WASHINGTON, D.C., USA — Congressmen Tom McClintock and Doug LaMalfa urged fire officials Wednesday to end "let it burn" policies.
"As we have tragically witnessed firsthand, it is dangerous nonsense to ‘monitor’ incipient fires in today’s forest tinderbox," McClintock said. "The U.S. Forest Service was formed to remove excess growth before it can burn and to preserve our forests in a healthy condition from generation to generation. It’s time they did.”
In the letter, LaMalfa urged Chief of the U.S. Forest Service, Randy Moore, to implement a policy to thin forests before wildfire season.
“The days of ‘monitoring’ fires must end – Northern California is burning up at a record rate. The Forest Service’s monitoring policy and ‘watch and wait’ has allowed multiple catastrophic fires to unnecessarily escalate and devastate our wildlands and rural towns,” LaMalfa said. “In 24 hours, what starts out as a small blaze can expand to consume thousands of homes, municipal facilities, and businesses."
LaMalfa said thinning forests near towns and infrastructure, clearing a wide buffer zone around powerlines, and using roads as firebreaks are strategies that should be implemented.
"Drought stricken, unmanaged, overgrown forests are a ticking timebomb for another massive fire," LaMalfa said.
This legislation comes after the 2021 season, which was another historic year for wildfires and is the second-worst in terms of acres burned.
The Tamarack Fire was started by lightning on July 4, 2021. On July 10, 2021, the U.S. Forest Service said in a Facebook post they decided to not send fire crews due to safety concerns for firefighters and that the fire "posed no threat to the public, infrastructure or resources values."
But nearly a month later, that same fire burned just under 69,000 acres, traveled across state lines into Nevada and burned multiple structures, according to U.S. Forest Services' Incident Information System.
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According to Cal Fire, the 2021 fire season started earlier than previous years, but also ended earlier, as well. January 2021 saw just under 1,200 acres burned from nearly 300 wildfires. Fires picked up in the summer when the Dixie Fire burned in five Northern California counties — Butte, Plumas, Shasta, Lassen and Tehama. The Dixie Fire started on July 13 and wasn't contained until Oct. 25, burning nearly 1 million acres. It has since become the second-largest wildfire in state history and the largest non-complex fire.
Overall, 2.5 million acres were burned in 2021 from 8,835 wildfires. Over 3,600 structures were destroyed and 3 people were killed.
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