Tom Torres, director of the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management, told the House Ad Hoc Committee on Fire Preparedness on Thursday that Arizona faces a widespread and variable wildfire threat and that the state has stepped up initial attack and mitigation but still faces capacity limits.

“We do it with our partners,” Torres said, describing a year in which Arizona saw about 2,160 wildland fire starts in 2024 and roughly 282,000 acres burned on all jurisdictions. “On average… about 442,000 acres a year are burned” across jurisdictions, he told the committee.

Torres described the state’s jurisdictional responsibilities, saying DFFM has primary suppression and vegetation-management roles across about 22,000,000 acres (state trust and private unincorporated land). He noted that federal, tribal and private lands add complexity: roughly 30,000,000 acres are under federal jurisdiction and about 20,000,000 acres are tribal lands.

The director highlighted Arizona’s 2024 response: the state tripled aviation resources from three to six air tankers, pre‑positioned equipment with local partners and spent about $21 million on suppression. He said DFFM treated nearly 24,000 acres in 2024 and had treated about 26,000 acres in early 2025, with a goal of 30,000 acres by June and 40,000 acres annually in 2026.

Torres described the Stronghold Fire in Cochise County as a recent example of the hazards the state faces. He said the fire — which began on state trust land and moved toward the Coronado National Forest and nearby communities — reached about 2,100 acres, was fought in unified command with federal partners and was estimated to cost $3 million to $4 million as suppression continued.

Committee members pressed Torres on budget and staffing. Representative David Blackman asked why the DFFM budget showed a $71 million reduction compared with prior infusions; Torres asked for time to provide detail. Dante Mitchell, Torres’ legislative liaison, explained that large one‑time appropriations in prior years (2021 and 2023) were non‑recurring and that some funds were reimbursement‑based and still committed to county projects.

Members also asked about changing fire regimes. Representative Stephanie Stahl Hamilton and others pressed Torres on the growing role of invasive grasses (buffelgrass, red brome, fountain grass) and how that has shifted both fire behavior and mitigation priorities in Sonoran Desert areas.

Torres described DFFM mitigation tools — mechanical thinning, mastication, inmate hand crews, prescribed fire, and chemical treatments — and said the agency had doubled private contractors from about 23 to roughly 50 to increase pace and scale. He said the agency had provided about $10 million in apparatus grants to roughly 31 local fire districts over the last two years and that more local support remained a priority.

Torres emphasized partnership as central to mitigation and response, citing collaborations with local fire districts, federal agencies, utilities and NGOs. He said Arizona’s Good Neighbor Authority work with the U.S. Forest Service and cooperative projects with groups such as The Nature Conservancy are key parts of scaling up forest restoration.

Until the committee recessed the DFFM discussion, members repeatedly asked for a detailed budget breakdown and for monthly reports; Torres and staff said they would provide those figures to the committee and to JLBC. The director told lawmakers that while more funding and capacity would be helpful, the state had expanded staff (from roughly 85 employees in 2021 to about 240) and was positioned to use further funding efficiently.

Looking ahead, Torres said the agency’s objective is to increase and sustain treatment acres and to continue building partnerships that can lower unit costs for mechanical thinning and prescribed fire. He cautioned that wildfire will remain part of many Arizona ecosystems and that the goal is to place landscapes in conditions where fire can play a more ecological, less destructive role.