11up:11www .rgi .corrvarnc1e1 ,w I WJJU/ NeW~ / JJWJ 111- L/CAfilSUN ... tttp://www .rgj.corn'fdcp/? 1270143804435 RGJ com Wildfire danger increasing million acres, Tidwell said. across U.S., federal official The danger is increased as more people move closer to fire-prone public land. Between 1990 and tells Reno audience 2000, 28 million housing units were built within 30 miles of national forests, he said. Now nearly By Jeff Del ong •
[email protected] •March 30, 70,000 communities across the country are deemed 2010 at risk from wildfire, Tidwell said. A combination of forest restoration projects, Tidwell says forest restoration projects are crucual creation of communities that can survive fire and to thin overgrown forests and treat the landscape aggressive fire fighting will be needed as wildfire with prescribed fire. danger increases across the country, the chief of the U.S. Forest Service said Tuesday. Between 2001 -- when Congress adopted the National Fire Plan -- and 2008, nearly 30 million Wildfires are getting larger and burning more acres of federal land were treated to prevent fire. fiercely, Tom Tidwell told a Reno conference of Tidwell said at that pace, it will take 35 years to treat wildfire experts. the amount of terrain needed. Warming climate and increasing development near "It is essential we build support for the type of forested terrain will result in increasingly treatment that has to occur," Tidwell said. dangerous fire behavior, Tidwell, chief of the Forest Service since June 2009, said. Also needed are "fire adaptive communities" by using fire-resistant building materials and creating "The fire behavior that we're seeing, that people say defensible space, a responsibility Tidwell said will surprises them, that is what we should expect," fall on homeowners.