Editorial blog: Audit will show Kansas needs to fund forest service

It’s encouraging to see the legislature putting a fast-track on an audit of how Kansas fights wildfires compared to other states.

Spoiler alert: A rosy picture won’t be presented.

That started to come into clearer view in the spring, when the second large wildfire in as many years caused damage to thousands of acres in southwest Kansas. Estimates of the total damage of both fires have reached $100 million.

The audit, to begin in January, is a good first step in developing a way for Kansas to be better prepared the next time a wildfire breaks.

Kansas has one of the smallest budgets — $300,000 — to combat wildfires. That’s 2 percent of Oklahoma’s $15 million budget.

Kansas has five full-time employees in the state’s forest service. Oklahoma has 80, though many are based in forest areas in the eastern part of the state. The head of Oklahoma’s forest service thinks even three to five additional workers would make Kansas’ forest service much more prepared for wildfires.

More than money and forest service manpower is the problem of finding enough people to fight the fires. Most fire departments in rural areas are made up of volunteers, and as the rural population declines, finding more capable volunteer firefighters has been a chore.

January’s audit will show if Kansas falls short in its wildfire preparations, then it’s up to the legislature to make changes — at about the time that the Anderson Creek and Starbuck fires started.

This story was originally published August 2, 2017 at 4:04 PM with the headline "Editorial blog: Audit will show Kansas needs to fund forest service."