Texas Forest Service Battles Fires, Budget Cuts
At Camp Bowie, an army training center in west-central Texas, fire covered a hillside with gray smoke. A Blackhawk helicopter hovered above another smoking hill, dumping water. An army captain estimated that about 30 people — civilian and military — were fighting the blaze, which scorched nearly 3,000 acres by the time it was put out this week.
Such scenes are increasingly common across Texas. An extremely dry winter combined with strong spring winds has caused a surge in the number of blazes. As of Tuesday, the Texas Forest Service, the lead agency for fighting wildfires, had responded to 618 that ...
Comments (5)
Karen Cummings via Texas Tribune on Facebook
What is that saying? Penny wise and pound foolish.
Christopher Rivas via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Maybe the top brass in the Forest Service would eat it and allow the services to continue... probably not, as long as they get payed who cares about the forest... hard times for all and everyone wants to pass the buck.
Sonora Hartley via Texas Tribune on Facebook
So since we are in a drought and the FS fights fires, that means not only will there be fewer fire fighters and maybe not any in some areas, my insurance rates will go up.
John Stansberry
So what did the Texas legislature think was going to happen during a disaster like this? Did they bother to think this through? I don't think the federal government should help Texas at all, given Texas has cut the budget for the Forest Service. Maybe you could pour your tea on it?
Heath Dorries
Why don't you guys report what the budget was before the last biennial appropriation? If you really research what you are going to report, you will see that there was a one time spike in the last appropriation to pay for new equipment. The current appropriation continues to grow when you take that into account. I sure wish there wasn't so much biased in the media, and people could actually believe a story that they read from a reporter. Shame on you for distorting the truth in the face of a crisis!