Senator Dianne Feinstein on Wildfires in California

On Wednesday, Senator Dianne Feinstein laid out her plan to introduce her Wildfire Emergency Act next week. The bill would fund wildfire mitigation projects, harden critical infrastructure against wildfires, and bolster wildfire workforce development. In particular, the bill would include critical elements to reduce the potential for future fires and protect California’s infrastructure from the fires that do occur.

Additionally, last week Senator Feinstein announced that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has agreed to assess the hiring and retention of federal firefighters at the five agencies responsible for wildland fire management. Senator Feinstein, along with Senator Alex Padilla, requested this review in an April 27^th letterand urged the GAO to review the current job series and pay scale of the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Department of the Interior.

At the state level, RCRC remains engaged on its 2021 Fire Prevention and Response Packagewith advocacy efforts designed to help increase the pace and scale of forest management, restoration, and wildfire prevention in California.To read more about the Package, please see a previous Barbed Wire article here