Federal Agencies Fail to Get Data on Needed Firefighting Aircraft, Audit Finds

The US Forest Service and the Department of Interior have repeatedly failed to collect information identifying the number and type of firefighting aircraft they need, and have not documented the performance of the fleets they currently have in use, according to a new federal audit. “Since 1995, the Forest Service and Interior have cumulatively produced nine major studies and strategy documents related to their firefighting aviation needs, but the agencies’ efforts to identify the number and type of firefighting aircraft needed have been hampered by limited information and collaboration,” the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a highly critical audit report. “In particular,” GAO said, “these efforts did not include information on the performance and effectiveness of firefighting aircraft and involved limited collaboration between agencies and with stakeholders in the fire aviation community.” While there have been numerous calls for the US Forest Service and Interior to collect aircraft performance information, neither agency did so until 2012, when the Forest Service began a data collection effort. “However, the Forest Service has collected limited data on large air tankers and no other aircraft, and Interior has not initiated a data collection effort,” GAO said. “In addition, although firefighting aircraft are often shared by federal agencies and can be deployed to support firefighting operations on federal and nonfederal lands, the agencies have not consistently collaborated with one another and other stakeholders to identify the firefighting aircraft they need.”...more