Political Quotes

“Woman, my amendment will provide funding to the Air National Guard so it can obtain much-needed firefighting equipment so they can more effectively combat the devastating wildfires that destroy millions of acres of land and homes every year in the western United States. The likelihood of calling upon MAFFS-equipped Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve C-130s has increased significantly. MAFFS are modular air firefighting systems that drop retardant to create firebreaks. In 2003, the U.S. Forest Service had 44 fixed-wing aerial firefighting aircraft. By 2004, the number had dwindled to 19. And as of June 3 of this year, that number stands at only eight. An additional aircraft, on interim contract with the Forest Service, and air tankers borrowed from Canada and Alaska are being utilized to try to fill the shortfall. While the Forest Service firefighting fleet has gotten significantly smaller, the number of wildfires have been increasing. In fact, in 2011, 74,000 fires burned 8.7 million acres. The most recent 10-year average indicates that the fires burned an average of 7.4 million acres a year. As the fleet diminishes, stress on remaining aircraft increases. Further, the distance between fires and available aircraft have been increasing. The result is more fires burning out of control. Additionally, an increase of flight time and cycles contributes to an earlier demise of the remaining aircraft.…”