On the recordJuly 12, 2017
This is the final amendment to the bill, which will not kill the bill or send it back to the committee. If adopted, the bill will immediately proceed to final passage as amended. My request today is simple: to provide our firefighters with the water they need to effectively fight wildfires. As we speak, two large wildfires are burning in my district on the central coast of California. So far, over 40,000 acres of land have burned between the Alamo fire and the Whittier fire. With more than a dozen homes and structures of central coast residents destroyed, we cannot overstate the important and effective work of hundreds of local, State, and Federal firefighters to contain these blazes and prevent more damages. I spoke with incident commanders and toured both burn sites in Santa Barbara County, witnessing firsthand the incredible damage wreaked by these fires to our region. I was grateful for the opportunity to address our firefighters and first responders and to thank these brave men and women for willing to risk their own safety to protect infrastructure and save lives. In one harrowing instance, a firefighter cleared a path, driving a bulldozer through flaming brush to rescue dozens of Boy Scouts trapped at a campground at Lake Cachuma.…
