LEADERS TOUT FIRE MITIGATION BILLS

Congress member and San Bernardino County chief tour blaze-scarred area to promote mitigation bills

As the charred remains of homes along Lytle Creek Road engulfed in the 2021 South fire serve as a reminder of the constant wildfire danger looming for many Southern Californians, local leaders toured the damage and touted a package of bills Tuesday that will be going before the U.S. Senate aimed to bring more aid to wildfire mitigation efforts.

Rep. Pete Aguilar, a Democrat whose district represents much of the Inland Empire, and San Bernardino County Fire Chief Dan Munsey spoke at the Fire Department’s Fire Station 79 in northern Fontana on Tuesday afternoon. Afterwards, the two led a tour through what remained of properties impacted by the South fire in August 2021, which grew to 819 acres in size and destroyed at least nine homes and at least eight outbuildings, according to the Fire Department. One firefighter was also injured in the blaze.

The two discussed the Wildfire Response and Drought Resiliency Act, a package of 49 bills introduced by the House Committee of Natural Resources, which passed a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday.

Within the package, wildfire prevention related bills include establishing a new minimum wage of about $20 an hour for wildland firefighters, developing a 10-year national wildfire response plan and providing tools and resources for communities such as prescribed fires and supporting opportunities for Tribes and Conservation Corps in wildfire activities, according to the House Committee of Natural Resources.

Aguilar voted in favor of the package of bills on Friday.

“This (legislature) will ensure that

these extreme weather events that are becoming more and more prevalent throughout our county and thorough out world that we are protected from them,” Aguilar said Tuesday.

The South fire also took place in the footprint of the destructive 2003 Grand Prix fire that burned more than 59,400 acres, killed one person and destroyed 135 homes, according to fire officials.

“These fires know no boundaries, they don’t know local city limits, federal property or county land,” Aguilar said. “These fires will tear through all of these communities irrespective of the jurisdictions.”

In regards to drought mitigation, the bills featured with the Wildfire Response and Drought Resiliency Act included provisions such as providing $500 million to prevent key reservoirs of the Colorado River from declining to critically low conditions and investing in new “drought-proof” supply projects, according to the committee.

The bills also aim to improve wildfire-related programs at the federal level, establish the National Disaster Safety Board and directs the President to establish a National Wildland Fire Risk Reduction Program as well as advancing environmental justice in communities disproportionately harmed by environmental discrimination, according to the committee.

“We cannot wait any longer to act on climate change, the health of our planet depends on it,” Aguilar said in a news release on Monday.

PHOTOS BY WATCHARA PHOMICINDA — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-San Bernardino, left, and San Bernardino County Fire Chief Dan Munsey tour an area Tuesday that destroyed by the South fire near Lytle Creek. The two spoke about recent federal legislation to help reduce the severity of wildfires.

Rep. Pete Aguilar speaks during a news conference Tuesday on the Wildfire Response and Drought Resiliency Act at the San Bernardino County Fire Station 79 in Fontana.

Firefighters look on during a news conference as local leaders discuss the Wildfire Response and Drought Resiliency Act. The act, a package of 49bills introduced by the House Committee of Natural Resources, passed in the House on Friday and heads to the Senate.