Just months after Idaho suffered through its worst fire season ever, Gov. Butch Otter and the Idaho Legislature are hoping to strengthen measures to minimize both the financial and physical impacts wildfires could have in the future.

Otter wants $10 million for his Governor’s Emergency Fund, which he says will be reserved for fighting wildfires in 2008. He’s also asking for $1.2 million from the state’s general fund to replenish part of the Disaster Emergency Relief Fund, which Otter tapped for the rehabilitation and seeding efforts on the 650,000 acres charred in the Murphy Complex Fire.

On Thursday, the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee approved $21.5 million to pay for statewide fire suppression in 2007. Idaho law allows state-protected lands to receive fire-suppression reimbursement after fire seasons.

Wildfires torched about 1.9 million acres in Idaho last year - more than in any other state, according to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise.

Federal land-management officials expect the mega-fire trend to continue as summers become hotter and drier. Authorities blamed the ferocity of this year’s large fires on especially hot weather, high winds and a large amount of dry fuel.