Merrill Saleen
As the incident commander, Merrill Saleen knows that it is his job to protect citizens, property, and then natural resources. However, he says that isn’t always the case, as cost containment can quickly change that order of priority. Saleen retired at the end of the 2007 fire season.
On the priorities of the Forest Service:
“Our order of priority historically was protection of life, then protection of property, then protection of natural resources. That’s being changed, that’s being readjusted. Probably paramount above all of those is cost containment. So when you start playing with that order of priority, decisions become more and more difficult to make. And who makes the choice of whether or not the money spent is worth the benefit when we’re dealing with homes and lives? It all boils down to money.”
On public response:
“A lot of our fires this year are a result of management response. We’ve had some impacts that I think it’s now time for the public to assess and provide feedback on and I think it’s incumbent upon them to do so. We’ve worked a long time with the values that we’ve based our program on in the past and that’s changed. So, we’ll see how it turns out.”
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