WASHINGTON - In a rare display of unity, lawmakers of both parties and experts from around the country Thursday all praised a bill to revamp federal funding for firefighting by creating a special program for catastrophic fires.

Too much of the U.S. Forest Service's budget - 48 percent - is eaten up by ever-growing fire suppression costs, to the detriment of its other programs, everyone agreed at a House Natural Resources Committee hearing.

They said a good first step in fixing the problem would be to create a separate fund to pay for fighting the less than 2 percent of fires that grow huge and take almost 85 percent of fire suppression costs.

The bill would stop the Forest Service from "robbing Peter to pay Paul," or raiding its other accounts to pay fire costs, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano testified on behalf of the Western Governors Association. The National Association of State Foresters also supports the bill.

Veto "Sonny" LaSalle, executive director of the Big Sky Coalition, supported the bill but said money is only half of the problem. The underlying causes of worsening fire seasons must also be addressed, he said, including global climate change, too many trees and legal entanglements over large-scale thinning and restoration projects.

Jack Ward Thomas and four other former chiefs of the Forest Service joined to support the bill. Thomas testified that the current system of funding firefighting has been "tragic" in its results. Reductions in personnel, office closings and other cost-saving efforts became counterproductive and have demoralized the agency, he said.

The bill could "help restore the Forest Service to a more effective status, although that will take some time," Thomas said.

The House Agriculture Committee is considering a similar bill, which may be combined with the Resources measure.

That bill contains provisions not in the Resources bill. It would provide firefighting grants to local communities and create "good neighbor" partnerships with states for projects reducing hazardous fuels in national forests.

The chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., and the heads of the relevant subcommittees introduced the Federal Land Assistance, Management and Enhancement Act. Rahall said the Forest Service has been turned into the Fire Service.

The top Republican on the panel, Alaska Rep. Don Young, supports it, as does panel member Rep. William Sali, R-Idaho.

The amount of money in the "Flame Fund" would be based on the average amounts spent by the Forest Service and Interior Department to suppress catastrophic fires over the preceding five fiscal years.

Last year, the Forest Service spent $741 million more than budgeted and Interior spent $249 million more than budgeted - a total of nearly $1 billion - for emergency wildfire suppression.

Congress would have to approve the money for the fund each year. It would be separate from the regular budget for the agencies, which also is approved each year. The anticipated, largely predictable amounts for fire suppression activities for the agencies would continue; the Flame Fund would only be used for catastrophic fires.