Agriculture commissioner asks Legislature for wildfire-resilience team and inspector hires

Andy Holt, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, told the House Finance, Ways and Means committee that the department is seeking targeted staff and capital funding to meet rising service demands and increasing wildfire risk. "So we've asked for 9 full time positions," Holt said as he outlined requests tied to prevention, response and inspection. Holt said the wildfire resiliency team would work proactively with roughly 1,000 fire departments and 90 emergency management agencies across the state and focus on training, community resilience and integration into the state's incident management system.

Holt listed three principal cost increases in the governor's budget for the department: the wildfire team ($1,318,000), nine consumer-and-industry inspector positions to replace expiring contract positions, and other personnel needs tied to population growth and service demand. He also described capital proposals, including a Pinson seedling cooler replacement and a $6,000,000 Porter & Ivy laboratory design study to assess laboratory needs over the next decade. Holt said the department is managing some reductions through timber-sale and motor-fuel revenue swaps and noted substantial ARPA investments and farm-to-food-bank procurement in prior years.

Committee members pressed the department for details about wildfire fund sources and emergency reimbursements; the department said some funds (e.g., wildfire suppression dollars noted by members) are held outside TDA's reserves and that FEMA reimbursement processes remain pending for recent storms. Members requested follow-up information and district briefings on projects in member districts.