More on The Price Tag for Wildfire Suppression and Recovery

This could be helpful for our discussion of costs of fires, except for the lack of dollar figures. We may have to stay tuned.

from the Denver Post here:

Colorado needs more federal help than earlier anticipated to recover from this summer’s devastating wildfires, according to a letter Gov. John Hickenlooper sent President Obama this week.

“While we are appreciative of the current declaration, as it exists today, only a select handful of local governments and private non-profits will receive (the) benefit of reimbursement and only in limited amounts,” the governor’s letter to the president states.

“Most of the identified needs remain unmet, and Colorado communities will be unable to fully recover without additional federal assistance.”

Colorado has been hit by 19 fires in 15 counties this year, Colorado’s worst season in a decade.

Obama approved aid for the state June 28.That federal money was to help local governments and non-profits recover from the 87,284-acre High Park fire in Larimer County, which claimed 259 homes and one life, and the Waldo Canyon fire in El Paso County, where flames consumed 18,247 acres and 347 homes while claiming two lives .

The president’s declaration did not come with a dollar amount, and the state’s new request does not affix a price tag for recovery.

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