This ridiculous manufactured economic fiasco we’re calling sequestration has begun, on a week day when our elected representatives abandoned Washington, leaving their offices empty rather than actually do what we hire them to do, pass a budget, something they have not done in four years. Fire them all, I say!
We attempted to find out what the effects of sequestration will be within the wildland fire divisions of the federal land management agencies. Our usual sources told us either they don’t know, they are still figuring it out, or they passed the buck to bureaucrats in D.C. Here are some samples:
Bureau of Land Management
Donald Smurthwaite said, “Put simply, we’ll have fewer dollars in all of our programs. That will translate to fewer resources on the ground and in support positions.” When pressed for more details, he said they don’t have any numbers yet, and in fact they don’t even know what their funding level is beyond the end of the current Continuing Resolution, which expires near the end of the month.
National Park Service
Our usual excellent source in Boise told us Thursday that they would check and get back to us. We’re still waiting as of 6 p.m. on Friday.
U. S. Forest Service
The only information we could get was from the Department of Agriculture in D.C.:
The USFS is expecting a sequestration amount of $134 million. This will be $42 million below the calculated 10-year average of fire suppression costs for FY 2013. In addition, a reduction of Preparedness funds typically increases suppression costs since the initial attack success will be reduced, they said.
There will be “as many as 200,000 fewer acres treated for hazardous fuels”.
The USFS expects reduced operations at campgrounds, visitor information centers, and offices. This would occur during the peak use seasons in spring and summer. Thousands of private sector jobs in rural communities would be lost due to a reduction of recreation opportunities.
The agency would close up to 670 public developed recreation sites out of a total of 19,000 sites, such as campgrounds, picnic areas, and trailheads.
There would be a decrease of 35 sworn law enforcement officers, leaving 707 total officers to control drug trafficking organizations, prevent crime, and protect and serve the public. According to the agency, this would result in an increase in arson during the fire season, timber theft, and other natural resource crimes.
Timber volume sold would be reduced from 2,800 million board feet proposed for FY 2013, to 2,379 million board feet.
What’s next?
The USFS has already distributed warning letters to their employees about possible furloughs, so while some play down the effects of the across the board mindless budget cuts, the impacts could be real on real people. As could be the effects on the ability of the agencies to protect and manage our national treasures, the parks, forests, refuges, and other public lands. The timing is not great either, as the fire agencies are trying to hire seasonal firefighters and as several long term contracts for next-generation, very large, and legacy air tankers are about to be issued – or not issued. A lot of real people are waiting to see how this fiasco will affect them and their families.
We will stay on top of this and let you know when we hear more.
From a Vol. fire dept standpoint we dont even have the luxury of having our budget cut. We have to just hope that the money comes in. We cover 2040 square miles as our first due area, mutual aid for the whole state. We have a $2500 dollar budget, the rest comes from the govt as we need it. I think it is called PILT money. We burned up 60,000 acres in our county this last year. Our county has a MOU with the BLM and the State. My friend at the BLM says his budget was cut in half. So yeah, it even affects us lowly no pay volunteers.
Great piece Bill!
I get the vision of an agency rep in front of a burning building telling everyone that “There is nothing to see here… Please disperse!!
After my travels throughout the West this fall/winter I have noticed indicators of higher fuel loading, setting up for another large fire season, at least in potential. It has been several years now since a large season. Sure, last season there was some activity, however multiple GACS were not experiencing a heavy load simultaneously. I am hoping that our elected “bosses” in D.C. will pull their head out of their asses and do their job and pass a budget. Regardless, I am hoping that this approaching season will hand us a busy one. This way fire management programs will show appropriate value under discretionary spending accounts. We have been cut pretty hard already, however we, as Incident Commanders and Operationally need to spend money smarter. Teams need to look at realistic strategic value, instead of the knee jerk we will hold it here attitude, then redirect and shift tactics the next day and then the next again. Within the last decade it seems that our IMT’s are becoming inept. Responsible, efficient, and beefed up Type III organizations are the answer to these egotistical wasteful management teams. We are going to have to do more with less, but that is not a reality. We will do less with less, but that means more public visibility. We are handed more and more mandatory training requiring earlier start dates for temps and CS. We are spending more money to train our professionals, but are these training programs effective? I say no. Look up the requirements for fire refresher in the Red Book, page 13-5. Pretty simple stuff. This can be better instructed in-house within organization or our separate sections. This will provide more value than the expensive DVD production from Boise. Oh and actually timely, since the newest refresher isn’t even available yet, what a joke. Less with less, that is the newest direction. During this season we need to be smarter with our ordering. Do you really need that next load of paint or nonessential load and returns?
