Fire Line Equipment, LLC Newsletter

Fire Line Equipment, LLC Newsletter: "House approves special spending to fight wildfires


Exasperated by the escalating cost of fighting wildfires, the House on Thursday overwhelmingly approved a bill to help pay for the next disaster. The bill, approved 412-3, would create a separate fund to cover the costs of combating major wildfires such as those that have devastated parts of California and other Western states in recent years. The bill now goes to the Senate.

Lawmakers in both parties have long complained that the Forest Service and other federal agencies routinely overspend their budgets for wildfires, figuring that additional money will be provided if needed. The Forest Service and Interior Department spent about $2.4 billion last year fighting fires, a $500 million increase over the previous year and double the average amount spent a decade ago.

Lawmakers hope a reserve fund will make it less likely the agencies will have to dip into other parts of their budgets that are dear to Congress members to fight fires. Spurred by global warming and drought, wildfire seasons have grown longer and more intense by the year, experts say. Fighting the fires is complicated by an increase in small trees and underbrush that serve as fuel for catastrophic blazes, and lawmakers said the money budgeted by the Forest Service to thin forests and clear underbrush is inadequate.

The special fund is dubbed the Federal Land Assistance Management and Enhancement Act, or FLAME. President Barack Obama in his budget proposed a similar fund for wildfires of $357 million. The House bill doesn't specify a dollar amount, which would be set later in spending bills."