Taxpayers could foot $100 million jet fuel bill for wildfires as prices spike

Taxpayers may face a wildfire season with a soaring price tag, as aviation fuel costs, sharply higher since the outbreak of the war with Iran, threaten to push expenses to $100 million or more.

Although the federal government leads suppression efforts on major fires, the roughly 500 aircraft used each year are overwhelmingly operated by private contractors. Most of those contracts include clauses that allow companies to pass rising fuel costs directly on to the government, meaning taxpayers have to foot the bill.

Willis Curdy, a former aerial firefighting pilot, told NPR that the job demands far more from aircraft than typical commercial flying.

“This isn’t like climbing a 737 to cruising altitude,” he said.

FILE – Water is dropped by helicopter on the advancing Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent, File)

After nearly four decades battling wildfires from the air,