters).
In Extreme Wildfire Season, Budget Cuts Put Communities in Danger
Funding for preventing and putting out wildfires has fallen by $512m since 2010
Jun 02, 2012
Fire experts at wildfiretoday.com are warning today that firefighters across the US are beginning to feel the effects of federal budget cuts to firefighting programs -- making it more and more difficult to fight and prevent forest fires ahead of what is shaping up to be another record setting wildfire season.
This year has seen an unusually early wildfire season which began as early as March and has resulted in multiple 'megafires' such as the record-setting outbreak currently blazing in New Mexico.
Fire crews are now scrambling for resources, in a season that appears to be long from over.
"A person has to wonder. Is this going to be the new norm - frequent record-setting fires, while the number of federal firefighters and air tankers continue to shrink?" wrote Bill Gabbert, a former fire management officer and now writer at wildfiretoday.com.
"The economic downturn and a Congress dominated by Republicans who want to shrink the role of government make it extremely complicated to divert more funds to forest fighting," Suzanne Goldenberg reports at the Guardian/UK today.
Funding for preventing and putting out wildfires has fallen by $512m, or about 15%, since 2010.
"Super-sized and highly destructive wildfires have become a regular occurrence in America, especially in the south-west, because of drought, climate change and human interference with the natural landscape. Last year saw record-breaking fires in Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. The early start to this year's fire season has sharpened fears of a sequel: with more acres and homes lost, and bigger budget crises for federal and state governments fighting the disasters," writes Goldenberg.
* * *
The Guardian/UK: Wildfire budget cuts in Congress put communities in danger, experts warn
Fire experts are warning that $512m in congressional budget cuts could leave communities dangerously exposed in an early and active fire season.
Such warnings have sharpened with the early onset of this year's fire season, and the record-setting outbreak in New Mexico.
Experts fear the shortfall will leave fire crews scrambling for resources, and force government agencies to dip into other non-fire budgets to cover the gap. [...]
The number of active air tankers fell from 44 to 14 over the last decade, prompting a group of western Senators to demand the government update the fleet for the coming fire season.
"Concerns have increasingly been raised that the federal agencies responsible for responding to wildland fires - the Forest Service and four agencies in the department of interior - do not have the appropriate number and mix of aircraft that will be needed for wildland fire suppression operations," the letter said.
Ron Wyden, the Oregon Democrat who raised the alarm, told reporters the federal government needed to act quickly to update the fleet for the coming seasons of bigger fires.
* * *
The Guardian/UK: New Mexico's record-setting wildfires deepen trend of devastating 'megafires'
"Our fire seasons are starting earlier and lasting longer throughout the country," said Tim Sexton, wildfire research director for the US forest service. "When I first started, a three-day fire or a four-day fire was a long fire and now a month-long fire is not that uncommon."
Low-intensity wildfires are part of the natural landscape of the south-west but Ta study by fire scientists last month charted a disturbing new trend of large and devastating fires, consuming record areas of land and burning for weeks. By early Friday, the fire was just 10% contained, the forest service reported. [...]
The forest had seen nearly a dozen small-scale fires over the last several hundred years, according to the ecological record, said Matthew Rollins, the wildlands fire science director for the US geological survey.
But he said the forest had never experienced an all-consuming fire like the one burning now, with flames shooting up to the treetops.
# # #
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Fire experts at wildfiretoday.com are warning today that firefighters across the US are beginning to feel the effects of federal budget cuts to firefighting programs -- making it more and more difficult to fight and prevent forest fires ahead of what is shaping up to be another record setting wildfire season.
This year has seen an unusually early wildfire season which began as early as March and has resulted in multiple 'megafires' such as the record-setting outbreak currently blazing in New Mexico.
Fire crews are now scrambling for resources, in a season that appears to be long from over.
"A person has to wonder. Is this going to be the new norm - frequent record-setting fires, while the number of federal firefighters and air tankers continue to shrink?" wrote Bill Gabbert, a former fire management officer and now writer at wildfiretoday.com.
"The economic downturn and a Congress dominated by Republicans who want to shrink the role of government make it extremely complicated to divert more funds to forest fighting," Suzanne Goldenberg reports at the Guardian/UK today.
Funding for preventing and putting out wildfires has fallen by $512m, or about 15%, since 2010.
"Super-sized and highly destructive wildfires have become a regular occurrence in America, especially in the south-west, because of drought, climate change and human interference with the natural landscape. Last year saw record-breaking fires in Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. The early start to this year's fire season has sharpened fears of a sequel: with more acres and homes lost, and bigger budget crises for federal and state governments fighting the disasters," writes Goldenberg.
* * *
The Guardian/UK: Wildfire budget cuts in Congress put communities in danger, experts warn
Fire experts are warning that $512m in congressional budget cuts could leave communities dangerously exposed in an early and active fire season.
