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OR Senator Calls For Fix On Federal Wildfire Funding

(Washington, DC)  --  Oregon's senior Senator is calling for a fix on how wildfires are fought.  Democratic Senator Ron Wyden pleaded on the Senate floor yesterday for large wildfires to be treated as natural disasters.  Wyden says it makes no sense to shift funding from fire prevention to fire suppression in order to pay for fighting big blazes.  The Forest Service calls the practice "fire borrowing," and critics say it only leads to bigger fires in the future.  Wyden pushed a bill four years ago that would fund wildfire battles from a disaster relief fund.  It failed back then, but the language is now included in current flood insurance legislation.  Wyden recently visited four major wildfire sites in Oregon.

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