US lawmakers on Thursday overwhelmingly approved legislation designed to ease the financial burden of fighting catastrophic wildfires like the blazes that ravaged California in 2008.
The House of Representatives passed the measure, which would create a special contingency fund for battling major blazes, by a margin of 412-3. It must next clear the Senate before President Barack Obama can sign it into law.
Environmentalists applauded the move, saying that in past years firefighting costs depleted funding at agencies like the US Forest Service, harming projects like forest restoration efforts than can forestall wildfires.
"Thankfully, today the House of Representatives has recognized the need to address this dangerous problem," a spokesman for the Sierra Club environmental group, Michael Degnan, said in a statement.
The bill "will allow land management agencies to focus on protecting at-risk communities from wildfire while maintaining a commitment to other programs that restore wildlife habitat and make our lands more resilient to climate change," he said.
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