Fire experts are warning that $512m in congressional budget cuts could leave communities dangerously exposed in an early and active fire season. Such warnings have sharpened with the early onset of this year's fire season, and the record-setting outbreak in New Mexico.
Experts fear the shortfall will leave fire crews scrambling for resources, and force government agencies to dip into other non-fire budgets to cover the gap. "A person has to wonder. Is this going to be the new norm – frequent record-setting fires, while the number of federal firefighters and air tankers continue to shrink?" wrote Bill Gabbert, a former fire management officer in the Black Hills of South Dakota who now runs the blog wildfiretoday.com.
Wildfire budget cuts.
No comments:
Post a Comment