CALIFORNIA, USA — The governors of California and Nevada toured an area blackened by one of two massive wildfires that have destroyed dozens of homes in the U.S. West.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak toured the site of the Tamarack Fire along the state line with fire crews and emergency responders Wednesday morning.
Both Newsom and Sisolak praised the cooperation between their two states in combining resources to battle the fire, but both men stressed that more federal assistance is needed to address the new normal of a fire season that they said is starting earlier and lasting longer.
“We need to have a more federally orchestrated planned response to these fires because, it’s not stopping, folks. It’s continuing to stronger than it was before and every year it gets more and more intense," Sisolak said. "It just shows you the effect that global warming is having on our environment. We need to do more. We need the federal government’s help in terms of doing more.”
Newsom and Sisolak did not mince words on one particular aspect that is needed from the federal government, and that is the pay of US Forest Service firefighters.
"They need to pay them more money… they’re not doing it for the money, I’ll guarantee you that. They need to be compensated for what they’re doing,” Sisolak said.
“The US Forest Service is understaffed and under-resourced. It has been for years and years and years. Governor Sisolak is right. You look at the federal pay for these men and women, it’s deplorable, it’s unacceptable,” Newsom added.
Sisolak and Newsom both pointed to climate change as the primary driver in the worsening fire season in the western US. According to Newsom, wildfires have scorched four times as much land in 2021 in California as they had during the same time period in 2020.
Approximately 7,600 firefighters have been deployed to 5,600 wildfires in the state so far in 2021, Newsom said.
“The world is radically changing. This climate change is real. You may not believe in science, you gotta believe your own damn eyes. Look around. Look what we’re all experiencing,” Newsom said.
Cooler weather is helping calm the wildfires, but a tally of property losses mounted Tuesday in a tiny California community savaged by flames last weekend. Teams surveying the damage from the Dixie Fire in Northern California have so far counted 36 structures destroyed and seven damaged in Indian Falls.
As of Wednesday morning, the Tamarack Fire has burned nearly 69,000 acres and is roughly 60% contained. The fire started due to lightning strikes in the area of the Mokelumne Wilderness on July 4, 2021.
Fire officials say hotter, drier weather will return later in the week and could pose a threat of renewed fire ferocity.
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ABC10’s investigation found California politicians kept taking money from PG&E after the company pleaded guilty to 84 felony manslaughters. Evidence of PG&E’s crimes is beginning to come out and the company faces new criminal investigations for sparking deadly, destructive wildfires.