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Sen. Wyden urges bolder wildfire prevention as agency chief points to prescribed‑burn gains and $12 billion saved
Summary
At a Senate Committee on Finance exchange, Sen. Wyden pressed the agency chief to expand prescribed burns and other tools to combat worsening wildfire conditions; the chief said prescribed‑fire acreage and staffing are up and that recent "fire borrowing" reforms have saved about $12,000,000,000.
Sen. Wyden pressed the agency chief at a Senate Committee on Finance hearing to ramp up prescribed burns, staffing and other wildfire‑prevention tools as western drought and low snowpack raise risks.
"Oregon is facing a wildfire time bomb," Sen. Wyden said, urging the agency to adopt higher targets for hazardous‑fuels treatment and to move more aggressively when weather windows allow.
The chief told the committee that prescribed fire "is the most effective means that we can use" and "the cheapest means by which we can treat acres," adding that the agency has "increased the number of acres that we've used prescribed fire on year over year significantly." He also said the agency is "about 1,500 personnel above where we were last year at this time" and has red‑carded roughly 500 additional non‑fire personnel to support wildfire response.
Wyden pressed for an operational plan to start earlier and to run prescribed burning more broadly through available windows, saying the work has bipartisan support and naming colleagues who have backed the effort. The chief described narrow operational windows in some forests — citing the George Washington Jefferson Forest and the Mount Rogers District — where crews often have "two‑week burn windows" and stage staff to act when conditions permit.
The exchange also covered recent reforms to so‑called "fire borrowing." Sen. Wyden asked how much the agency had saved under that change; the chief responded, "It's been over $12,000,000,000 during this period of time that we've been able to to save from taking it from lending." Wyden reiterated that those savings should be used to support prevention alongside suppression capacity.
No formal votes or directives were recorded during the exchange. Wyden closed by saying policymakers must be "a lot bolder" on prevention and that he is interested in working with the agency on higher targets and earlier action when weather windows open.
