(The Center Square) â Governors in wildfire country had a message for President Joe Biden and Congress on Friday: it's time for the federal government to step in and manage its forests because their state resources are running on empty.
In 2021, 83 large fires have burned more than 1.7 million acres in 13 states, the National Interagency Fire Center reports. Some 547,000 acres have been lost to fires in Oregon, where the state's Bootleg Fire has swelled to 413,000 acres and has become the nation'sÂ
largest fire. While some 22,000 wildland firefighters and support personnel beat back the flames nationwide, states governments are calling on Biden to help them rewrite the nation's firefighting playbook.