Wildfire, drought provisions in infrastructure bill bring new funding to old ideas on Western Slope

Tim Ingalsbee, executive director of Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology, told Energy & Environment News that other portions of the infrastructure bill reflect a legacy of misguided wildland firefighting tactics, citing a provision in the bill which calls for $500 million in creating fuel breaks, areas near communities in the wildland interface which have been cleared of vegetation to contain a fire. “But fuel breaks have proven ineffective in wildlands, because embers can travel so far on the wind,” Ingalsbee told E&E News, citing the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire in Oregon that jumped the Columbia River.