We’ve had a pretty busy fire season this year.

The pioneer fire is currently the largest fire in the US burning over 186 thousand acres.

Several large wildfires have required aircraft, such as planes and helicopters, Which are the most expensive part of fighting fires.

Funding currently comes out of whoever's land the fire is on including BLM and the forest service.

I spoke with Senator James Risch and he says lawmakers are trying to make it so large wildfires are treated the same way as hurricanes and earthquakes... That way funding can come from disaster relief funds.

Sen. James Risch said " Right now none of that money is being used on wild fires... and we are attempting on a bi partisan basis to adjust the funding such that on the biggest fires the mitigation money or firefighting money comes out of those disaster relief funds"

This would be different than a disaster declaration which is used specifically to replace and repair resources used to fight the fires.

Link to original article and video: http://www.kpvi.com/news/fighting-wildfires-is-not-cheap/article_cf83cbd0-7b93-11e6-981d-47f7af0e4b05.html

By Paul Beam