Climate-Driven Wildfires Consume Forest Service Budget

Wildfires blamed in part on climate change are consuming timber in the U.S. West at such a furious pace that half the Forest Service’s budget is now spent fighting them -- up from 21 percent in 2000.

Add in the firefighting of other agencies, as well as state governments, and the bill to taxpayers runs in the billions of dollars each year. And it’s growing fast, driven by an urbanizing West as well as warmer and drier summers.