June 20, 2014

With temperatures rising in Southern Nevada and fear of significant wildfires throughout the West, Congresswoman Dina Titus of Nevada’s First District announced her support for H.R. 3992, the Wildfire Disaster Funding Act. This bipartisan legislation provides stability to the federal wildlife budget and ends the destructive practice of "fire-borrowing." In recent years, Congress has budgeted for wildfire suppression by appropriating money based on the average cost for wildfires over the past ten years, known as the “ten-year average.”  When wildfire suppression costs exceed an agency’s fire budget, that agency is forced to borrow from non-fire accounts to pay for fire suppression. As a result, the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, and other agencies are left with reduced resources for forest management activities like recreation, grazing management, and wildfire mitigation that can prevent catastrophic fires. H.R. 3992 addresses the broken system by funding suppression operations for catastrophic wildfires like other emergencies such as hurricanes and tornadoes. 

In eight of the past ten years, the Forest Service has exceeded its wildfire suppression budget.  At the same time, the proportion of the agency’s budget devoted to wildland fire management has risen from 13% in the early 1990’s to 41% in 2013. According to a recent report from the Congressional Budget Office, the Department of Interior and U.S. Forest Service will spend approximately $470 million over the funding available this year to fight wildfires. 

“As Nevada remains under extreme drought conditions, it is more important than ever that we be proactive in the face of the growing threat of wildfires this summer,” said Titus. “The Wildfire Disaster Funding Act is a common sense change that provides the resources necessary for properly managing wildland to prevent the kind of catastrophic fire that devastated Southern Nevada last year.” 

The State of Nevada remains under severe, long-term drought conditions, further threatening the region with wildfires. In 2013, Nevada experienced significant wildfires, including the Carpenter 1 fire on Mount Charleston that destroyed homes and impacted businesses as it burned through nearly 28,000 acres west of Las Vegas. According to the National Significant Wildland Fire Potential Outlook report issued by the National Interagency Fire Center, Southern Nevada will likely experience above-average wildfire potential again this summer.