TACOMA, Wash. — According to an audit released Thursday, the state Department of Natural Resources mistakenly overpaid a private contractor to help fight last year’s Carlton Complex fire in Washington.
The News Tribune reported that about $9,000 was overpaid and was subsequently repaid by the private contractor. The audit findings highlighted the pressure of the state’s largest wildland firefighting agency to respond quickly to fires, while also ensuring all proper procedures are followed.
Some lawmakers and local officials criticized the department for being inefficient and slow to enlist the help of civilian and private firefighting crews during the blazes. But state auditors said in their report that they acted so quickly in one instance that it failed to establish reimbursement rates for the private contractor in advance and in writing.
“Due to the imminent threat to public safety, the department entered into this emergency agreement without establishing these rates,” according to the report. “Without establishing agreed-upon rates in contracts for fire suppression services, public funds are at risk of misuse or abuse.”
The mistake resulted in overpaying the private contractor for equipment such as radios, chain saws and flashlights, which the department normally wouldn’t reimburse.
The contractor, who the state paid a total of $1.8 million to help fight the Carlton Complex fire last year, paid the $9,000 back quickly after the state realized its mistake, according to the report.
“It was the right thing to do … we needed to act and we did,” DNR spokeswoman Sandra Kaiser said. “That said, we do really need to make sure that our contracts are correct and contain the proper amount of reimbursements. In that particular case we did not live up to our own standards.”
This year’s fire season has already proved much worse than last year’s. So far, more than 1 million acres have burned across Washington this year, more than twice the damage caused by fires in 2014.