Two Congressmen have announced a plan to create a Wildfire Caucus to work collaboratively on wildfire mitigation and recovery solutions.
John Curtis (R-UT) and Joe Neguse (D-CO) expect to launch the bipartisan caucus in the 117th Congress which begins January 3, 2021.
Their stated goals are to elevate in Congress an awareness and bipartisan consensus around wildfire management and mitigation, environmental and community protections, public health and safety, and wildfire preparedness and recovery. The caucus will require that members join in equal bipartisan numbers, and will seek to facilitate conversations and solutions for communities facing wildfire.
In addition, the Bipartisan Wildfire Caucus will:
- Advocate for wildfire-related programs, including funding for disaster relief, prevention, and mitigation;
- Share federal relief programs and resources with communities before, during and after wildfire season; and
- Highlight balanced and bipartisan science-based wildfire management and mitigation proposals in Congress.
James D. Ogsbury, the Executive Director of the Western Governors’ Association released a statement of support for the Caucus:
Wildfire is an important natural process in our environment, but uncharacteristic wildfire is a persistent threat, especially in western states, due to a host of past management practices and climate factors. The House Wildfire Caucus is an exciting platform to bring attention to these challenges and seek bipartisan solutions to increase the health and resilience of our communities and ecosystems. WGA is pleased to see the formation of the new Caucus and I especially want to thank its Chairs, Representatives Joe Neguse of Colorado and John Curtis of Utah, for their bipartisan leadership on this matter of great importance to the West.
Wildfire Today’s take:
When compared to other homeland security responsibilities of the federal government, wildland fire too often seems like an afterthought: yes, we have to pay to put out fires, then let’s move on to another subject. Bringing more attention to the issues listed by the two Congressmen, primarily mitigation and recovery, are worthy goals.
Maybe this caucus will step back and look at the big picture, such as, how do we avoid fire seasons like we just had in California and Oregon. Only one or two decades ago it was not common to have a fire that burned more than 100,000 acres. This year there were at least 18 across four states, and one of those burned over a million acres — unheard of in modern times.
We have to learn to live with fire, but hopefully the caucus will work on the list of six things that need to be done to protect fire-prone communities:
- Home spacing/lot size
- Envelope of the structure itself
- Home ignition zone
- Community infrastructure and planning
- Reducing fuels in the Wildland-Urban Interface, and
- Fire codes
When I heard about this new Bipartisan Wildfire Caucus, I immediately thought about the plight of the federal employees who are asked to, in many cases, spend months away from their families each year suppressing wildland fires. The government will not even classify them as firefighters, instead they work under the title of forestry or range technicians while performing a hazardous job for very little pay. The description of the goals of this new caucus does not mention the 15,000 federal personnel that work in the field of wildland fire.
Two recent articles on our website (here and here) by guest authors who are currently forestry technicians lay out compelling cases for improving the way we manage these federal employees. It would not break the bank to pay them a living wage, let them ALL earn benefits such as health insurance and a retirement account, convert seasonals to permanent employees, stipulate certain presumptive illnesses that are common among firefighters, and hire them under a Firefighter position description.
I had been aware of a couple of others Caucuses, such as the Congressional Fire Services Caucus (formerly chaired by Senator Joe Biden) and the Congressional Black Caucus. But a little research revealed there are hundreds of others, including some for rum, bourbon, rugby, songwriters, working forests, baseball, bikes, and candy.
Call me a cynic, but a person has to wonder how adding to this sea of caucuses is going to have a measurable effect on the world of wildland fire.
I hope I am wrong.
It is easy to talk about making a difference. Let’s watch and see if words are converted to action.
Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Kelly.
