As fires rage, feds cut funding on prevention

National News

FILE - In this Sept. 8, 2009, file photo District Ranger Bill Gamble points out a telltale hole indicating pine beetles have attacked a tree in the Umpqua National Forest in Diamond Lake, Ore. Overwhelmed by a combination of government austerity and the sheer cost of firefighting, key federal agencies are spending less money clearing brush or removing deadwood killed by parasites, that could prevent further wildfires in the future. (AP Photo/Jeff Barnard, File)

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As fires rage, f... FILE - In this Sept. 8, 2009, file photo District Ranger Bill Gamble points out a telltale hole indicating pine beetles have attacked a tree in the Umpqua National Forest in Diamond Lake, Ore. Overwhelmed by a combination of government austerity and the sheer cost of firefighting, key federal agencies are spending less money clearing brush or removing deadwood killed by parasites, that could prevent further wildfires in the future. (AP Photo/Jeff Barnard, File)
FBI hunt for ex-... Robert Foley, special agent in charge of the FBI's Detroit division, addresses the media in Oakland Township, Mich., Wednesday, June 19, 2013 where he announced the FBI was ending the search operations for the remains of Teamsters union president Jimmy Hoffa who disappeared from a Detroit-area restaurant in 1975. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
Uncertain future... A U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent and K-9 security dog keep watch at a checkpoint station, on Feb. 22, 2013, in Falfurrias, Texas. Some drug smugglers caught at the highway checkpoint about an hour north of the Texas-Mexico border are losing their drugs, but not facing prosecution because cooperation between local and federal prosecutors has broken down. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Mueller urges ca... FBI Director Robert Mueller testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, June 19, 2013, before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on national security matters. As Mueller nears the end of his 12 years as head of the law enforcement agency, lawmakers questioned him about the IRS, surveillance activities, and the Boston Marathon bombing. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Baked Alaska: Un... This photo taken Monday, June 17, 2013, shows people sunning at Goose Lake in Anchorage, Alaska. Parts of Alaska are setting high temperature records as a heat wave continues across Alaska. Temperatures are nothing like what Phoenix or Las Vegas gets, but temperatures in the 80s and 90s are hot for Alaska, where few buildings have air conditioning. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)
Men's Wearhouse ... FILE - In this Thursday, May 6, 1999 file photo, George Zimmer, second from left, gestures to Andy Dolich prior to a meeting, in Oakland, Calif. Men's Wearhouse Inc. says it has dismissed Zimmer, its founder and executive chairman. In a terse release issued Wednesday, June 19, 2013, the company didn't give a reason for the abrupt firing of Zimmer, who built Men's Wearhouse from one small Texas store using a cigar box as a cash register to one of the nation's largest specialty retailers in men's clothing, with 1,143 locations. (AP Photo/Ben Margot, File)
VP Biden pays tr... From left, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif., Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nev., House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio and Vice President Joe Biden applaud during a ceremony to dedicate the statue of Frederick Douglass, seen behind them, Wednesday, June 19, 2013, in the Emancipation Hall of the United States Visitor Center on Capitol Hill in Washington. The bronze statue of Douglass is by Maryland artist Steve Weitzman. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Neighbors: Coupl... Jeremy and Kelly Beach look into the remains of their home off Ravine Drive, Tuesday, June 18, 2013, in Colorado Springs, Colo. Residents were allowed back into the area for a short period of time to view the properties that sustained the most damage from the fire. The Black Forest Fire, the most destructive wildfire in Colorado history, has destroyed 502 homes and charred more than 22 square miles. It was 85 percent contained Tuesday. (AP Photo/The Colorado Springs Gazette, Michael Ciaglo) MAGS OUT
