We Must Extend FireGuard to Help Save Lives and Property

California’s annual fire season is upon us, and we’re already seeing a level of devastation and destruction unlike anything our state has faced before.

For the past few weeks, Californians have watched in horror as the Dixie Fire exploded into the single-largest wildfire in Golden State history. It’s just one of more than 6,000 wildfires this year that have burned more than half a million acres, damaged or destroyed 400 structures, and put thousands of residents under mandatory evacuation orders. And while wildfires have long been part of life in California, experts are warning that this level of activity is well-above-average for this early in the season. 

For residents of Los Angeles County’s foothills, these harrowing statistics and stories evoke a familiar sense of dread. Thursday will mark twelve years since the Station Fire ignited and spread rapidly through our community, claiming 90 homes and the lives of two heroic firefighters battling to control the blaze. It was then the largest wildfire the county has ever seen, and we all fear a destructive repeat.

Wildfires are only going to grow larger and more dangerous. It is the harsh reality of the climate crisis. Hotter and drier summers fuel the environment needed for wildfires to be unpredictable and devastating. To protect our communities long-term, we need to drastically combat the climate crisis by reducing emissions, investing in sustainable technologies, creating green jobs that power innovation, and stopping bad corporate actors from polluting and degrading our environment.

That is something I am intensely focused on in Congress. But as we work to secure transformative investments to mitigate and reverse the worst impacts of climate change, I know we also need immediate solutions to keep our residents safe.

Fighting wildfires often involves multiple actors across federal, state, and local jurisdictions, and the federal government has unique tools and capabilities that are invaluable to these efforts – especially given it controls almost 60% of forests in the state. And now more than ever, we need to do everything we can to bring these tools and capabilities to bear.

That’s why last week I led an effort by 31 of my colleagues, including Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Alex Padilla, to call on the U.S. Dept. of Defense to immediately extend its FireGuard program – a critical resource for state and local firefighters on the front lines of these blazes. You may not have heard of this program, but it provides near-real-time information and satellite imagery on suspected wildfires, helping to save lives and property.

If the DOD does not extend the program by Sept. 30, states will not be able to access this critical information and will be required to use their own resources and budgets, which are already battered by the COVID-19 pandemic. That deadline is even more important as it falls squarely in the middle of our fire season. 

Ending FireGuard in the middle of the season would be devastating to state and local firefighting efforts and costly to vulnerable communities, especially considering the devastation we’re already seeing here in California. And with fire seasons only growing longer and more dangerous, all amid another record drought, it’s clear we need federal mitigation efforts to be expanded – not ended.

By extending the FireGuard program and bringing transformative federal infrastructure investment to communities like the foothills, we can undoubtedly save homes, property and lives.

In California and other Western states, firefighters, the National Guard, and additional organizations need our support. They put themselves in harm’s way to fight wildfires and protect our communities, and I view it as an obligation to do everything in my power to provide those on the front lines with the resources, tools, and technology they need to keep our communities safe. Extending FireGuard is one of the most effective ways to do that.

And just maybe, we’ll all be able to rest a little easier when the Santa Ana winds pick up.