Delaware’s Forest Service relies on federal funding for aspects of fire fighting, those funds are currently not coming in.
Preventative fire fighting efforts by the Delaware Forest Service are being affected by frozen or otherwise unavailable federal money.
Sam Topper is the Delaware Forest Service’s Wildland Fire Supervisor.
“There’s what happens when the fire starts, what we’re doing right now, and then there’s all of the stuff that happens before a fire starts: training, maintenance, repairs, equipment, fuels work so preventative work, and grants for communities and VFCs. That stuff is definitely affected right now. And it is and has been affecting the Delaware Forest Service’s ability to do some of the preventative stuff that we normally do. ” Topper told DPM.
Topper is on a 14 day assignment fighting wildfire in Grand Junction Colorado right now; a part of the job that he says is, conversely, very secure in its federal funding.
But the aspects that are reliant on continual grant awards, typically through the Stafford Act and historically troubled Farm Bill, are simply not receiving the money that they typically do right now, according to Topper.
Federal funding freezes and cuts are a continuing trend stemming from an increased effort from the GOP, which they say is to reduce wasteful spending and fraud in the federal government.
