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The U.S. Forest Service has a new strategy for wildfires

The U.S. Forest Service has announced a new plan for wildfire management.

The new strategy calls for the Forest Service to coordinate with Western states to thin millions of acres.

It will target areas close to homes and other structures and expand into more remote regions.

Some of the work will be funded by the recently passed infrastructure bill.

Sen. Mark Kelly was in Phoenix with agency officials to talk about the new policy.

“Today’s fires, they burn hotter and they burn longer, and they can easily reach temperatures in the thousands, thousands of degrees,” Kelly said.

Arizona has already begun working with the Forest Service on thinning projects.

Ron Dungan was a senior field correspondent at KJZZ from 2020 to 2024.