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Who would have thought it possible: A sensible measure to reform federal wildfire policy appears to be making headway in Washington, D.C.

On Monday, President Obama said he would endorse a plan being pushed by a bipartisan collection of Western lawmakers to fund major wildfires the same way as other natural disasters – a move which could clear the way to free up funding to prevent future fires.

Specifically, Obama said he plans to incorporate a bill (S. 1875) by Oregon’s two senators, Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, as part of his 2015 budget proposal, which the president will release next week. The Senate bill also is sponsored by Idaho’s two senators, Mike Crapo and James Risch. The House companion measure is sponsored by Oregon Rep. Kurt Schrader and Idaho Rep. Mike Simpson; Oregon Rep. Greg Walden has introduced a similar bill.

Currently, federal agencies base wildfire suppression budgets on the average cost over the past 10 years. But that approach has underestimated the actual costs of fighting fires over eight of the last 10 years. Here’s what happens then: The U.S. Forest Service and the Department of the Interior are forced to take money from other programs to cover the shortfall, a practice known as “fire borrowing.”