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:

“Thank you, Madame President, so I rise to discuss and explain the matter on which we just took action on. It is relative to wildfires. All across the western United States, historic wildfires continue to grow both more frequent and more severe.

Every year in recent years, entire communities have been destroyed by wildfires in a matter of hours. We’ve seen this in California, New Mexico, and Colorado. Families are forced to flee with only the belongings they can quickly pack into their vehicles.

Last year, I visited the incident command center in Quincy, California, to see firsthand the real time response to the devastating Dixie Fire. Separately, I met with local leaders in Santa Rosa, California to hear about problems with recovery from previous catastrophic wildfires.

So my bill, the bill we just took action on, the FEMA Improvement, Reform, and Efficiency Act – or the “FIRE Act” – will help ensure FEMA better addresses the unique and increasing danger of wildfires.

Now, FEMA’s current procedures and requirements don’t always work for post-wildfire recovery needs, and this bill will close those gaps. I give a lot of credit to FEMA they’ve gotten pretty good at anticipating and responding to other types of disasters, we’re seeing it as we speak with the hurricane impacting Florida, they do the same with tornadoes, floods, other disasters. In all these scenarios, we know that it begins with preparation.

The FIRE Act will begin the process of allowing FEMA to pre-deploy resources during times of extremely high risk, in the west we know it as red flag warnings. When it’s hot, conditions are dry, and the winds kick up, it’s a recipe for disaster. And so to have FEMA be able to deploy in advance, just as they do already during hurricane warnings, as we’re seeing in Florida at this very moment, is a smart thing to do.

Then, as communities rebuild after a devastating wildfire, this bill will work to ensure that FEMA takes wildfire-specific issues into account, like melted infrastructure and burned trees. It will also help local governments work with FEMA to more effectively relocate critical infrastructure away from fire-prone areas. In the aftermath of a fire, the bill will help provide better housing assistance, case management, and crisis counseling for survivors, with a focus on equity for underserved communities and tribal governments. Often times these underserved communities and tribal governments suffer the disproportionate impact of these wildfires.

So with the FIRE Act, we will be able to better prepare for and respond to the unique challenges of wildfires in California and throughout the western United States.

The FIRE Act passed out of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs committee by voice vote on February 2nd of this year. I want to thank Chair Peters and Ranking member Portman and their staffs who contributed to this bill, as well as our partners at FEMA.

This is an overdue, common-sense bill to help communities on the front lines of our wildfire crisis, and I thank my colleagues for joining me in supporting it. And with that Madame President, I yield the floor.”

The “Newsmaker of the Day” is heard every weekday morning at 6:45, 7:45 and 8:45 on AM 1450 and FM 102.7 KVML.