Senate Passes Padilla Bill to Improve Federal Wildfire Response

On Thursday, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla’s (D-Calif.) bill to strengthen the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) wildfire preparedness and response efforts passed unanimously out of the Senate.

Padilla was Friday’s KVML “Newsmaker of the Day”.

The FIRE Act will improve FEMA’s response to wildfires including by accounting for melted infrastructure and burned trees as well as begin allowing FEMA to pre-deploy assets during times of highest wildfire risk and red flag warnings. The legislation now moves to the U.S. House of Representatives for consideration.

Here are the words, as spoken on the Senate Floor, of Senator Padilla: