Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Representative Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) today asked the chairs of the Senate and House Appropriations Committees to include $1 billion in fiscal year 2008 appropriations legislation for emergency fire suppression, risk reduction and recovery needs required because of this year’s catastrophic wildfire season.

 In a letter to the Chairmen and Ranking Members of the Senate and House Appropriations Committees, Senator Feinstein and Representative Dicks noted that so far in 2007, fires have scorched 8.7 million acres across the United States, well above the 10-year average of 5.9 million acres.

 In their letter, Senator Feinstein and Representative Dicks specifically ask for:

• $775 million for suppression, hazardous-fuels reduction, restoration, and reconstruction needs; and
  
• $225 million to repay program funds borrowed by the Interior Department and the Forest Service.

Senator Feinstein also announced that she will hold hearings into fire response and funding, in the Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, which she chairs, in the coming weeks.

Following is the text of the letter sent by Senator Feinstein and Representative Dicks:

Dear Chairmen and Ranking Members:

The recent tragic wildfires in Southern California have again served to underscore the need for Congress to provide adequate resources to our Federal land management agencies for wildland firefighting and fire prevention activities.  More than 480,000 acres have already burned in the Southern California fires alone, causing the largest evacuation in the State’s history and destroying nearly 1,600 homes.

As you work on the anticipated extension to the current fiscal year 2008 continuing resolution or other suitable appropriations legislation, we write to request that $1 billion be included to address emergency fire suppression, risk reduction and recovery needs triggered by the catastrophic wildfire season of 2007.

This amount would include $225 million to repay program funds borrowed by the Interior Department and Forest Service to fund emergency firefighting activities and also provide an additional $775 million to fund suppression, hazardous fuels reduction, restoration, and reconstruction needs.  

Congress provided supplemental appropriations to the Federal land management agencies following the catastrophic Southern California fires of 2003 that allowed the agencies to fund vital firefighting, fuels reduction and restoration activities.  In particular, these supplemental appropriations funded fuel breaks and forest health treatments that are now being credited for saving lives and property in communities near Lake Arrowhead.   However, the devastation of these fires makes it clear that there is far more work to be done. We believe that it is critical to make a substantial and immediate investment to expand fuels treatment and restoration efforts to cope with the looming forest health crisis in Southern California and across the nation.

So far in 2007, more than 8.7 million acres have burned across the United States – well exceeding the 10-year average of 5.9 million acres.  The Interior Department and Forest Service together spent $1.8 billion in appropriated and supplemental funds on wildland firefighting in fiscal year 2007 – and these agencies were still forced to borrow other program funds to fully fund firefighting needs through the end of the fiscal year.  We are deeply concerned that the expenditures now being incurred because of the California wildfires will also cause these agencies to exhaust their fiscal year 2008 funding well before the close of the fiscal year.  We assure you that we continue to maintain close oversight of wildfire costs, but during these extreme emergencies, additional Federal assistance is appropriate.
  
 We believe the addition of these funds is critical to support firefighting activities and reduce the risk of fires on our nation's public lands and in the communities that surround them.  We urge you to include these funds as part of the continuing resolution or other suitable appropriations legislation, and we thank you for your consideration of our request.

Sincerely,

Dianne Feinstein             Norm Dicks
United States Senator    United States Representative

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