Hearing will focus on preventing, managing, and responding to wildfires in the United States
Tomorrow at 10:00am ET, U.S. Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) will join Chairman Gary Peters (D-MI) as Ranking Member of a Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) hearing titled, “A Nation on Fire: Responding to the Increasing Wildfire Threat,” which will focus on preventing, managing, and responding to wildfires in the United States. Utah’s Director of Forestry, Fire and State Lands Jamie Barnes will be one of the witnesses on the panel.
During negotiations of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Senator Romney secured the establishment of the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission—a commission of federal and non-federal stakeholders to study and recommend fire prevention, mitigation, management, and rehabilitation policies for forests and grasslands. The Commission was based off of bipartisan, bicameral legislation he first introduced in the summer of 2021 with Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Representative John Curtis (R-UT). In February 2023, the Commission submitted its first report to Congress which outlines a strategy to meet aerial firefighting equipment needs through 2030. In September, the Commission released its second and final report which outlines the urgent need for increased coordination between federal and local wildfire agencies, the importance of beneficial fires—like prescribed burning, and the need for increased investment in proactive pre-fire and post-fire planning and mitigation.
WHAT: HSGAC hearing titled, “A Nation on Fire: Responding to the Increasing Wildfire Threat”
WHEN: Thursday, March 14 at 10:00am ET
WHERE: SD-342, Dirksen Senate Office Building (Livestream)
WHO:
- Senator Romney
- Chairman Gary Peters
- Lori Moore-Merrell, DrPH, Administrator, U.S. Fire Administration Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
- David W. Fogerson, Chief, Division on Emergency Management and Office of Homeland Security Department of Public Safety, State of Nevada
- Jamie Barnes, Director, Forestry, Fire and State Lands, Department of Natural Resources, State of Utah
- Lucinda Andreani, Deputy County Manager and Flood Control District Administrator, Coconino County, State of Arizona
- Christopher P. Currie, Director, Homeland Security and Justice U.S. Government Accountability Office
