Letter to Lieutenant General L. Scott Rice, Director of Air National Guard - Quickly Train Members to Fight Wildfires

Letter

Dear General Rice,

We write to strongly urge you to initiate wildfire training for National Guard members as soon as possible. As fires seasons last longer and become more severe it is imperative that our nation moves quickly to expand our firefighting capacity and our National Guard members are critical in that effort.

The National Defense Authorization Act of 2018 included a provision that we fought for to authorize federal funding for states to train their Guard members for wildfire response. The law prioritizes funding to states with the most federal forest lands -- states that were hardest hit by last year's record-breaking wildfire season. The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018 included $7 million to support these efforts. We urge you to begin making these funds available as soon as possible to ensure states like Oregon will have resources on the ground to respond to catastrophic wildfire. 

Last year nearly 71,500 fires burned 10 million acres across the country, making it one of the worst, and most expensive, fire seasons on record. In Oregon alone, 2,049 fires burned 714,520 acres during the 2017 fire season. A combination of drier than normal conditions in Oregon and a poor snowpack suggests that 2018 could be similarly severe fire season. We know how devastating these fires can be on our communities, our economy, and our health. We must make every effort to get ahead of the curve as best we can.

You cannot fight a fire without firefighters and throughout last year's devastating fire season, shortages of trained firefighters severely hampered fire suppression efforts at the very moment when they were most critical. We know already that the men and women of the National Guard are brave, disciplined, and committed to protecting our communities. Training our National Guard service members now will mean a quicker and more effective response to severe wildfires.  

The training process will take time and fire season is rapidly approaching, making the quick disbursement of this funding all the more critical.

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