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Despite Spring Rains, Colorado Readies For Fire Season

One of Colorado's two PC-12 Multi-Mission Aircraft that'll be used for fire detection.
Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control
One of Colorado's two PC-12 Multi-Mission Aircraft that'll be used for fire detection.

While Colorado has experienced much needed rain this spring, fire officials are still expecting an average fire season.

"The moisture has helped considerably, at least to forestall the onset of the fire season, which we know is coming," said Paul Cooke, the Director of the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control.

The addition of two specialized planes that can spot a wildfire in its very earliest stages means that the state should be better prepared for the fire season. Specialized equipment like this though, means the cost of fighting wildfires in Colorado and the west continues to go up – and officials at every level are planning accordingly.

"This will be the first fire season with the early detection aircraft we acquired so we can go out behind lightening strikes and detect fires when they're small, or we can go out with smoke reports so there's no delay in getting on those fires," said Cooke. "It provides information about where the fire is growing, what the fuel load is, all the information they need to manage a fire with data."

Colorado's legislature funded the aircraft in 2014 after some debate, but Cooke said it took time to bid and win contracts.In an age of tight budgets following the recession, every dollar counts – something even the federal government has to look at.

Recently, the Secretary of the Interior and Agriculture Secretary used the backdrop of Colorado's snowcapped mountains to urge a change in how the government pays to fight catastrophic wildfires.

"I think one thing that's not understood is the amount of money the federal government spends in these states particularly fighting wild land fire," said Interior Secretary Sally Jewell.

Jewell and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack want Congress to fund the most devastating wildfires from a separate disaster fund. Under the current mechanism, Vilsack said the Forest Service often has to borrow several hundred million dollars each year from programs for forest restoration to help fight wildfires.

Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell shakes hands with wildland fire crews, June 9, 2015. Jewell and Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack spoke in Colorado to call on Congress to change the funding for wildfire prevention.
Credit Bente Birkeland / RMCR
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RMCR
Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell shakes hands with wildland fire crews, June 9, 2015. Jewell and Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack spoke in Colorado to call on Congress to change the funding for wildfire prevention.

"The solution is for these fires to be looked upon in the same way we look at tornadoes, hurricanes, and floods, they're natural disasters and they should be funded as such," said Vilsack.

Over the last decade Vilsack said the Forest Service has also faced a nearly 40 percent reduction in the number of people working to keep forests healthy and preventing wildfires.

"So it's less people and unstable financing, people say you should have partnerships. We do have partnerships, with the utilities with the ski resorts to leverage our resources but there's a limit to how much you can leverage," said Vilsack.

Both chambers of Colorado's state legislature unanimously passed a resolution [.pdf] in 2015 to support creating a separate line item in the federal budget for catastrophic wildfires, but efforts in Congress have stalled. Jewell said it's shortsighted for Congress not to act.

"When we invest in preventive actions like fuels removal, or making our communities more fire resilient by building fire lines around them preemptively, when we go in and make sure cheat grass doesn't take hold because it enables fire, we are actually reducing the costs lost-term," said Jewell.

But it would be a budget increase which some members of Congress oppose. For his part Paul Cooke said he agrees that the most devastating wildfires should be paid for in a separate disaster fund in the federal budget.

"It does make sense. The day of robbing the mitigation programs to pay for suppression has to end."

The wildland fire potential outlook for 2015 [.pdf] says areas of extreme drought will still remain over California, western Nevada, and southeastern Oregon. Those conditions means the overall fire outlook is average, despite a wetter spring across much of the Front Range and central states like Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas. Colorado will also be piloting new technology in 2016 to use weather patterns to detect wildfires up to 12 hours in advance.

Copyright 2015 KUNC

Bente Birkeland
Bente Birkeland has been reporting on state legislative issues for KUNC and Rocky Mountain Community Radio since 2006. Originally, from Minnesota, Bente likes to hike and ski in her spare time. She keeps track of state politics throughout the year but is especially busy during the annual legislative session from January through early May.
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