All across the Western United States, governments are allocating unprecedented sums of money to prepare for what experts expect will be one of the worst wildfire seasons in memory, as drought, low water levels, and high temperatures conspire to create tinderbox conditions.
“Fire season has become extended in many parts of the country to what now encompasses an entire fire year,” said Bill Avey, national fire and aviation director of the USDA Forest Service, reports CNBC News.
The etreme heat and drought conditions in the western U.S., coupled with dangerously low water levels in many reservoirs, has led to state governments bowing to this new reality of global warming – spending vast sums of money in an effort to mitigate the threat of wildfires.
The Hill is reporting that in California, Governor Gavin Newsome has proposed spending $2 billion on emergency preparedness, while in Washington state, Governor Jay Inslee signed a measure allocating $125 million every biennium for the next two decades on fire relief and mitigation.
Oregon legislators are preparing to send a $220 million wildland protection measure to Governor Kate Brown. Arizona Governor Doug Ducey has already approved a bill to spend $100 million on wildfire mitigation efforts, even as firefighters are battling two massive blazes in the state.
The primary motivation is the rapidly, exponentially increasing level of wildfire that has occurred over the last 10-15 years,” said Washington state Rep. Larry Springer, the lead sponsor of his state’s bill to spend more to mitigate the threat of wildfire. “It has people’s attention, and it is only going to get worse. Hoping for a wet summer is not a strategy.”
An earlier start to what may be a catastrophic fire season
With the wildfire season starting earlier and lasting longer, states are faced with the mounting challenge of adequately preparing and responding to a year-after-year surge in disasters fueled by climate change.
According to the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), on June 29, 2021, 48 large wildfires have burned 661,462 acres in 12 states. To date, more than 29,000 human-caused wildfires have burned 1,018,424 acres, according to data submitted through situation and incident status summary reports.
Of the active fires reported today, 17 are burning in Arizona, 6 in California, 5 in Alaska, 4 in Utah, and 3 in New Mexico, while seven other states make up the end of the list with 13 fires. Only four are contained.
In California, since the start of 2021, the state has responded to more than 2,875 wildfires that burned more than 16,800 acres, according to Alisha Herring, a communications representative for Cal Fire, the state firefighting agency.
And, once again, it should be noted that 85 percent of wildfires result from human activity, including unattended debris fires, cigarettes, power tools and arson. The danger is heightened as more people build in fire-prone wildland areas.