Such warnings have sharpened with the early onset of this year's fire season, and the record-setting outbreak in New Mexico.
Experts fear the shortfall will leave fire crews scrambling for resources, and force government agencies to dip into other non-fire budgets to cover the gap. [...]
The number of active air tankers fell from 44 to 14 over the last decade, prompting a group of western Senators to demand the government update the fleet for the coming fire season.
"Concerns have increasingly been raised that the federal agencies responsible for responding to wildland fires - the Forest Service and four agencies in the department of interior - do not have the appropriate number and mix of aircraft that will be needed for wildland fire suppression operations," the letter said.
Ron Wyden, the Oregon Democrat who raised the alarm, told reporters the federal government needed to act quickly to update the fleet for the coming seasons of bigger fires.
* * *
The Guardian/UK: New Mexico's record-setting wildfires deepen trend of devastating 'megafires'
"Our fire seasons are starting earlier and lasting longer throughout the country," said Tim Sexton, wildfire research director for the US forest service. "When I first started, a three-day fire or a four-day fire was a long fire and now a month-long fire is not that uncommon."
Low-intensity wildfires are part of the natural landscape of the south-west but Ta study by fire scientists last month charted a disturbing new trend of large and devastating fires, consuming record areas of land and burning for weeks. By early Friday, the fire was just 10% contained, the forest service reported. [...]
The forest had seen nearly a dozen small-scale fires over the last several hundred years, according to the ecological record, said Matthew Rollins, the wildlands fire science director for the US geological survey.
But he said the forest had never experienced an all-consuming fire like the one burning now, with flames shooting up to the treetops.
# # #
Fire experts at wildfiretoday.com are warning today that firefighters across the US are beginning to feel the effects of federal budget cuts to firefighting programs -- making it more and more difficult to fight and prevent forest fires ahead of what is shaping up to be another record setting wildfire season.
This year has seen an unusually early wildfire season which began as early as March and has resulted in multiple 'megafires' such as the record-setting outbreak currently blazing in New Mexico.
Fire crews are now scrambling for resources, in a season that appears to be long from over.
"A person has to wonder. Is this going to be the new norm - frequent record-setting fires, while the number of federal firefighters and air tankers continue to shrink?" wrote Bill Gabbert, a former fire management officer and now writer at wildfiretoday.com.
"The economic downturn and a Congress dominated by Republicans who want to shrink the role of government make it extremely complicated to divert more funds to forest fighting," Suzanne Goldenberg reports at the Guardian/UK today.
Funding for preventing and putting out wildfires has fallen by $512m, or about 15%, since 2010.
"Super-sized and highly destructive wildfires have become a regular occurrence in America, especially in the south-west, because of drought, climate change and human interference with the natural landscape. Last year saw record-breaking fires in Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. The early start to this year's fire season has sharpened fears of a sequel: with more acres and homes lost, and bigger budget crises for federal and state governments fighting the disasters," writes Goldenberg.
* * *
The Guardian/UK: Wildfire budget cuts in Congress put communities in danger, experts warn
Fire experts are warning that $512m in congressional budget cuts could leave communities dangerously exposed in an early and active fire season.
Such warnings have sharpened with the early onset of this year's fire season, and the record-setting outbreak in New Mexico.
Experts fear the shortfall will leave fire crews scrambling for resources, and force government agencies to dip into other non-fire budgets to cover the gap. [...]
The number of active air tankers fell from 44 to 14 over the last decade, prompting a group of western Senators to demand the government update the fleet for the coming fire season.
"Concerns have increasingly been raised that the federal agencies responsible for responding to wildland fires - the Forest Service and four agencies in the department of interior - do not have the appropriate number and mix of aircraft that will be needed for wildland fire suppression operations," the letter said.
Ron Wyden, the Oregon Democrat who raised the alarm, told reporters the federal government needed to act quickly to update the fleet for the coming seasons of bigger fires.
* * *
The Guardian/UK: New Mexico's record-setting wildfires deepen trend of devastating 'megafires'
"Our fire seasons are starting earlier and lasting longer throughout the country," said Tim Sexton, wildfire research director for the US forest service. "When I first started, a three-day fire or a four-day fire was a long fire and now a month-long fire is not that uncommon."
Low-intensity wildfires are part of the natural landscape of the south-west but Ta study by fire scientists last month charted a disturbing new trend of large and devastating fires, consuming record areas of land and burning for weeks. By early Friday, the fire was just 10% contained, the forest service reported. [...]
The forest had seen nearly a dozen small-scale fires over the last several hundred years, according to the ecological record, said Matthew Rollins, the wildlands fire science director for the US geological survey.
But he said the forest had never experienced an all-consuming fire like the one burning now, with flames shooting up to the treetops.
# # #
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.