Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Federal Funds Sought For Fighting Bigger, Hotter Wildfires

A large tanker craft dumps fire retardant onto a wildfire.
USDA
/
Flickr.com
A large tanker craft dumps fire retardant onto a wildfire.

Increased funding and more modernized firefighting tools are being sought by a group of bipartisan senators, including Oregon’s. As KLCC’s Brian Bull reports, this push is being driven by increasingly hotter and larger wildfires.

A large tanker craft dumps fire retardant onto a wildfire.
Credit USDA / Flickr.com
/
Flickr.com
A large tanker craft dumps fire retardant onto a wildfire.

Bipartisanship on Capitol Hill hasn’t totally gone up in flames. But without heavier tools like air tankers and water-scoopers, politicians fear their state’s forests just might.

Oregon Democratic Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley have joined Idaho Republican Mike Crapo in a call to write both the Senate Committee on Appropriations and the U.S. Forest Service. 

Wyden says it’s to make sure the next fiscal year includes funds for fighting more intensive wildfires.

“We’ve also pushed to have the government speed up the reduction of hazardous fuels, which really are a magnet for fire," Wyden tells KLCC. "And air tankers are also a significant component of an effective strategy to fight fire, and that’s what I’ve teamed up with Republicans on.”

No specific dollar amount is in the letters. National Fire Incident Center data shows that while the number of wildfires this year is below the 10-year average, the acreage burned is greater…by just over 2 million.

Copyright 2018, KLCC.

Copyright 2018 KLCC

Brian Bull joined the KLCC News Team in June 2016. He is a 20-year reporter who has worked at NPR, South Dakota Public Broadcasting, Wisconsin Public Radio, and ideastream in Cleveland. His reporting has netted dozens of accolades, including three Edward R. Murrow Awards and the Ohio Associated Press' Best Reporter Award in 2012.