Crews Fight Fires With Fewer Resources
Crews are fighting wildfires across the southwest with fewer resources this year because of across-the-board budget cuts. Nationally the Forest Service has 500 fewer firefighters and 50 fewer engines.
Despite the sequester, Jennifer Jones, an agency spokeswoman said, she’s confident the agency will be able to fight and contain fires.
"While those reductions will have an impact, we will do the best we can with the assets that we do have," Jones said.
Jones said that since the fires are concentrated in one region at a time, they’ve been able to contain them, even with fewer resources.
"Right now we’ve been having a lot of activity in Colorado, in Arizona and New Mexico, but other areas of the country have been relatively quiet," Jones said.
A spokeswoman for the New Mexico Incident Management Team said they’re not having any problems getting the equipment or personnel needed to fight the massive Silver Fire. But David Gurule, who owns a vineyard eight miles from the blaze, finds the cuts troubling.
"I think it’s ridiculous that they do that," Gurule said. "We have five major fires going on right now in New Mexico. We are stretched so thin, so to cut back at this time when it’s such a severe, severe drought, I don’t think that’s wise."
The Grand Canyon National Park’s firefighting crews have not been affected. The park service cut maintenance staff and hours at the visitors center instead.
