Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding to me today. Mr. Speaker, today, I rise in support of S. 3395, the Prescribed Burn Approval Act. This is a commonsense bill that will prohibit the U.S. Forest Service from authorizing prescribed burns in an area that is labeled an extreme fire danger except under circumstances that have local coordination. Unfortunately, we have seen instances where the Forest Service has acted recklessly by starting prescribed burns under extremely hazardous conditions. The Pautre fire in South Dakota is one such example. Despite the hot and windy conditions and being warned repeatedly from local ranchers and local officials that it was too windy and too dry to be starting a controlled burn, the Forest Service still carried out a prescribed burn that was intended to cover just 130 acres of dead crested wheatgrass. Within hours, the fire escalated out of control. More than 10,000 acres of Forest Service land, grazing association controlled land, and private land was consumed by the wildfire. Millions of dollars of damage was done not only to the land but to fences and families. Families were devastated. Multiple firefighting units and personnel were put in harm's way. This burn should not have occurred that day without the collaboration and additional precautions that such a burn will require.…”