{"id":15151433,"date":"2026-06-10T13:18:35","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T17:18:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/as-wildfires-increase-in-the-west-so-does-suppression-spending\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T14:10:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T18:10:15","slug":"as-wildfires-increase-in-the-west-so-does-suppression-spending","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/as-wildfires-increase-in-the-west-so-does-suppression-spending\/","title":{"rendered":"As Wildfires Increase in the West, So Does Suppression Spending"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/eos.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/wildfire-chemicals-1024x576.jpg\" class=\"attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image\" alt=\"A plane flying over a cloud of smoke releases a load of red firefighting chemicals.\" \/><\/figure>\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Source: <em><a href=\"https:\/\/agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/journal\/23284277\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Earth\u2019s Future<\/a><\/em><\/h5>\n<p>Hotter, drier conditions in the western United States have led to a rise in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.climatehubs.usda.gov\/hubs\/northwest\/topic\/climate-change-and-wildfire-idaho-oregon-and-washington\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wildfire<\/a> activity that has damaged or destroyed infrastructure, natural ecosystems, and entire towns across the region. As fires grow larger and more destructive, the cost of managing them rises as well.<\/p>\n<p>Fire management agencies in the United States have been feeling the pressure. Between 2014 and 2023, fire management agencies across all levels of government experienced a 131% increase in total area burned and a 268% increase in total fire spending adjusted for inflation compared to the period between 1985 and 1994.<\/p>\n<p>Today, federal agencies like the Department of the Interior (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.doi.gov\/wildlandfireservice\/current-wildfire-information\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">DOI<\/a>) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fs.usda.gov\/managing-land\/fire\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">USFS<\/a>) continue to invest in aiding states and managing hazardous fuel growth on public land, as well as suppressing active fires. Policymakers and federal agencies alike must decide how to manage limited budgets while protecting people, property, and natural resources.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1029\/2025EF007985\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Prestemon et al.<\/em><\/a> built statistical models based on historical data to examine the potential increase in spending by the DOI and the USFS between now and 2100. Their models link wildfire activity to climate variables such as temperature and water vapor deficit and then connect fire activity to suppression costs. To capture a range of possible future conditions on federal lands, the study predicts 10 fire and suppression spending scenarios by applying five different climate models to two different <a href=\"https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/enviroatlas\/changes-over-time\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">warming pathways<\/a> (the moderate Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) 4.5 scenario and the high-emissions <a href=\"https:\/\/eos.org\/research-and-developments\/why-the-ipcc-seems-poised-to-eliminate-its-most-extreme-emissions-scenario\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">RCP 8.5 scenario<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>The results varied by region and scenario, but each of the 10 scenarios suggested a rise in area burned as well as inflation-adjusted fire suppression spending, with higher fire activity translating to higher costs. Projected changes in DOI and USFS land burned increased 80% by mid-century and 208% by late century.<\/p>\n<p>By the middle of the century, both agencies are projected to see spending increases: about 0.65% per year for DOI spending and about 0.87% per year for USFS spending from 2020 to 2100. Although uncertainty increased with time and outcomes varied across climate models and warming pathways, the largest increases in both cost and wildfire activity were consistently projected for the northwestern United States. (<em>Earth\u2019s Future<\/em>, <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1029\/2025EF007985\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1029\/2025EF007985<\/a>, 2026).<\/p>\n<p>\u2014Rebecca Owen (<a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/beccapox.bsky.social\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">@beccapox.bsky.social<\/a>), Science Writer<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.agu.org\/give-to-agu\/giving?utm_source=Donate_Button_Eos&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=eos_bottom_research_spotlights\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\" noreferrer noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"213\" src=\"https:\/\/eos.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/donate-today-1024x213.png\" alt=\"A photo of a telescope array appears in a circle over a field of blue along with the Eos logo and the following text: Support Eos\u2019s mission to broadly share science news and research. Below the text is a darker blue button that reads \u201cdonate today.\u201d\" class=\"wp-image-235350\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Citation:<\/strong>\u00a0Owen, R. (2026), As wildfires increase in the West, so does suppression spending,\u00a0<em>Eos, 107, <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1029\/2026EO260187\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1029\/2026EO260187<\/a>. Published on 10 June 2026.<\/h5>\n<h6 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Text \u00a9 2026. AGU.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/3.0\/us\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CC BY-NC-ND 3.0<\/a><br \/>Except where otherwise noted, images are subject to copyright. Any reuse without express permission from the copyright owner is prohibited.<\/h6>\n<p class=\"inmi-source\">Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/eos.org\/research-spotlights\/as-wildfires-increase-in-the-west-so-does-suppression-spending\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Science \u2013 eos<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new study projects the intertwined relationship between fires and the money spent fighting them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15151435,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[218],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15151433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/15151433-wildfire-chemicals-1024x576-1.jpg",1024,576,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/15151433-wildfire-chemicals-1024x576-1-300x169.jpg",300,169,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/15151433-wildfire-chemicals-1024x576-1-620x349.jpg",620,349,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/15151433-wildfire-chemicals-1024x576-1-768x432.jpg",768,432,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/15151433-wildfire-chemicals-1024x576-1-940x529.jpg",940,529,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/15151433-wildfire-chemicals-1024x576-1.jpg",1024,576,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/15151433-wildfire-chemicals-1024x576-1.jpg",1024,576,false],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/15151433-wildfire-chemicals-1024x576-1-998x576.jpg",998,576,true],"ignition_item":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/15151433-wildfire-chemicals-1024x576-1-670x446.jpg",670,446,true],"ignition_item_lg":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/15151433-wildfire-chemicals-1024x576-1.jpg",1024,576,false],"ignition_article_media":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/15151433-wildfire-chemicals-1024x576-1-510x510.jpg",510,510,true],"ignition_minicart_item":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/15151433-wildfire-chemicals-1024x576-1-160x160.jpg",160,160,true],"profile_24":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/15151433-wildfire-chemicals-1024x576-1-24x24.jpg",24,24,true],"profile_48":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/15151433-wildfire-chemicals-1024x576-1-48x48.jpg",48,48,true],"profile_96":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/15151433-wildfire-chemicals-1024x576-1-96x96.jpg",96,96,true],"profile_150":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/15151433-wildfire-chemicals-1024x576-1-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"profile_300":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/15151433-wildfire-chemicals-1024x576-1-300x300.jpg",300,300,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"news.iNthacity","author_link":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/author\/atombo\/"},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/articles\/science\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Science<\/a>","tag_info":"Science","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15151433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15151433"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15151433\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15151434,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15151433\/revisions\/15151434"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15151435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15151433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15151433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15151433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}