FIRE Act

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of the House amendment to S. 3092, the Federal Emergency Management Agency Improvement, Reform and Efficiency Act of 2021.

This legislation addresses the federal government's approach to wildfires by setting a standard for implementing proactive plans of action for responding to wildfires, and by requiring reports on the effectiveness of FEMA programs.

These plans must include studies on providing housing assistance to survivors of major disasters to resolve challenges, such as the lack of proof of ownership, and to contract the National Academy of Sciences to study potential solutions to address the availability and affordability of insurance for disasters.

As the consequences of climate change become our new reality, it is our responsibility to be prepared in accordance with those changes.

Climate change exacerbates wildfires and vice versa, like a vicious cycle that can't be extinguished.

According to a report from the United Nations Environment Prgramme, the number of wildfires worldwide is projected to grow 50 percent by the year 2100.

The UN Environment Programme experts also reported that governments are not prepared for this shift.

This is no longer a matter of prevention, but rather a matter of preparation for what is ahead of us and for generations to come.

Across the nation, wildfires have disproportionately affected low- income families and people of color.

Disaster insurance for those in rural areas, low-income neighborhoods, and immigrant communities are often inaccessible, even though they are most at risk.

Native Americans are six times more vulnerable to the impacts of wildfires than their white counterparts due in part to the fact that they were forced to settle in fire-prone areas.

The FIRE Act would assess the need for the federal government to produce maps that identify wildfire zones.

This bill would also allow Indigenous tribal governments to apply for grants to better equip emergency operations centers.

Disaster prevention insurance has increasingly become inaccessible, especially to low-income families.

Disaster insurance is often beyond the reach of family budgets that are burdened with the skyrocketing prices of rent and food.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, tens of thousands of families were displaced after their homes were destroyed.

According to community advocates, about 50 percent of those households impacted by Harvey were low-income households and many of those damaged homes were in Black and Latino neighborhoods.

I worked tirelessly alongside the Houston Housing authority to reverse a FEMA decision

to not provide any fundings for the 428 Program, which would repair public low-income housing damaged by the Hurricane.

In cases of disaster, S. 3092 would require initiation of a process to determine the possible benefits or disadvantages of providing relocation assistance, addressing the growing housing issue for victims of disasters.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria that wreaked havoc on Puerto Rico, 92 percent of homes were damaged and 98 percent of those homes applied for FEMA's housing assistance.

According to the American Bar Association, 40 percent of those in need of housing assistance were denied due to a lack of ownership documentation stemming from generational inheritance of homes without government recordkeeping.

The FIRE Act would also develop a plan to address housing assistance for those who may lack ownership documentation in case of a disaster.

The effects of climate change are no longer a ``what if,'' but our new reality.

Since these large-scale disasters will be inflicting damage with increasing frequency, we must be prepared for them.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to Calendar No. 482, S. 3092.

I further ask that the Padilla amendment, which is at the desk, be considered and agreed to, the committee-reported substitute amendment, as amended, be agreed to; the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed; and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Madam President, I rise to discuss and explain the matter 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 have seen this in California, New Mexico, and Colorado. Families are forced to flee with only the belongings they could quickly pack into their vehicles.

Last year, I visited the incident command center in Quincy, CA, to see firsthand the real-time response to the devastating Dixie fire. Separately, I met with local leaders in Santa Rosa, CA, 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.

FEMA's current procedures and requirements don't always work for postwildfire recovery needs. And this bill will close those gaps.

I give a lot of credit to FEMA. They have gotten pretty good at anticipating and responding to other types of disasters. We are seeing it, as we speak, with the hurricane impact in 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 predeploy resources during times of extremely high risk. In the West, we know it as red flag warnings.

When it is hot, conditions are dry, and the wind kicks up, it is 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 are 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.

Now, 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. Oftentimes 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 Governmental Affairs Committee by a voice vote on February 2 of this year. And I want to take a moment to thank both Chairman Peters and Ranking Member Portman and their staffs who contributed to this bill, as well as our partners at FEMA.

This is an overdue, commonsense bill to help communities on the frontlines of our wildfire crisis. And I thank my colleagues for joining me in supporting it.

With that, I yield the floor.

Madam Speaker, it is no secret that our country is facing increasingly devastating disasters, including wildfires.

In my own home district, the SCU Lightning Complex fires of 2020 burned nearly 400,000 acres over 46 days across five counties, destroying more than 2,000 structures and damaging others. That was the fourth-largest wildfire recorded in California's modern history.

