The U.S.D.A and Forest Service are withholding reimbursements that state fire agencies say they're owed for battling wildfires on federal lands last year.
Now, the Trump administration has taken matters a step further.
“As you know, around 60% of forested land in California is owned by the federal government,” Feinstein wrote. “Wildfires don’t stop at jurisdictional boundaries, so a unified federal-state approach is the only way to properly protect lives and property.” Since 1961, the Forest Service has reimbursed the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, or Cal OES, for the costs of local, state and volunteer firefighters who help battle blazes on federal lands.
The Forest Service said in a statement that it decided to audit the agreement after receiving a letter from Cal OES Director Mark Ghilarducci. That letter, which was sent in July 2017, chastised the agency for not reimbursing the state in a timely manner. “Our intentions are to fully reimburse the State of California for all of their actual expenses. The only payments that we have not made are those that do not have documentation that substantiate actual expenses,” the Forest Service said.
“It wasn’t a typical audit that you see from the government. It was a PowerPoint; it wasn’t an audit. They said ‘overcharging.’ But they also said ‘undercharging,’” Marshall said. “They won’t tell us if they’re going to be able to pay our volunteers or not.”
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