Excellent commentary. I feel a lot of the fire costs can be trimmed by putting competent folks at the head of the Type 1 and Type 2 Teams. Should we really have DIVS with 5-7 years experience that need an IHC Supt to hold their hand, while they insist on ordering tanker after futile tanker, dropping on their division every afternoon while their contingency lines burn yet again? Or IC’s with little actual operational experience making knee-jerk tactical decisions that do little but prolong spending and accomplishing nothing towards control? I see a lot of wasted money in operations every summer, and it is pretty sad and pathetic. Increasing standards and holding high-level leadership accountable would be a great place to start saving money.
Bill, Dont forget the BIA as well.
The bigger issue is the pressure on the fire budget. Our budgets have more flexibility than say recreation or wildlife. It’s pretty difficult for a line officer to cut back on something the public demands so the lack of money makes the fire and fuels budget a tempting target. We saw this bad movie in the 80s and it had some ugly consequences.
Tough times, but I think most people involved in suppression realized it couldn’t go on like it has been forever. We just spend too much, use too many resources, and waste too much. Now is the time to examine fire policy and shift priorities to save money while still protecting resources. What does that mean? I am guessing making do with less aerial resources, prioritizing what fires deserve full- suppression, and perhaps moving to a more economical point protection model. We’ll see, but to keep going like the money is always going to be flowing in is a mistake. Fire is always one of the last areas to feel the cuts, but I am afraid this is the new economic reality.
It’s not that we spend too much, as you said, Jake. We got into the budget mess from financing two wars that did not result from direct threats to our homeland. So now we’re paying for it by cutting basic services, like fire prevention and fire fighting. Many of these cuts will now threaten our national security, so they should be conducted very carefully, not across the board as they will be.
I won’t disagree with you on some of the factors that led to budget shortfalls, although it is a lot more complicated than just the war spending. That aside, we’ve been spending too much on suppression for too long. Anyone who has spent much time on the line on many type 1 incidents, or even in camp, can attest to the ridiculous amount of waste and frivolous spending. Do we really need to spend millions putting out every fire in, say, Nevada, in a mountain range 100 miles and several basins away from any settlements?
My forest has put a hold on most fire-related spending until further notice, including training and travel. Local training with no travel costs is okay, going off unit, not so much. No official word on furloughs or impacts (if any) on seasonal/temporary hiring. Wait and see I guess. I’d imagine the rumors and official word from upper management will change a few more times, especially with the other budget deadline coming up at the end of the month.
Bill dont forget us USFWS folks. In our region they have already sent out an informal inquiry if any fire folks would be willing to relocate and/or change job series. We dont have true fire seasonals ( very few and far between ) but they have cut SCA and YCC as well.
Thanks for the info, BPippy. The USFWS is on my list of contacts to make on this topic.
I probably should have posted this on your Fire Aviation page Bill but here you go…………http://fireground.com/the-faa-shut-down-of-238-air-traffic-control-towers-will-affect-wildland-fire-air-operations/?fb_source=pubv1
The towers may not be closed.
So far in our office the FS seems to be operating business as usual. No cuts in travel to training The BLM however is canceling some travel such as an individual who was supposed to go to PTFC in Florida. I don’t think the agencies have realized all the ramifications yet
Thank you for the information. As a new fire season approaches, I have also been wondering how this mindless game would affect us on the fire line.
I will be waiting for updates on this subject.
Nikki C.
I’m sorry it’s going to hurt fire. We spend much more than the govt. takes in. It can’t continue. I know you don’t do politics Bill but…
We need to cut spending, Mike, but there’s a smart way to do it and then there’s the way they’re doing it. When lots of people get furloughed, they can’t make ends meet, and we start to have problems that compound what they’re trying to solve. Cutting fire prevention is not the right way to cut the budget. How about a pay cut for Congress, to start??
Cutting Congress’s pay is like looking for pennies while the $1 million bills blow away in the wind. There are only 535 Members of Congress (most of them rich already) but 330,000,000 other Americans wanting goods and services; couple that with the demands that the Military-Industrial Complex has (F-35 Attack jets at $130,000,000 each!) and entitlement programs like Social Security, which pays out at 67 no matter your net worth if you qualified. We have huge fiscal problems, and a wide variety of natural events like wildfire that nobody can reasonably predict or manage. Let the fun begin!