A bill that would create a task force to study funding for fighting forest fires won committee approval Wednesday and will head to the full Senate for debate.
Sen. Dennis Stowell, R-Parowan, wants his SB251 to create the Wildland Task Force, made up of lawmakers and a number of state and local agencies. The group would look at issues like funding wildland fire suppression as well as cost sharing and responsibility for wildland fire suppression. After that, the group would make any necessary recommendations to the Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Interim Committee and the Natural Resources Appropriations Subcommittee before November 30. SB251 would require $27,000 to fund the task force's operations.
By early last August, with the wildfire season nearly over, hundreds of fires had burned over 670,000 acres in Utah.