FISCAL CONTROLS IN 2006 FIRE SEASON

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

FISCAL CONTROLS IN 2006 FIRE SEASON

News Blog -: "FISCAL CONTROLS IN 2006 FIRE SEASON

USDA Forest Service News Release No. 0148.07:

INDEPENDENT STUDY FINDS FOREST SERVICE EXERCISED APPROPRIATE AND ADEQUATE FISCAL CONTROLS IN 2006 FIRE SEASON

WASHINGTON, May 21, 2007 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture today announced that an independent Brookings Institution panel found the USDA Forest Service exercised appropriate and adequate fiscal diligence in suppressing wildfires during the record breaking 2006 fire season. The panel reviewed 19 large fires that burned more than 1.1 million acres and cost $470 million dollars to suppress.

The review panel also identified several 'issue areas' to help the Forest Service contain the rising costs of firefighting. Agriculture Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment Mark Rey said the recommendations of the panel will be acted upon immediately.

'The cost of firefighting is rapidly approaching half of the Forest Service entire budget for caring for the nation's 193 million acres of national forests,' Rey said. 'We are doing everything we can to curb the costs of firefighting while taking every step to protect the safety of our firefighters and ensure they have appropriate tools to do their job. The panel's recommendations will help us control costs.'

The panel recommended:

better linkage between land management plans and fire management plans, and more continuously updating fire management plans to reflect changing conditions. Land management plans are developed with considerable public input, provide guidance for all activities on a given national forest. The panel noted that both plans need to specifically address land management objectives and relevant fire conditions and trends such as fire history, hazardous fuels accumulations and treatments, and the influence of increasing urbanization near national forest boundaries.
more agility in the deployment of firefighting teams and the skills needed on each team.

The independent panel noted that huge forces are driving the wildland fire situation and firefighting costs: accumulation of biomass and hazardous fuels, worsening drought, global climate change, unabated growth in the wildland urban interface, and rising public expectations that both property and habitat will always be protected.

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How fires get their names

Every year in California thousands of wildfires start throughout the state. In most cases, the dispatch center sending the initial resources to a wildland fire will designate a name for the fire, but the first on scene engine or fire official can also name the incident. Fires are usually named for the area in which they start – a geographical location, local landmark, street, lake, mountain, peak, etc. Quickly naming the fire provides responding fire resources with an additional locater, and allows fire officials to track and prioritize incidents by name. For example during the Southern California Fire Siege of 2003, the largest wildland fire in California history, the Cedar Fire in San Diego County, was named after the Cedar Creek Falls area where it started. The destructive Old Fire, which burned during the same time period in San Bernardino County, was named after the road along which it started - Old Waterman Canyon Road.

CAL FIRE is the largest fire department in California and the second largest fire department in the United States. CDF - CAL FIRE Firefighters answer the call more than 300,000 times a year. CAL FIRE Firefighters make up the fire department for 30 of our 58 counties in California and more than 100 local communities. We serve as the incident command during many of California’s most serious disasters. CAL FIRE Firefighters respond to many various types and forms of calls ranging from structural fires, to auto accidents, to earthquakes, to floods, to the spilling of hazardous materials, to every conceivable disaster; CAL FIRE answer's the calls. CAL FIRE is the largest fire department in California and the second largest fire department in the United States . CAL FIRE firefighters protect 33 million acres of State Responsibility Area (SRA). We have over 4,000 members within CAL FIRE and CAL FIRE is associated with the California Professional Firefighters (CPF) and the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF).

CFN - CALIFORNIA FIRE NEWS - CAL FIRE NEWS

Tuesday, May 22, 2007