Peter Goldmark, Washington Public Lands Commissioner and head of the Department of Natural Resources, is requesting a $24 million budget increase from the state legislature in its upcoming session to help better prepare and train state firefighters for the fire season and to reduce the massive costs associated with responding to wildland fires.
"The Evergreen State is in danger of becoming the Wildfire State," Goldmark said during a Thursday morning press conference on the budget request. "The past two seasons have brought this to grim reality, in 2014 and 2015 combined, nearly 1.5 million acres burned across the state. That's nearly 3.5 percent of the land mass of the state."
In his speech, Goldmark said professional firefighters are needed to carry out training and requested more people, modern equipment, and more safety tools so that firefighters won't be lacking resources and will be as safe as possible when combating wildfires. Currently, the state budget for fire fighting is $27.2 million.
"The request I'm making to the legislature in the upcoming session is for $24 million," Goldmark said. "It's an essential, small investment, to meet the urgent need that's present on the landscape so that we can protect forests, communities, and habitats."
Responding to the increasing numbers of wildfires in recent years has run up a huge bill for the state. Goldmark said that a budget increase would lead to better, more efficient work from firefighters around the state, reducing the potential costs each year.