A legislative audit released Tuesday concluded that while wildfires in Kansas are becoming more frequent, a lack of resources and coordination are hampering the states ability to fight them.
Firefighting duties and resources are spread across three separate agencies, which auditors said is complicating wildfire response and communication between state and local officials.
The Kansas Fire Marshals Office is the lead agency for wildfire response, but it has no firefighting resources. Those resources are held by the state Forest Service, which doesnt have enough funding to deploy the equipment. The Division of Emergency Management also serves a supporting role.
