As wildfire risk increases across the country, more states are seeing the impacts on their budgets.
But it's hard to get a clear picture of exactly how much states are spending on wildfire management, said Colin Foard, a senior manager with the Pew Charitable Trusts. His team investigates the financial burden of different disasters on state budgets.
"Wildfire spending is not necessarily tracked or reported comprehensively at the state level," Foard said.
One exception is the state of Washington, which Foard said released a one-time audit that showed its spending related to wildfires tripled between 2010 and 2020.
Gov. Josh Green recently approved $385 million in emergency funding to go towards Maui's recovery. Lawmakers also approved hundreds of millions in additional funds for recovery measures in the next fiscal year, as well as mitigation efforts like the reestablishment of a state fire marshal's office.
Foard said there is a better-documented increase in federal spending related to wildfires.
"Combined spending by the Department of the Interior and U.S. Forest Service doubled between fiscal year 2011 and 2020," Foard said.
The U.S. Forest Service and the Department of the Interior have reportedly spent more than $3 billion per year on wildfire suppression. Those costs are projected to rise.
