Yup.
Idiot states that don’t maintain adequate fire breaks can eat the cost themselves.
I don’t understand why the states themselves don’t have a rainy day disaster fund and the power to help their own citizens, in addition to educating their residents about the need to be prepared. Why does the Federal Government need to be involved?
When you say “Idiot states that don’t maintain adequate fire breaks can eat the cost themselves.” Makes sense until you see the facts.
90% of the fires in the Northwest are in or started on Federal lands. Mismanagement by the US Forest Service is one of the main causes of these huge fires. Going back to the spotted owl fiasco in the 80s, logging was cut way back or completely stopped in all or most of the National Forest lands. In addition, grazing leases held by ranch families for years were cut, restricted or taken away. The combination of stopping logging and grazing has created a huge growth of fuels in the National forests. When a fire does go through, environmentalists stop salvage logging on burned timber which leaves the forest to beetle infestations. The beetles then move on to healthy timber making it a fire hazard.
The fires in 2014 and 2015 in Okanogan County, (the two largest in state history) showed how the mismanagement had an effect. While fire raged through the overgrown undergrowth and un-thinned National forest land, areas where grazing and forest management including logging had been practiced saw little damage by the fires. Also those who do have leases for grazing on the forest land are responsible for maintaining and rebuilding all fencing damaged in a fire, even if the fire was not their fault or started on their leased land. So yes, these aid packages are needed not only for the fighting of the fires but to help with rebuilding. Also to help with the floods that follow in subsequent years because all vegetation that would soak up rain and snow melt is gone. Two years after the fires, we dealt with massive flooding and highway washout all over Northcentral Washington.