Traffic returns ... This Tuesday, june 18, 2013 photo shows the Interstate 5 bridge over the Skagit river, which is scheduled to reopen tomorrow, Wednesday June 19. (AP Photo/The Seattle Times, Mark Harrison) OUTS: SEATTLE OUT, USA TODAY OUT, MAGAZINES OUT, TELEVISION OUT, SALES OUT. MANDATORY CREDIT TO: MARK HARRISON / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Mueller: FBI use... FBI Director Robert Mueller testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, June 19, 2013, before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on national security matters. As Mueller nears the end of his 12 years as head of the law enforcement agency, lawmakers questioned him about the IRS, surveillance activities, and the Boston Marathon bombing. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Former TWA Fligh... FILE - In this Nov. 19, 1997 file photo, FBI agents and New York state police guard the reconstruction of TWA Flight 800 in Calverton, N.Y. Flight 800 exploded and crashed July 17, 1996 while flying from New York to Paris, killing all 230 people aboard. Former investigators on Wednesday, June 19, 2013 called on the National Transportation Safety Board to re-examine the cause, saying new evidence points to the often-discounted theory that a missile strike may have downed the jumbo jet. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)
Judge reads char... Attorney Mark O'Mara, right, jury consultant Robert Hirschhorn, second from right, George Zimmerman and co-counsel Don West, left, watch the proceedings during Zimmerman's trial in Seminole circuit court in Sanford, Fla., Tuesday, June 18, 2013. Zimmerman has been charged with second-degree murder for the 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin. (AP Photo/Orlando Sentinel, Joe Burbank, Pool)
Aug. trial set f... Ariel Castro, center, sits before a judge with his defense attorney's, Craig Weintraub, left, and Jaye Schlachet during a pretrial hearing on Wednesday, June 19, 2013, in Cleveland.. A tentative Aug. 4 trial date has been set for Castro, accused of kidnapping three women and holding them in his home for about a decade. (AP Photo/Jason Miller)
Ohio woman accus... A "Private Property No Trespassing" sign greets visitors Tuesday June 18, 2013, at this three-apartment building in Ashland, Ohio, which a neighbor says was home to at least one of the three suspects charged with enslaving a mentally disabled woman and her child. (AP Photo/Kantele Franko)
Award-winning jo... This undated photo provided by Blue Rider Press/Penguin shows award-winning journalist and war correspondent Michael Hastings. Hastings, an award-winning journalist and war correspondent, died early Tuesday, June 18, 2013 in a car accident in Los Angeles, his employer and family said. (AP Photo/Blue Rider Press/Penguin)
W.Va. mine safet... Garrett Tomblin operates a remote control that controls the fire in the mine disaster training area of the Running Right Leadership Academy in Julian, Va., Tuesday, June 11, 2013. Alpha Natural Resources safety training center that grew out of its $210 million non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
Search for Hoffa... FILE - This July 26, 1959 file photo shows Teamsters Union president Jimmy Hoffa in Washington. Federal agents revived the hunt for the remains of Hoffa on Monday, June 17, 2013, digging around in a suburban Detroit field where a reputed Mafia captain says the Teamsters boss' body was buried. Authorities used excavation equipment to root around in the Oakland Township property, about 25 miles north of Detroit. (AP Photo/File)
NSA director say... From left, Deputy Attorney General James Cole; National Security Agency (NSA) Deputy Director Chris Inglis; NSA Director Gen. Keith B. Alexander; Deputy FBI Director Sean Joyce; and Robert Litt, general counsel to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence; prepares to testify on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 18, 2013, before the House Intelligence Committee hearing regarding NSA surveillance. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Oklahoma execute... Protestors hold a sign against the death penalty outside the governor's mansion in Oklahoma City, Tuesday, June 18, 2013, protesting the execution of James DeRosa in McAlester, Okla. DeRosa was killed by lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. He was the second inmate the state executed this year. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Hoffa mystery st... Law enforcement officials from the Michigan State Police help search the area in Oakland Township, Mich., Tuesday, June 18, 2013 where officials continue the search for the remains of Teamsters union president Jimmy Hoffa who disappeared from a Detroit-area restaurant in 1975. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
18 mayors: Limit... FILE - In this March 12, 2013 file photo, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg looks at a 64-ounce cup, as Lucky's Cafe owner Greg Anagnostopoulos, left, stands behind him, during a news conference at the cafe in New York. The mayors of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and 15 other cities are reviving a push against letting government food vouchers be used to buy soda and other sugary drinks. In a letter to congressional leaders Tuesday, the mayors say it’s “time to test and evaluate approaches limiting” the use of the subsidies’ for sugar-laden beverages. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)