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Floor Speech

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Mr. PADILLA. Madam President, I rise to introduce the Wildfire Intelligence Collaboration and Coordination Act of 2024. This legislation would establish a joint wildfire intelligence center in the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Commerce, and the Department of the Interior to foster collaboration to respond to wildfires. This center would study, plan, coordinate, and implement issues of joint concern among the three Departments. This would include providing comprehensive assessment and modeling of wildfires to inform response, land and fuels management, risk reduction, post-wildfire recovery, and rehabilitation.

Increasingly severe and frequent wildfires pose a significant risk to the health of our environment and communities across our country. In recent years, huge wildfires have struck Alaska, Colorado, my home State of California, Nevada, New Mexico, Hawaii, and beyond. Whether the fire was burning in your State or whether the smoke traveled and covered the skies of your State, the impacts or wildfires cannot be ignored. Currently, the Franklin Fire is raging in Malibu, CA, and has burned more than 4,037 acres and destroyed several homes.

As the West continues to suffer from devastating wildfires year after year, we must be proactive instead of solely reactive to the wildfire crisis, and that includes coordinating across the Federal Government to meet the current challenge.

I look forward to working with my colleagues to pass this bill as soon as possible.

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