Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell received briefings Tuesday in Boise on the 2016 fire season and gave an update on it calling it, "not a terrible fire season," especially compared to the 2015 fire season.
During a visit to the National Interagency Fire Center, the secretary also highlighted the need for a greater collaborative action to help community resilience against wildfire risks and to also strengthen federal firefighter safety and preparedness.
She had previously called on Congress to fix how the federal government budgets for wildland fire suppression by treating extreme fire seasons in the same way as other emergency disasters.
Jewell's time as Secretary of the Interior will come to an end in a few weeks as President-Elect Donald Trump's team takes over.
Trump has selected Montana Republican Ryan Zinke to take over the position, and Secretary Jewell says she believes the agencies bipartisan success will continue.