After catastrophic fires burned thousands of acres in North Dakota last year, state lawmakers continue to look at how towns and counties can be better prepared for another emergency. On Thursday, supervisors and firefighters gave their report to legislators on the emergency response services committee.
Earlier this year, the governor signed Senate Bill 2340, which gave the go-ahead to study the current needs of fire departments and emergency managers around North Dakota. Darin Hanson from the stateโs Department of Emergency Services, as well as Tom Claeys, the state forester, discussed not just who gets the call, but how to pay for the response after the fires are put out.
โLike any state agency, if you give us a dollar, weโll leverage it for three or five or seven dollars,โ Claeys said. โThe current state general fund investment in North Dakota Forest Service firefighting is three staffers, two firefighters and admin personnel. Itโs about $270,000-$277,000 a year. That leverages literally millions of dollars.โ
โAll of us travel all across the state for our jobs or for our personal lives,โ ND Forest Service fire management officer Ryan Melin said. โAnd itโs comforting to know that as we travel through the communities, that someoneโs going to answer a call if we have a bad day.โ This year, more than 650 fires burned nearly 60,000 acres in North Dakota.
