PHOENIX β U.S. Sen. John McCain on Friday said he was concerned about the slow pace of wildfire prevention efforts in Arizona.
The Arizona Republican wrote in a letter to the U.S. Forest Service head that he was concerned about one contractor in particular that had only thinned a little over 8,000 acres of forest despite being about five years into a contract. McCain says the company was supposed to thin 300,000 acres by 2016.
McCain wants to know what other options there are to accelerate forest restoration work and how much longer it will take for more forest to be thinned out.
The Forest Service regularly thins out forests in an effort to prevent wildfires. Arizona has a dry and hot climate that can result in massive wildfires.
