{"id":27622,"date":"2013-05-13T17:24:37","date_gmt":"2013-05-13T22:24:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/?p=27622"},"modified":"2013-05-14T08:43:28","modified_gmt":"2013-05-14T13:43:28","slug":"federal-cuts-mean-fewer-resources-this-wildfire-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2013\/05\/13\/federal-cuts-mean-fewer-resources-this-wildfire-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal Cuts Mean Fewer Resources This Wildfire Season"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo by Tom Pennington\/Getty Images<\/p>

Lone Camp Volunteer Fire Department chief Charlie Sims leads his crew while fighting a wildfire on September 1, 2011 in Graford, Texas.<\/p><\/div>\n

First, the good news for Texas.<\/p>\n

Most of the state is not expected to be at an “above average” risk for wildfires this summer, according to the National Interagency Fire Center<\/a>. The reason for that might depress you: in parts of the state with less vegetation, like West Texas, years of drought and fire mean there\u2019s little left to burn.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was part of the reason why some of the fire activity this past winter spring was down from last year,” Tom Spencer head of predictive services with the Texas Forest Service<\/a>, tells StateImpact Texas.<\/p>\n

Spencer said wooded parts of the state like the Hill Country and the Piney Woods are at greater risk of fire.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAs we get towards the end of the summer as that drought starts to kick in, just be aware that it could happen,” he warned.<\/p>\n

And no matter how many fires break out, officials said Monday they\u2019ll have less resources to work with.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

\nhttps:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2013\/05\/webBuchele-Wildfire-Federal-CUts-2013-MIX.mp3<\/a><\/audio>Speaking in a telephone news conference, secretaries for the departments of Interior and Agriculture enumerated the ways the so-called “sequestration” has hit their departments.<\/p>\n

“As a result of across the board cuts that have been applied, we’ll have about 500 fewer firefighters at the Forest Service than we might otherwise have,” said Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, “that might impact about 50 engines that we might otherwise have.”<\/p>\n

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