Cost of Western Blazes Spreads Like Wildfire

CNBC

When the last embers cool on the wildfires now spreading across more than 750,000 acres in 10 Western states, the economic toll could be 30 times higher than the cost of simply dousing the fires, a major issue as cities and states struggle with shrinking budgets.

As the cost of fighting fires keeps rising, the effort is diverting funds from other forest management programs designed to reduce fire risk. And experts say the economic damage is being vastly underestimated in the initial headline numbers for the fires raging through an area out West that is the size of Rhode Island.

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