ANR seeks $105,000 to cover wildfire response overtime after dry season
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Summary
Officials told the House Appropriations Committee that a $105,000 BAA request covers overtime and response costs from an unusually active summer—84 fires statewide (about 66 acres burned)—including one Williston incident that prompted a U.S. Forest Service helicopter deployment the agency said cost about $18,000.
The Agency of Natural Resources told the House Appropriations Committee on Jan. 13 it is seeking a $105,000 Budget Adjustment Act appropriation to cover overtime and other costs from the recent wildland fire season.
Julie Moore, the agency secretary, said drought-driven fire danger required the agency’s wildland fire team to be on call for more than two months. Officials reported 84 separate wildland fires during the season and about 66 acres burned in total; they described most fires as human caused.
Moore said one Williston fire required a U.S. Forest Service helicopter stationed in Manchester, N.H., and staff later supplied a deployment cost figure of roughly $18,000 for that mission. Committee members pressed the agency on how local fire departments decide to call in state resources; ANR staff said local departments request state support when incidents exceed local capacity, such as lack of personnel or when a fire grows beyond the local department’s ability to contain it.
Agency staff reviewed the composition of the wildland team: three full-time wildland firefighters, 22 additional staff who are “red-carded” (trained for wildland response), and more than 500 volunteer and paid local firefighters who support responses.
The committee asked follow-up operational questions; no formal motion or vote was recorded in the hearing on this request.
