As massive wildfires burn across Texas, lawmakers in Austin are poised to cut the Texas Forest Service's funding for fighting future fires.
The House and Senate have proposed budgets that would slash funding for the agency's Wildfire and Emergency Program by more than 30 percent. Most of the cuts would translate into fewer grants for volunteer fire departments to buy new equipment, according to Robby DeWitt, the agency's associate finance director.
Texas is one of the few states that rely primarily on volunteer fire departments to protect rural areas from wildfires.
"When they get an opportunity to use a new piece of equipment, that does improve their ability" to fight fires, DeWitt said. "These are the folks that are normally out there first for forest fires."
The cuts would reduce the forest service's wildfire funding to its levels from three years ago, when the agency warned the Legislature that it was stretched too thin.
Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/04/21/3019263/as-wildfires-burn-texas-lawmakers.html#ixzz1KESJK3e4
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