Nonprofit Group Sharply Criticizes Forest Service’s Strategy To Fight California Wildfires
The report suggests the Forest Service response to the Soberanes Fire in 2016 was the result of a “use it or lose it” attitude to spend its entire budget, which had been boosted by $700 million because of a destructive 2015 fire season.
The Associated Press:
Report Rips Expensive Decisions In California Wildfire Fight
When a wildfire burned across Big Sur two years ago and threatened hundreds of homes scattered on the scenic hills, thousands of firefighters responded with overwhelming force, attacking flames from the air and ground. In the first week, the blaze destroyed 57 homes and killed a bulldozer operator, then moved into remote wilderness in the Los Padres National Forest. Yet for nearly three more months the attack barely let up. The Soberanes Fire burned its way into the record books, costing $262 million as the most expensive wildland firefight in U.S. history in what a new report calls an “extreme example of excessive, unaccountable, budget-busting suppression spending.” (Melley, 12/15)
In other news —
The Associated Press:
All Evacuation Orders Lifted In Deadly California Wildfire
The remaining residents who fled from the deadliest wildfire in California history were allowed to return to their home Saturday and assess the damage. All evacuation orders were lifted in Paradise more than a month after the fire broke out Nov. 8, killing at least 86 people and destroying 14,000 homes in the town and nearby communities in the Sierra Nevada foothills. (12/15)