Torres Secures Wildfire Policy Provisions in House Appropriations Bills

Press Release

Congresswoman Norma J. Torres (CA-35) today announced a series of provisions to prevent wildfires that she secured in several fiscal year 2022 House Appropriations bills. The bills all recently passed out of the House Appropriations Committee and will subsequently be considered by the full House of Representatives.

Torres, who sits on the powerful House Appropriations Committee, leveraged her position to include the provisions as California enters the most dangerous months of another record-breaking year of wildfires.

"Over the last few weeks, Southern California has experienced record-breaking heat waves -- the sweltering temperatures and dry conditions are a huge factor for fast-spreading, catastrophic wildfires," Rep. Norma J. Torres said. "That's why I sought -- and secured -- so many provisions focused on addressing wildfire prevention, research, and response in the House Appropriations process. We must ensure that we have the necessary resources and knowledge to prevent wildfires in our state, and to save lives and property when they occur."

More than twice as many acres burned, and hundreds more fires blazed in the first six months of 2021 than during the same period last year. While 2020 remains the worst fire season in state history, 2021 has the potential to surpass it.

Rep. Torres' provisions include:

Energy Grid Resiliency from Wildfires
Rep. Torres included language in the Energy and Water Appropriations bill requesting program funding for the Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security and Emergency Response to conduct a demonstration program of innovative technologies for monitoring vegetation management to improve grid resiliency from wildfires.

Collaboration on Wildfire Prevention
Rep. Torres included language in the House Interior Appropriations bill directing the Forest Service (FS) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to conduct more frequent fuel content and soil moisture testing in consultation with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to ensure the government's ability to develop more accurate wildfire modelling and artificial intelligence solutions.

Soil Testing, Wildfire Modeling and AI Solutions
Rep. Torres added language encouraging National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to utilize satellite and Artificial Intelligence assets in efforts to work with authorities and land managers to improve information dissemination related to wildfire events.

Wildfire Science Research
Rep. Torres led efforts to include funding in the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) Appropriations bill for the NOAA for research to improve the understanding and prediction of wildfire behavior.

Wildland-Urban Interface Building Standards
Rep. Torres included a report language requesting research to update the Wildland-Urban Interface Building Standards at the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST). This work can help save lives and property and help localities to incorporate these needs in their planning efforts. $3 million in funding was also included for this research. More than 3.8 million homes in California fall along Wildland-Urban Interfaces.

Incident Meteorologists
Rep. Torres added language allowing the National Weather Service to assess the needs for additional incident meteorologists (IMETs) to respond to wildfires and other events. IMETs are a specific type of first responder who assist in wildfire response efforts by predicting weather patterns and their impact on wildfires, as well as weather impact on wildfire movement.

Federal Insurance Office Report on Wildfires
Rep. Torres added language in the House Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill supporting the President's Executive Order on assessing climate-related financial risk to financial stability including from wildfire activity. The language recommends following up with the Federal Insurance Office to ensure analysis of wildfires is assessed in their work.

Insurance Risk of Climate
Rep. Torres included language in the House Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill on the importance of assessing wildfire activity on private insurance coverage to ensure those impacted by wildfires have the opportunity to buy reasonable insurance coverage.

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