Young Oak Kim: “I thank Chairman Westerman for yielding. Mr. Chair, I rise in strong support of H.R. 471, the Fix Our Forests Act. At…”

“I thank Chairman Westerman for yielding. Mr. Chair, I rise in strong support of H.R. 471, the Fix Our Forests Act. At this very moment, multiple fires are burning throughout southern California. My heart goes out to the communities affected and to our first responders, especially as my constituents and I know the devastation of wildfires firsthand. Just months ago as the chairman mentioned, the Airport fire started in my district and burned over 24,000 acres in Orange and Riverside Counties. Including the surrounding fires that burned at that time, we had over 100,000 acres that burned. That is why the chairman came out to our community and met with my Trabuco Canyon community leadership and saw firsthand the devastation and what we would do. We had our conversation regarding the Fix Our Forests Act. We talked about the innovative technologies that we need to respond to the threat of wildfires. The Fix Our Forests Act includes the Wildfire Technology Demonstration, Evaluation, Modernization, and Optimization, or DEMO Act, which I introduced to create a public-private partnership to test and deploy emerging wildfire mitigation technologies. I thank Chairman Westerman and Representative Peters for making it bipartisan and for including my legislation in this critical bill to protect our forests. Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 471.”