As chair of the California Democratic Congressional Delegation, I hear about fires like this almost year-round from my colleagues, but it is not just a Western United States problem. Fire risk areas are growing exponentially to threaten new districts and new States every year.

And fires don't rage only in Democratic districts. This calamity knows no political divide.

As wildfires continue to worsen, our government has not acted with enough urgency. It is clear that Congress needs to pass legislation to better prevent and respond to wildfires.

Last month, I joined State and local officials to specifically discuss this policy and operational gaps, and the systems that we have in place obviously don't work as well as they should.

FEMA's current statutory authorities and operational practices limit our ability to prepare for and recover from wildfires. That is why all the California firefighters, chiefs, and leaders I met with support the FEMA Improvement, Reform, and Efficiency Act, or FIRE Act.

We know that wildfires present a unique and increasing danger, and we also know that policies written with hurricanes, floods, and tornadoes in mind don't always translate well.

The FIRE Act would direct FEMA to create a process that uses the red flag warnings we are all too familiar with to take predisaster measures and predeploy resources to take disaster-specific damages into account during recovery and the like.

It is commonsense legislation, and I encourage my colleagues to support it.

I would like also to thank the co-leads on this bill--Congressmen Thompson, Huffman, and Panetta--for recognizing the importance of this legislation and for their hard work, as well as Senator Padilla for his leadership in the Senate on this bill.

I thank Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Hoyer for their efforts to bring this to the floor. I would also like to recognize Ranking Member Graves and, of course, Congressman LaMalfa for working with us on reaching agreement on something that I think will be able to pass the Senate.

This is a good bill. It will improve our response, and I hope we get overwhelming support here today.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, S. 3092, the FIRE Act, makes changes to increase congressional oversight, garner further insight into FEMA's process for wildfire disasters, and enacts reforms related to disaster assistance.

Specifically, this bill directs FEMA to report to Congress on cost- effective housing solutions and challenges or inconsistencies in the application of assistance in the wake of wildfires.

The FIRE Act also takes the first steps to improve the use of forecasts and weather alerts, such as red flag warnings, within the disaster declaration process so FEMA can be better prepared earlier to provide wildfire assistance.

Lastly, this bill engages the GAO to investigate gaps in FEMA's current wildfire policies and recommend ways to streamline the distribution of assistance to our constituents and the State and local governments facing these fires head-on.

I am glad to be able to work with Senator Padilla and my colleague, Zoe Lofgren, on this as California has suffered so much, as has the West, with wildfire, including a million-acre fire in my own district last year and repeated wildfires that have affected so many and displaced so many.

I will add that working with FEMA has worked well, but we do need to continue to improve the process as FEMA has primarily, up until the advent of such large fires, dealt mostly with hurricanes and floods of that nature. We have all had to adapt until we can actually get better forest management and other tools that will help us prevent fire, and so, engaging FEMA, we appreciate them, and we want to work to have an even better process.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close.

The FIRE Act does increase oversight related to wildfire assistance and requires FEMA to report information to Congress so we can continue working--in the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, on the floor, and across the aisle--to improve and streamline the disaster assistance process.

Again, we appreciate FEMA's efforts on all disasters around the country. We are just looking for a way to streamline and become even more efficient with that.

Madam Speaker, I urge support. I appreciate my colleagues--Ms. Lofgren, my colleague from Louisiana, and Senator Padilla--for the effort here today in building up to this.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 3092) to amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to improve the provision of certain disaster assistance, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on S. 3092, as amended.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise in support of S. 3092, the FIRE Act. This legislation led by Representative Lofgren in the House and Senator Padilla in the Senate is designed to ensure FEMA's preparedness and response efforts address the unique nature of wildfires.

The bulk of FEMA's programs are designed to serve the victims of disasters caused by floods and hurricanes. However, climate change has made the threat of wildfire in communities grow each year. FEMA must serve all disaster survivors equally and adapt their programs to meet the challenges of wildfires.

This legislation encourages FEMA to predeploy assets during times of high risk of fire, evaluates public assistance eligibility post-fire, addresses equity of assistance for Tribal communities, and requires trainings for crisis counselors and caseworkers to ensure that they are equipped to meet the needs of economically disadvantaged survivors.

I support this effort and ask my colleagues to do the same.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lofgren), the author of this outstanding piece of legislation.

Madam Speaker, in closing, it is time that communities impacted by wildfires receive the same quality of assistance as communities impacted by hurricanes and floods. S. 3092 addresses the threat of fire head-on and will make communities safer.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this good legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.