Wyoming forester: 1,560 wildfires in 2025, $21 million obligated from emergency suppression account; aviation assets credited with saving large costs

Kelly Norris, Wyoming State Forester, told the Joint Appropriations Committee that “so far in 2025, Wyoming has had 1,560 wildfires that burned approximately 209,870 acres.” She said these totals are still growing and that late‑season fire weather remains a risk.

Norris reported the state has 18 Emergency Fire Suppression Account (EFSA) approved incidents in 2025 and that roughly $21,000,000 has been obligated to cover suppression costs so far this year. She told the committee that final cost shares are still being worked by local fire districts, counties, state and federal agencies and that earlier estimates for 2024 ($54 million) closed out lower — about $37,000,000 — once final invoices and cost‑shares were processed.

Assistant fire management officer Jared Delay and aviation lead Chris Walbeck summarized this summer’s aviation response. Walbeck said contracted single‑engine air tankers responded to 76 wildfires across 18 counties and that state helicopters and contracted aircraft delivered hundreds of thousands of gallons of water and retardant statewide. He described 19 occasions this season when aircraft orders were UTF’d (unable to fill) because assets were already committed elsewhere.

Walbeck and Delay stressed the value of initial attack: they provided daily cost examples for multi‑asset responses (roughly $72,000–$73,000 on sample multi‑incident days) and told the committee those expenditures are small compared with the hundreds of thousands or millions that follow if initial attacks fail and incidents expand.

Committee members asked about the appropriate mix of ground and air resources, contract flexibility and return on investment. Walbeck said contracting can be flexible (for example, aviation contracts were released earlier this year when needs decreased) and that measuring value is complex because seasons differ; he described the aim as “right‑sizing” capacity so it is sufficient for probable seasons without overbuilding for rare extremes.

Norris briefed the committee on personnel capacity and turnover. Her slides showed Wyoming has far fewer permanent wildland firefighters than neighboring states; she told the committee state forestry’s limited firefighter benefits (no hazard pay or firefighter retirement/package) lead to attrition as trained staff move to federal agencies.

Norris also summarized federal policy developments. She said DOI and U.S. Forest Service secretarial memos implementing a presidential executive order will consolidate DOI fire personnel into a U.S. Wildland Fire Service, modernize grants and aviation, and standardize payment and auditing systems. She urged Wyoming to remain engaged as changes are implemented and said the state’s master interagency agreement expires in 2026 and will require extension or renegotiation.

The forester closed by thanking the committee for prior investments that doubled parts of the state aviation program and noting the aviation expansion allowed multiple initial attacks to be handled concurrently, which officials said likely reduced the state’s overall suppression costs and losses.