Panel presses administration to hire 3,000 temporary firefighters
Western states are struggling to deal with the latest wildfire outbreak.
The House Appropriations Committee asked the Bush administration Friday to immediately reprogram $54 million in existing Forest Service funds to hire 3,000 temporary firefighters.
"If these workers are not hired immediately, it is likely that your capability for initial attack on wildfires will be severely hindered," wrote Interior Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Charles Taylor, R-N.C., and ranking member Norman Dicks, D-Wash., in a letter today to Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman and Office of Management and Budget Director Josh Bolten. "Based on your own data, if even just a few fires escape initial attack and become large, there is an exponential increase in fire fighting suppression costs."
The request comes at a time when Western states, in particular Southern California -- where 20,000 acres burned last week -- are struggling to deal with the latest wildfire outbreak. Appropriators are upset that OMB has balked at shifting funds from the Forest Services' wildfire suppression account, which saw a $247 million increase in fsical 2004 over the previous year, to the agency's fire preparedness account, which saw a slight decrease.
According to congressional aides, the administration would rather see funds transferred from other, non-fire accounts to make up the shortfall. But raiding other accounts, the aides said, would cause shortfalls in important areas.
The $54 million reprogramming request would not cover all costs, aides said, which could range up to $95 million, including the costs of aircraft, fire shelters and the replacement of air tanker capacity, since a contract for 33 large military surplus airplanes used for firefighting was grounded this week because of safety concerns.
Also, according to a May 12 staff memo, despite the increase in wildfire suppression funds, there remain shortfalls in that area. The memo argues that an fiscal 2004 supplemental for emergency firefighting funds soon will be necessary because of the risk of wildfires as well as costs incurred in California last fall.
"It is almost certain that available funding will run out this summer," the memo said.