Idaho hits $0 for wildfire suppression funding as governor claims state is prepared

Idaho officials said the state is prepared to respond to a forecast extremely active peak fire season, despite the state legislature’s funding for wildfire activities running dry.

Idaho Gov. Brad Little, at a June 16 press conference, joined state, local, and federal partners to say the state is prepared – with the state’s firefighting resources fully staffed and investments in forest management and federal partnerships. The preparation, however, was called into question when it was revealed just before the press conference that the state legislature’s funds for wildfire response had hit $0.

State lawmakers voted to transfer $32.8 million to the wildfire deficiency fund on July 1, the first day of fiscal year 2027, but Little said the state would “pretty much burn through” the funds, given that an active fire season would cost the state $70 million or more, according to the Idaho Capital Sun. Any funds spent over that $32.8 million would be paid using “deficiency warrants,” or bills applied to future sessions of the Idaho Legislature, that would worsen an already tight budget squeeze.

“If we have an above-average fire season, we’ll probably run out of (the funding),” Little said at the press conference. “We’re going to be okay for a while, as long as we don’t have an abnormal fire year.”

Idaho is expected to have an abnormally active fire year. The National Interagency Coordination Center’s wildland fire outlooks list Idaho as having “significant” wildland fire potential from July through September, set up by above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation worsening drought throughout the majority of the state.

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“Above normal fire potential is forecast for portions of northern Idaho and southwest Montana in July, expanding to all of north Idaho and southwest Montana in August,” the National Interagency Fire Center said during the June release of the report. “Above-normal fire potential will also expand to all the northwest, including all of Idaho, western Wyoming, and southwest Montana.”

Credit: NIFC

North America’s largest ski town prepares for wildfires

There’s only one way in and out of the Canadian municipality of Whistler.

The Coast Mountains surround the forested British Columbia town north of Vancouver, giving Whistler its world-renowned trait of being North America’s largest ski resort community. The rocky slopes, however, occasionally cause transportation problems for Whistler’s residents. Highway 99, the only passage through the southern parts of the mountain range, stands as residents’ only escape route during times of emergency.

Whistler firefighters reflect on the 2023 wildfire season
Whistler firefighters reflect on the 2023 wildfire season

The frequently suffocated roadway and recent devastating wildfires in the nearby communities of West Kelowna and Kelowna pushed the perennially  snow-focused municipality to begin serious planning for a potential fire disaster. Most Whistler neighborhoods are classified as “interface,” but the wildland and ornamental fuel load between residences have characteristics of an “intermix,” or homes being within a forest community. Because of this, Whistler scores high in the plan’s “overall fire risk” category.

Whistler’s pervasive forest primarily drove town officials to take a more proactive approach to wildfire defense in its creation of a community wildfire defense plan.

Whistler firefighters reflect on the 2023 wildfire season
Whistler firefighters reflect on the 2023 wildfire season

“Typically when a wildfire is approaching a community, these defense plans are done at the time as it’s approaching,” Whistler Fire Chief Thomas Doherty told Global News journalists for a recent article. “Obviously wildfire specialists will come in and assist with doing these neighborhood defense plans. We’ve done that in advance. We believe we’re one of the first municipalities to do this type of plan, to have this information readily available ahead of time.”

Whistler firefighters reflect on the 2023 wildfire season
Whistler firefighters reflect on the 2023 wildfire season

The approach Doherty references includes increasing FireSmart education for residents and visitors, changing municipal legislation and community planning with a wildfire resiliency focus, increasing interagency and firefighters’ wildfire response, and continuing strategic vegetation management efforts.

Resort Municipality of WhistlerGlobal News, in their conversation with Doherty, reports that one of the tools created from this plan includes 19 tactical sheets and GIS maps for various critical infrastructure and water source locations, identifying which neighborhoods have a one-way-in and one-way-out access, and safe zones for responders during times of emergency. All this information will reportedly be available to fire personnel through scannable QR codes.

“Extremely critical to have all this information done in advance,” Doherty said. “It’s just unfortunate when an event does occur. At least we’re that much more prepared. And we have all that information readily available.”

You can read the full Whistler Community Wildfire Defense Plan [HERE].

The Coast Mountains surround the forested British Columbia town north of Vancouver, giving Whistler its world-renowned trait of being North America’s largest ski resort community. The rocky slopes, however, occasionally cause transportation problems for Whistler’s residents. Highway 99, the only passage through the southern parts of the mountain range, stands as residents’ only escape route during times of emergency.