The Hill News

This year’s wildfire season has set records for being one of the most catastrophic. If it is setting a precedent for what is to come, we’re all in trouble.
 
Texas is having the worst fire season on record. Since last November, more than 7,600 homes and other buildings and more than 3.8 million acres have been destroyed, which is half a million more acres than burned total in the U.S. last year. And Texans aren’t alone in their suffering, as 2011 has seen almost 8.4 million acres burn across the U.S. Over the past 20 years, the area in the West seared by fire has been six times greater than in the two preceding decades.
 
Now is the time, with the end of wildfire season within sight and with the House and Senate Appropriations Committees submitting their FY12 recommendations last week, to focus on how devastation like this can be avoided in the future. These fires have national economic consequences and to prevent wildfires, we as a nation must! invest in forest health and in strategies to decrease the risk of future fires. We need a comprehensive approach to managing forests, including sufficiently funding all aspects of wildfires: firefighting and preventative measures.

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