Forrest Fire Fighting Costs $2 Billion

Wildfire suppression for the fiscal year 2017 will cost the U.S. Forest Service more than $2 billion, the most expensive year on record.  Wildfires have ravaged much of the Northwest, and western U.S this summer.  Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue called on Congress last week to fix the way the agency’s fire suppression efforts are funded.  Perdue said spending on fire suppression in recent years has gone from 15% of the budget to 55%.  He said the budget takes away from fire prevention funds, leading to more severe wildfires.

Continuous fire activity and the extended length of the fire season is driving costs.  At the peak of the Western fire season, there were three times as many uncontained large fires on the landscape as compared to the five-year average, and almost three times as many personnel assigned to fires.

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