NFPA Journal - Spring 2021 - 71
Government must increase
resources for vegetative fuel
management on public land.
F
or more than a century, the US government has invested
heavily in a fire suppression infrastructure and workforce
to ensure that most wildfires remain small and can be extinguished quickly. Effective response means that 97 percent of
wildfires remain small and controllable, but it has also had an
unintended and dangerous side effect.
Suppression disrupts the natural occurrence of lower-intensity wildfire, allowing vegetation and debris that would
normally be cleaned out by periodic fires to accumulate. Denser,
more continuous vegetative fuels create the conditions for
severe wildfires that can overwhelm suppression efforts, conditions that science has demonstrated are exacerbated by climate
change. To lower the risk of wildfire to communities, resources
must be increased for fuel management on 120 million acres of
federal land-and many more private acres-that are at high or
very high risk of devastating fires.
3
million
The number of acres
of public land annually
subjected to fuel
treatments, including
mechanical thinning and
prescribed burning.
7-12
million
The number of acres
of public land that
experts say should be
subjected to fuel
treatments every year.
1billion
Estimate of the number of
acres in the US, including all
public and private holdings,
at risk for wildfire.
"
While fire departments
acknowledge their
limited capacity to
fight wildland fires,
many Americans
continue to believe
that the fire service
will always have
the capacity to
respond to any fire or
emergency event and
mount successful
rescues and saves.
"
Each year, about 3 million acres of public land are subjected
to fuel treatments that include mechanical thinning and prescribed burning, a number that falls well short of the estimated
6.8 to 12 million acres per year experts believe is necessary to
restore and maintain these lands. Between public and privte
holdings, the number of acres currently at risk for wildfire in
the US is estimated to be as high as one billion.
In a 2019 report from the Government Accountability Office,
the federal land management agencies acknowledged that
insufficient staffing can hinder fuel management efforts, especially prescribed burns. According to a report from the National
Association of Forest Service Retirees, the number of employees
with the skills needed to support treatment and restoration
N F PA . O R G / J O U R N A L * NFPA JOURNAL
feature wildfire_1Q 2021 SJS APPROVED AS FINAL.indd 71
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http://nfpa.org/JOURNAL
NFPA Journal - Spring 2021
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - Spring 2021
Contents
NFPA Journal - Spring 2021 - Cover1
NFPA Journal - Spring 2021 - Cover2
NFPA Journal - Spring 2021 - 1
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NFPA Journal - Spring 2021 - Contents
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NFPA Journal - Spring 2021 - Cover3
NFPA Journal - Spring 2021 - Cover4
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