Federal Land Assistance, Management and Enhancement Act

Floor Speech

I thank the gentleman for yielding. I thank him and Mr. Sali for their leadership in bringing this important legislation to the floor in a timely fashion for us in California. I appreciate the good work of their committee.

Mr. Speaker, California today is fighting some of the most significant fires in terms of acres burned in our history, more than 675,000 acres, as the fires that have cost $276 million to fight, according to the State and Federal reports, to date. The number of active wildfires up and down the coast of California is 330. There have been 1,731 fires since June 21.

Up to 20,000 firefighters are battling the blazes, many of them from neighboring States, many from far and wide across the country. Some from other countries, from Mexico, from Canada, from Australia, and New Zealand and other places, coming to the rescue. Later today we will have a resolution offered by my colleague from California (Mr. Farr), whose district is greatly impacted by these fires, a resolution to commend our firefighters, thank them for their service and their sacrifice, and that will be an important resolution and debate at that time.

But in addition to extending our sympathy to those for their losses and our appreciation to our firefighters, we have to do more. And today, Mr. Rahall, you have given us the opportunity to do just that.

This legislation, the FLAME Act, before us creates an emergency Federal fund dedicated solely to combating the catastrophic wildfires. This funding will help ensure that fire prevention resources are not consumed by emergency firefighting expenses. Others have spoken about the need for us to even go beyond this act in terms of treatment and prevention, but this act is important because this fund will prevent the soaking up of all of the other dollars that should be used for prevention but are used for extinction.

The FLAME Act also requires the administration to develop a cohesive wildfire management strategy. This is very, very important and long overdue. We need prevention. We need the treatment that was described by our colleague. A long-term strategy is needed and should include approaches to hiring and retaining experienced Federal wildland firefighters. We have enormously talented people in our country. We want many of them to work for the Federal Government, and that's why I oppose the administration's insistence on outsourcing and other policies that undercut the Federal workforce which extend to our wildland firefighters.

I want to commend Mr. Rahall, whose leadership on the Natural Resources Committee is helping to strengthen efforts to better prepare for and combat wildfires, Mr. Sali as well, for bringing this legislation to the floor; Chairman Raúl Grijalva of the Natural Resources Committee's National Parks, Forests and Public Lands Subcommittee; and Chairman Norm Dicks of the Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior. These outstanding leaders have brought forward bipartisan legislation that will help us fight future catastrophic fires and ensure that sufficient resources are dedicated to protecting both citizens and property. That is why this legislation has such broad bipartisan support and has been endorsed by five former chiefs of the Forest Service, the National Association of State Foresters, the National Association of Counties, the National Federation of Federal Employees, the Western Governors Association, and nearly 40 other leading organizations.

As I said earlier, our colleague Congressman Farr is to be commended for authoring the resolution the House will consider shortly that commends our firefighters from California and throughout America for their courageous service. As we thank our colleagues for this much-needed legislation, we should also honor the service of our firefighters, the California Office of Emergency Services, the National Guard for helping protect our neighbors' lives and homes in California and throughout the West.

We also express our deepest sympathies to those who have suffered deep personal losses as a result of these fires, particularly the families of two firefighters who lost their lives: Robert Roland of the Anderson Valley Fire Department, a volunteer fireman who lost his life fighting a fire; and John Hermo of Oregon. He came down from Oregon to help fight the fires. He was drowned while off duty but, nonetheless, here in the service of this important fight.

This critical legislation is an opportunity to provide consistent assistance and structure for relief in these times of emergency. Again, we express our appreciation to the legislation's authors and hopes that the weather and the wind will assist our brave firefighters in combating the blazes. I know we all join in saying that we wish God will bless our courageous firefighters.

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