Bill addresses wildfire preparedness, response

U.S. Reps. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Jerry McNerney (D-CA), and Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) recently introduced the National Wildland Fire Risk Reduction Program Act (H.R. 5781), which seeks to enhance wildfire preparedness, resilience, and response.

The measure aims to identify and invest in research and development, establish warning and forecast systems, nurture observation and sensing technologies and standardize wildfire data collection efforts.

“The climate crisis is making wildfires more dangerous and frequent, putting lives, property, and the environment at risk,” Bonamici said. “The National Wildland Fire Risk Reduction Program Act will help protect Oregon and communities across the country by increasing our ability to stop wildfires before they happen and better respond when they do.”

The legislators introducing the bill serve on the House of Representatives Science, Space, and Technology Committee and noted the nation experienced its most active wildfire year on record last year, with 10.3 million acres burned – exceeding the 2000-2010 average by 51 percent.

“In my home state of California and across the West, fire seasons are getting longer and more severe,” Lofgren said. “Congress must advance a whole-of-government approach to execute a coordinated and united federal agenda on wildfires that uses science-based and cost-effective measures to change the way we think about, plan for, and respond to wildfires.”

Lofgren said the nation’s ability to accurately anticipate, detect, monitor, and contain fires is dependent on scientific information and bringing all of the federal government’s scientific resources to bear in preventing the loss of life and property from wildfires.