Fighting Wildfires Is Expensive, But Congress Refuses To Pay the Bill

"As Congress headed home for the Christmas break after passing a budget deal, Agriculture Department Secretary Tom Vilsack presented lawmakers with an angry ultimatum: Put up more cash if you want the U.S. Forest Service to keep putting out huge wildfires.

Vilsack is fuming because Congress set aside $1.6 billion to pay for wildfire suppression in 2016 despite the service, which he controls, spending $100 million more than that to fight blazes this year. Year after year, Congress has underfunded the firefighting effort, forcing the Forest Service to borrow hundreds of millions of dollars from other departments in the agency to pay for equipment and firefighters.

Congress allocated $1 billion for fire suppression in 2015 — a year fast approaching another record for most acres burned. As fires continued, Vilsack pleaded for more money to avoid the frantic inter-agency borrowing of fire seasons, such as $999 million in 2002; $695 million in 2003; $200 million in 2006, along with four other years when the budget came up short."

Darryl Fears reports for the Washington Post December 18, 2015.