Due to a congressional windfall, the Dolores-Mancos Ranger District is beefing up its fire staff and fire-prevention plans.

Tom Kelly, the fire-management officer at the district, said the district will almost double its fire management staff by the beginning of the coming fire season.

Kelly is currently the only full-time permanent fire manager at the district, but the district is considering hiring an additional staff member to focus on prescribed burning. In addition, three part-time permanent employees will be hired, and many seasonal employees, boosting the total number to 23.

This year’s fire season was one of the worst on record. By early September, 6.5 million acres had burned across the West, more than two times the 10-year national average. As a result, Congress appropriated $1.8 billion for the federal fire plan — 100 percent of the funding requested.

Cortez, Mancos, and Dolores are listed in the federal register as local communities eligible to benefit from an additional $240 million congressional appropriation to reduce wildfire threats within the urban wildland interface — or those communities near public lands.

Kelly said the Dolores district planned to burn between 4,000 and 5,000 acres of ponderosa pine and Gambel oak in lower elevations before the start of the traditional fire season.