00:00Welcome, Mr. Huffman is recognized for his five minutes.
00:02Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and welcome to our witnesses.
00:06So when I heard that House Republicans were calling this hearing on wildfire preparedness and response,
00:11I was encouraged because I agree with the chairman and others.
00:15This is an important conversation.
00:17Catastrophic wildfires continue to tear through our communities.
00:21Today, fires are burning from Arizona to Minnesota, and it's early in the season.
00:27This committee is the place for a serious solutions-focused conversation about building wildfire resilience.
00:34But I am disappointed that, once again, instead of confronting the full scope of the wildfire crisis
00:40or focusing on the most pressing science-based solutions and urgently needed investments in the built environment
00:47so we can actually protect communities, we seem to be having yet another hearing on a bill that's already passed this committee
00:55and already passed the House of Representatives.
00:57Now, Fix Our Forests has some good stuff in it.
01:00I acknowledge that.
01:01It also had some bad things in it that didn't need to be there, that were masquerading as fire solutions.
01:07But whether you think it's great or needs improvement, I don't think anyone seriously believes
01:14that it is the exhaustive and definitive statement of everything we need to do on this subject.
01:19But it seems to be the only thing that our friends across the aisle want to talk about.
01:24Look, if we're going to address this crisis seriously, we need a full accounting of the threats and the tools to confront it.
01:31And that really starts at the top with an acknowledgment that wildfires are burning hotter and faster and longer because of climate change.
01:39We've got to acknowledge this reality.
01:42Fire professionals who I have met with who have fought fires all over the West, they don't dispute it.
01:47They don't think it's a hoax or a conspiracy theory.
01:49They know climate change is a reality.
01:52So let's acknowledge that and also maybe stop making it worse, as our Republican colleagues are trying to do with the fossil fuel bonanza in their reconciliation bill.
02:04Look, fires are no longer just a problem for the West.
02:07Recent fires in Florida, Texas, and Arkansas are evidence that this has become a national crisis.
02:13Of course, we have fires in northern Minnesota burning today.
02:15Wildfires are also increasingly an urban issue, as the ranking member noted.
02:21Without major investments in home hardening and defensible spaces, communities will continue to be at risk, no matter what we do in the backcountry, in the deep areas of our forests.
02:33We can't address these problems if we're not willing to invest the necessary funding and resources, too.
02:38And that's why I am encouraged that our colleagues in the Senate seem to be making some improvements in the Fix Our Forest Act by incorporating many of these critical priorities that I'm mentioning.
02:50Now, that includes components of my Community Protection and Wildfire Resilience Act, which is a bipartisan bill that I was proud to recently reintroduce with Representative Obernolte in this Congress.
03:01It will help communities implement science-based wildfire mitigation strategies, provide crucial funding to design and implement new community protection and wildfire resilience plans with community members, first responders, and state agencies, and build on the investments that Democrats secured through the IIJA and the IRA.
03:21Now, these investments have allowed the Forest Service to do some very important things.
03:26They've hit record numbers for both hazardous fuel reductions and prescribed burns, increased the pace and scale of forest health treatments, provided important resources to strengthen and empower our wildland firefighting workforce.
03:40We were moving in the right direction, but unfortunately, this progress has come to a screeching halt under the Trump administration.
03:47Experts and models tell us that we are headed into an especially active fire season, but Elon Musk and DOGE have been gutting the agencies responsible for keeping our communities safe from fire at a time when we need them the most.
04:02At least 700 dedicated public servants at the Forest Service who support federal firefighting have been fired, and we know that more firings are coming.
04:11FEMA has lost a third of its full-time staff, including those specifically responsible for fire management, and Donald Trump has called for the elimination of FEMA entirely, which would eliminate the federal recovery help that comes with us.
04:25In a move that defies logic, the administration has blocked funding for projects that prevent wildfires.
04:32With community wildfire defense grants blocked, vital wildfire mitigation projects have been stopped, and that makes us more vulnerable.
04:40So, I would hope that my Republican friends would want to do something about that instead of spending all our time talking about a bill that has already passed this committee and already passed the House.
04:53Wildfires are not partisan, but unfortunately, our policies and our preparedness efforts too often seem to be, and that needs to change.
05:03I yield back.
05:03We're now going to go to our witnesses.
05:09I'll introduce us, and then we'll start.
05:11So, the first one is Mr. Dan Muncie, Fire Chief and Fire Warden, San Bernardino County, Fire Protection District, San Bernardino, California.
05:19Next is Mr. Matt Weiner.
05:21Did I say it right?
05:23Yes.
05:24CEO, Omega Fire Action, Los Angeles, California.
05:27Mr. Neal Chapman, Wildfire and Fire Captain, Flagstaff Fire Department, Flagstaff Arizona.
05:36And Mr. Roy Wright, President and CEO, Insurance Institute for Business and Home...
Comments