Wildfire funding cuts in Washington state threaten future fire seasons | News

WASHINGTON STATE – As wildfires continue to impact air quality in the state, funding for wildfire readiness and response remains unstable. The Labor Mountain and Lower Sugarloaf fires are currently burning more than 40,000 acres each in central Washington.

Commissioner of Public Lands Dave Upthegrove recently spoke about state budget cuts to wildfire prevention and response funding. The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is now preparing to negotiate with lawmakers to restore this crucial funding.

Pat Sullivan from the Department of Natural Resources emphasized the importance of securing funding.

“Unless we get money in the supplemental budget, it will greatly impact the next several fire seasons and our ability to keep communities safe,” Sullivan said.

In 2021, the legislature committed $125 million to wildfire preparedness and response. However, the latest biennial budget only allocated $60 million, with $40 million for this fiscal cycle and just $20 million for the next.

Sullivan noted that many fire response programs had enough reserve funding to manage through the summer, but this may not be the case next year.

“It threatens our aerial response, it threatens our ability to get heavy equipment, to hire permanent firefighters. All those things are at risk,” Sullivan said.

He warned that the funding cuts could end up costing the state more.

“There’s a real risk that the cost of suppressing the fires will be significantly more than if we just invested in preventing that fire from happening in the first place,” Sullivan said. He highlighted the unmeasurable impacts of smoke on community health and the devastation of losing homes or lives.

The DNR is now waiting for the governor to propose his budget in December. From there, they will decide how to advocate for restoring the lost wildfire funding.