Wildfire Budget Blown

The U.S. Forest Service has spent almost all of its $1.2 billion firefighting budget for the year and will have to take money from non-emergency programs for road and campground repair and renovation, The Oregonian reports. The newspaper quotes Hank Kashdan, the service's deputy chief of business operations, as saying the tab for the year could reach $1.6 billion. To make up the deficit, the service is taking $30 million earmarked for reducing flammable tinder in forests, according to a letter to field offices from Forest Service Chief Abigail Kimbell. The newspaper says intense early-season fires in California consumed firefighting money quickly.