U.S. Reps Joe Neguse (D-CO), Jared Huffman (D-CA), Angie Craig (D-MN), Andrea Salinas (D-OR) and George Whitesides (D-CA) have introduced legislation that would address wildfire response and readiness.
The comprehensive legislative package of 25 bills, the Wildfire Response and Readiness Act, outlines wildland fire policy for a federal response to wildfires as the country faces increasingly active, destructive and life-threatening fires. Officials said the legislation would protect wildlands, ready communities for disasters and give federal firefighters more support and benefits.
Officials said wildfires have burned more than 5.5 million acres of land across the country so far this year. The fires, when added to extreme weather, including the record-breaking drought across the West, put communities at added risk, Congress members said.
“Colorado has experienced some of the most devastating wildfires in the country—and as we’ve worked together to recover and rebuild, we’ve also drawn from hard-earned lessons in the wake of these disasters to introduce this comprehensive package of policy proposals,” Neguse, ranking member of the Federal Lands Subcommittee, said. “The Wildfire Response and Readiness Act advances critical prevention, mitigation, and response strategies while delivering long-overdue support for our brave and heroic wildland firefighters, who risk life and limb to protect our communities and deserve fair compensation and benefits.”
The lawmakers said their legislative package is the House Democratic response to the growing threat of catastrophic wildfires with practical, collaborative solutions aimed at protecting people and places threatened with wildfire.
“Hotter summers and drier forests mean wildfires are burning more intensely and reaching towns that never used to worry about them… The Wildfire Response and Readiness Act delivers what Americans need: fair pay and job security for wildland firefighters, real help for families fire-proofing their homes, and healthier forests that stop small fires from becoming catastrophes. This is the fight of our time, and we will not let up until every community has the protection they need,” Huffman, the ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member, said.
The Wildfire Response and Readiness Act has three main pillars – resilient lands investing in wildfire prevention and post-fire restoration, fire-safe communities which would help families make their homes more fire resistant while giving communities the tools to plan for fires, and wildland firefighter safety and workforce security which provides better pay, better leave and better retirement benefits for wildland firefighters, while expanding the workforce.
The legislative package is endorsed by American Forests, Defenders of Wildlife, Earthjustice Action, Grassroots Wildland Firefighters, Megafire Action, National Federation of Federal Employees, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, Trust for Public Land, and Western Fire Chiefs Association.