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The Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management (DFFM) earmarks $4.3 million in grant money for 15 Arizona fire districts to invest in critical firefighting necessities. The funding stems from Senate Bill 1720 to help address significant infrastructure and equipment needs for recognized fire districts throughout the state. Essentially, the grant funding helps supplement fire district budgets to increase public safety efforts within their communities.
Increasing fire activity coupled with warm temperatures and dry conditions prompt the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management (DFFM) to implement Stage 1 fire restrictions on State Trust lands within some areas of Central Arizona.
With the recent passing of House Bill 2751, the State of Arizona can now reach a bigger pool of wildland firefighting resources, including equipment and overhead when the state moves into higher preparedness levels and fire activity increases. With Governor Katie Hobbs’ seal of approval, HB 2751 allows Arizona to enter into the Great Plains Interstate Fire Compact that currently includes the states of New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, North and South Dakotas, Wyoming, and the Province of Saskatchewan.
The Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management announces a multi-million-dollar investment into the state of Arizona provided through the USDA Forest Service as part of their Community Wildfire Defense Grants (CWDG). The grants provide financial assistance to at-risk communities to protect their residents from catastrophic wildfire through the development and implementation of Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPP). These master plans must be designed to provide for wildfire risk reduction, build fire adapted communities, prioritize hazardous fuels reduction work, and promote fire training to ensure a collaborative, unified response between local fire departments, the state, and federal land management agencies.
A recent spike in wildfire activity in some parts of Pinal County is causing concern for state fire management officers. Since April 1 to May 9, the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management (DFFM) responded to 25 wildfires, mostly concentrated in the western portion of the county, south and southwest of Maricopa within the Thunderbird Farms and Hidden Valley areas. DFFM overhead assigned to those incidents report all 25 were found to be human-caused, many of which were due to equipment usage, such as welding and grinding. However, with some of those fire starts, no ignition source could be determined. Data acquired from DFFM’s Arizona Dispatch Center (ADC) showed those fires burned more than 2,600 acres.
