A bureaucratic snag that doesn't make sense to most mortals is holding up $2.5 billion needed to expand and upgrade the Agriculture Department's fleet of aerial firefighting tankers.
Why? Because Congress wants more detailed justification.
Justification? Hundreds of pages of statistics and graphs available now show conclusively the Forest Service aviation operation is in dire need. Of the 44 tankers it had in 2002, only 19 are now flying, some 50 years old. The others were grounded as unsafe because of age.
So, the agency turns to leasing or renting from a pool of some 800 privately owned fire bombers and helicopters, plus a few U.S. Air Force tankers, at premium rates.
Because of the shortage of Forest Service tankers, about 150 fires that were not attacked early led to additional suppression costs of between $300 million and $450 million. A large new air tanker reportedly costs about $75 million.
Fighting wildfires is big and costly business. Considering just fires of 40,000 acres or more in 2008, tentative costs were estimated at $706 million. During the year, air tankers dropped more than 12 million gallons of retardant.
States such as Idaho, whose spectacular forests always are vulnerable to rapacious fires, should pressure Congress to end the delay and get on with procuring new aircraft.
Aircraft deliveries take time, but fires don't wait. The federal government shouldn't risk destruction of entire communities, whose restoration can take years, in wrangling over saving a dime.
