White House to meet with fire chiefs on climate change

By Nicole Duran, Nicole Duran

Published December 20, 2015

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The White House on Monday will convene a meeting with dozens of fire chiefs from across the country to discuss climate change's affects on forest fires, and to unveil the findings of a task force established last March on the issue.

The task force recommended establishing a Federal Fire Science Coordination Council that would: "ensure regular exchange among the leaders of those federal organizations that either produce or use fire science; strengthen coordination and collaboration among the organizations that produce wild land-fire science and technology; establish mechanisms to systematically assess user needs and priorities for science, research and technology support; and define national-level needs for federal fire science in support of the fire-management community."

The task force was convened because of the increase in forest fires. From 2000-13, almost 300 firefighters have been killed combating wild fires, the White House stated.

The White House said every western state has seen an increase in the number and intensity of wildfires, and in the length of fire season, which, on average, is now 78 days longer.