Morgan County briefed on state cooperative wildfire agreement; participating commitment jumps to about $190,646

Morgan County commissioners were briefed on the county’s Cooperative Wildland Fire Agreement with the state and told the county must provide a signed participating commitment by Jan. 16 to remain covered under the program's terms. "You have to have a burn permit, period," Morgan County fire warden Dave Vickers said, describing changes to state burn rules and other program requirements.

The presentation, delivered by Vickers with Fire Chief Kerrigan in the audience, explained that the state revised its formula for assessing county wildfire risk and costs. Vickers said the county’s participating commitment rose from about $78,000 to $190,646 under the new calculation. He said the county currently has an extension letter in place while the state attorney general finalizes an updated master agreement.

The Cooperative Wildland Fire Agreement (also described in the meeting as the Cooperative Wildfire System) ties a county’s mitigation work and resource commitments to state financial support in the event of a catastrophic delegated wildland fire. Vickers told the commission the state will assume 100% of the financial responsibility for catastrophic wildland fires once a fire is delegated to the state: "If we have another $1,000,000 fire, you're not gonna have to worry about—you're gonna see a…