In a letter sent to Capitol Hill this week, three federal agencies pleaded for more money for wildfire suppression to finish out the fiscal year. White House Office of Management and Budget Director Shaun Donovan, Department of the Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, and Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack penned a letter notifying members of Congress that the federal accounts that manage wildfire suppression funds were running out of money for the second time this year.
In August, the agencies transferred $450 million from non-suppression accounts to help float the agencies through the end of the fiscal year. The agencies are now moving another $250 million into suppression accounts to finish the remaining thirteen days of the fiscal year. The letter from the agencies also asked Congress to pass the Wildfire Disaster Funding Act, a measure that would allow federal land management agencies to set aside disaster funds in an amount equal to 30 percent of the ten-year average cost of fighting fires to fight the costliest fires. This authority would protect funding for fire prevention, forest management, watershed improvement, infrastructure repair, and other desperately needed projects throughout the fiscal year. However, the letter specifically requests that Congress not re-open the Stafford Act, the governing mechanism over other disasters.