News
America’s Wildland Fire Problem is Growing
NVFC Working to Help Policymakers Address Situation
Last year as fires raged throughout Southern California, America was once again reminded of the devastating effect of wildland fires. As climates change and larger populations move into the wildland/urban interface, the social and economic costs of wildfires are greater than ever before.
In an effort to examine these increasing costs of wildland fires, the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) participated in a Blue Ribbon Panel on Wildland/Urban Interface Fire. The Panel recently published a report estimating that 100,000 wildland fires destroy nearly one million acres every year in the United States. The report also revealed that there are more than 46 million homes located in the wildland/urban interface (WUI), with 10 million of them constructed since 1990. Unfortunately, of the 51,612 communities at risk, only 10 percent have adopted a wildland/urban interface code, less than 10 percent have completed a Community Wildfire Protection Plan, and less than one percent has been designated as Firewise Communities.
Congress has taken notice of the nation’s growing wildland fire problem and is starting to take action. On April 10, the House Natural Resources Committee conducted a full committee hearing to discuss the Federal Land Assistance, Management and Enhancement (FLAME) Act (H.R. 5541). The bill would provide a supplemental funding source for catastrophic emergency wildland fire suppression activities on federal lands and would also require the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture to develop a cohesive wildland fire management strategy.
Testimony was given by several notable witnesses, including Rep. Norman D. Dicks (D-WA), Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano, and former U.S. Department of Agriculture. Forest Service Chief Jack Ward Thomas. Thomas is one of five former Forest Service chiefs that recently endorsed the bill in a letter to House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick J. Rahall (D-WV).
The Emergency Wildland Fire Response Act (H.R. 5648) is another piece of recently introduced legislation that would create a new funding source for wildland fire suppression. The NVFC hasn’t endorsed H.R. 5648 or the FLAME Act but is supportive of many of the concepts contained in each bill.
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Kimberly Ettinger
Director of Communications
202-887-5700 ext. 19
David Finger
Director of Government Relations
202-887-5700 ext. 12