Barbara Boxer: “I thank Senator Harkin and my colleagues. Many of them have come up to Senator Feinstein and myself tonight and have…”

“I thank Senator Harkin and my colleagues. Many of them have come up to Senator Feinstein and myself tonight and have expressed their concern about the fires that are raging out of control in our State, home to 37 million people, very dangerous fires, kind of a perfect storm of extremely high temperatures, very low humidity, and Santa Ana winds which gust up to hurricane-type winds, sometimes as high as 50, 60 miles an hour, with the average about 35 miles an hour. Senator Feinstein and I have heavy hearts as we talk with our Governor and our mayors. They are conveying to us that this is very serious because our firefighters are at a huge disadvantage because of the unpredictability of the winds. We don't know from one moment to the next whether the fires will turn on these firefighters. Last year was a very tough year for us in California. We had some horrific experiences, and we lost firefighters. We are not going to repeat that situation. We have to make sure we save lives, that we get people out of their homes. At this point, I can say people appear to be cooperating with the authorities. The most important point is we care about each other and we save lives. There are now more than a dozen wildfires burning, again, all being fanned by these hot Santa Ana winds, raging from as far south as the Mexican border to as far north as Los Angeles and Ventura Counties.”