EDITORIAL: Horrific Napa, Sonoma fires show need for new firefighting strategy

Oct. 09--The flames raging through Napa and Sonoma counties are the latest evidence that California and the federal government need to shift their strategies for fighting wildfires.

At a minimum, the Forest Service has to stop taking money out of its prevention budget to fight fires when the firefighting budget runs out.

Just as Oregonians feel devastated by the destruction of the beauty of the Columbia Gorge from that recent fire, this week's wine country blazes grip the Bay Area in disbelief. It feels like our backyard -- close enough for a day trip to hike or taste wine or just absorb the natural beauty. The sight of burning hotels and hospital evacuations is horrific.

Congress needs to start treating wildfires as the natural disasters they are -- the same as hurricanes, floods and earthquakes. Draining prevention budgets will only increase the damage these inevitable fires cause. They need to be fought with money budgeted for emergencies.

Before Napa and Sonoma, California already had 1,000 more wildfires this year than in 2016, burning more than 225,000 acres. The National Interagency Fire Center reports more than 50,000 fires in Western states have burned 8.5 million acres in 2017, nearly double the acreage burned over the first nine months of 2016.

Yet the Trump administration has called for a $300 million cut from the Forest Service's firefighting budget and a $50 million cut to its wildfire prevention budget for 2018. Amazingly, the federal budget for volunteer fire departments also faces a 23 percent cut.

Sen. Mary Cantwell, D-Wash., is appalled. Volunteer departments "are the first responders to wildfires and help us do whatever they can to help contain them as other people come on board," she said.

The Trump administration did approve Western lawmakers' recent request for another $576 million this year to fight the wildfires still burning, but the 2018 budget that passed the House remains a problem.

The Forest Service says it has spent a record $2 billion this year battling forest fires. The previous record in 2015 was $1.7 billion.

The congressional fight over fire prevention is complicated by the debate over how to manage forests. Some conservatives, including Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Elk Grove, think more logging would reduce the severity of fires.

But studies show you can't log your way out of fire danger. Each forest is different. And it's not just forests that burn, it's all kinds of vegetation. And buildings. Napa Valley is not Yosemite.

Climate change is lengthening the fire season in the West. Congress and Western state legislatures should be amping up prevention -- just as we strengthen dams to help prevent flooding. When wildfires do break out, fighting them should be funded the same way as other natural disasters.

Fires destroy natural resources, but they also take lives. The photos of patients being wheeled out of Santa Rosa hospitals while flames raged in the background were stunning. We hope for as few casualties as possible as the result of this latest calamity -- and for more common sense in planning for the inevitable next wave of conflagrations.

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