Gov. Jim Justice signed Senate Bill 1032 into law Monday at the West Virginia Division of Forestry Region 4 headquarters in Beckley. The law will provide $4 million for new forestry wildland firefighting equipment.
The department lost funding in 2019 when the West Virginia Legislature cut severance tax collection on state timber. Assistant State Forester Jeremy Jones said state of the art fire suppression gear will help counter an ever-growing wildfire danger.
“This historic investment will provide severely needed modernization to our wildfire program and our equipment,” Jones said.
Justice also announced that Forestry’s Region 4 headquarters will be renamed in honor of Cody Mullens, a young forestry employee who was killed by a falling tree while fighting a wildland fire earlier this year and worked out of that office.