Thinning forests of fuel, pre-certifying more volunteer firefighters and greater use of drone aircraft were some of the ideas put forward to reduce the size of future wildfires in Washington at a round-table discussion Wednesday chaired by U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell and U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris-Rodgers.
This year saw the biggest wildfire season in state history, with more than 1 million acres burned and three firefighters killed.
"We had the fire season we had all feared," said McMorris-Rodgers, R-Washington, who represents the Spokane region.
Cantwell, D-Washington, said this was also the longest fire season in state history, thanks to drought conditions, and battling the fires cost $319 million. "We need to be better prepared for the next fire season," she said.
Cantwell noted that forecasts call for a warm winter with lower-than-average snowpack, which could set the stage for another big fire season in 2016.
Moving through Congress is a proposal that would remove firefighting costs from the budget of the U.S. Forest Service and place them under the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Under the current system, the Forest Service often has to use funds intended for thinning and maintaining forests to fight fires. The lack of maintenance work then leads to bigger fires in future years, the lawmakers said.
McMorris-Rodgers said after the meeting that a bill to place firefighting funds under the FEMA budget had passed the House. Cantwell said a bill to make that change might be introduced as early as next week in the Senate.
But the lawmakers were mostly there to listen to a group that included representatives of fire departments, local politicians, private business and Indian tribes talk about ways to reduce the size of future wildfires.