[Grampa Dave]

Where and when was this fire?

[Salvation]

From kgw.com

Wyden Seeks $50M in Firefighting Funds

08/08/2002

Associated Press

WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., sent a letter to President Bush Thursday urging him to release $50 million in federal funding to help fight wildfires in Oregon and other Western states.

The money is included in an emergency spending law Bush signed Aug. 2, but it cannot be released until the president sends a formal request to Congress indicating the fires in the West are a national emergency.

In the meantime, the U.S. Forest Service and other federal agencies are spending money allocated for other programs to fight the fires, which have burned more than 4 million acres in the West this year -- including more than 400,000 acres in Oregon.

Sen. Ron Wyden. (KGW File Photo)

"Fifty million dollars is a drop in the bucket compared to what the West really needs to fight fires, but right now the bucket is bone dry," Wyden said. "The president needs to act."

A top budget official assured a Senate committee last month that "no fires will go unfought this season," but Wyden and other Western senators say there is no reason officials should have to borrow from other accounts to fight fires.

Wyden is chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources subcommittee on forests and public lands.

(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)