Sam Gibbons: “In the first 6 months of this year, wildfires have burned nearly 3 million acres out west. That 6-month total is…”

“In the first 6 months of this year, wildfires have burned nearly 3 million acres out west. That 6-month total is significantly more than the annual averages, and even greater than the number of acres burned at the same point during the record-setting fire year of 2000. And thousands of acres of fire continue to burn as we speak. So far, the State of Nevada has endured over 678 separate fires, turning nearly 81,000 acres into charcoal. Wildfires not only devastate our precious national forests but they endanger private property and the lives of thousands of residents in the West. It is time we give the Forest Service and the Department of the Interior the tools they need to expeditiously implement fuels-reduction work on tens of millions of acres of public land at risk of severe wildfire. I urge my colleagues to support the efforts of the House Committee on Resources to move the President's healthy forest initiative to reduce wildfire risk for the sake of our national resources, our property, and our lives.”