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Fire districts ask county to add funds to wildland forestry cooperative agreements; county to seek DAQ exemption for earlier open burns
Summary
Fire and forestry partners asked commissioners for roughly $32,000 in additional funding per agency (totaling about $60,000) to update a long‑standing cooperative agreement. Commissioners and district staff also discussed seeking a DAQ exemption to allow earlier mitigation burns this spring.
Representatives from county fire districts and forestry management briefed the commission March 30 on a negotiated update to cooperative wildland and forestry agreements originally negotiated in 2016 and implemented in 2017. Fire leadership said wages, materials and training costs have risen since the agreement was written and requested an incremental budget increase to keep the interagency relationship at current service levels.
Brett Clark and Dusty Richards outlined that the requested funding change is primarily to cover increased wages and operating costs; staff described an approximate incremental need in the low‑to‑mid tens of thousands per agency (presentation referenced about $32,000 per agency and a total contract of approximately $60,000). Commissioners asked where the funding would come from; staff identified possible pots including leftover ARPA funds, sheriff’s office lines and budget reallocation and said they would research available sources and return with options.
District leaders also asked the commission for help on the Division of Air Quality (DAQ) open‑burn window, saying spring mitigation burns are constrained by county‑level DAQ rules and that an earlier burn window would allow safer, wetter conditions. Fire representatives agreed to draft a letter supporting a DAQ exemption and work with county staff to prepare a request that can be placed on an upcoming commission agenda.
What happens next: staff and district representatives will identify budget sources or bring a budget amendment; the fire districts will prepare a DAQ exemption request and supporting letters for commission consideration at a future meeting.
