The federal Bureau of Land Management’s recent agreement with the Bureau of Reclamation and local fire districts has already paid off this fire season.
The USBR turned over 200,000 acres to the BLM to manage.
With Grand Coulee’s fire district already on board with the agreement, Electric City has joined up as well.
Fire Chief for Electric City Mark Payne spoke to the Electric City Council last week about the benefits of the agreement.
“Ninety percent of our district is bureau ground,” Payne said, “and so we had access to ground troops, cats; it’s really a win-win. This gives us the ability to be paid for our equipment, and gives the ability to come home and turn [a fire] over to them instead of standing out there for days with limited resources.”