The unprecedented level of funding for hazardous fuels reduction under the National Fire Plan is not going to be enough to mitigate costly wildland fires, according to a report by an independent panel investigating the nation's wildland fire suppression costs.

Wildland firefighting costs are high and are expected to remain high in the foreseeable future, according to “Large Fire Suppression Costs: Strategies for Cost Management,” a report completed in August 2004 by a panel for the Wildland Fire Leadership Council.

According to the report, since 1980, 2.8% of the more than 400,000 federal wildfires have exceeded 300 acres. In the Forest Service, these wildfires have averaged more than 800,000 acres per year at an average annual cost of more than $350 million.

The rising cost is not the result of agency costs spinning out of control, but rather a combination of forces feeding into a growing number of large, costly wildfires.

“The U.S. federal land management agencies have significantly increased hazardous fuels reduction funding and treatments,” the report states. “However, the continued rise in suppression costs suggests that current fuels reduction strategies will not be able to fully or efficiently mitigate the risks of hazardous fuels in light of existing budgets, current forest health conditions and predicted climatic changes.”

The panel recommends that rural, volunteer and other local fire departments be better trained and equipped as “the nation's first line of defense against fire growth in the wildland-urban interface and surrounding landscapes.”

The Forest Service has estimated national mobilization costs to be in the range of $40-50 million annually. The panel estimated effective use of local firefighters might decrease that cost by about 10%. The report recommended developing more Type 3 teams that use local firefighters and support (regardless of agency), recognizing this will require a major shift in the federal wildland firefighting culture.

“Criteria to evaluate federal agencies' implementation of this policy must be developed and federal agencies must be held accountable for the integration and implementation,” the report states.

For more details, see the complete report at www.fireplan.gov/reports/2004/costmanagement.pdf.