U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE

36–686 PDF WASHINGTON : 2019

IMPACTS OF THE 2017 WILDFIRES IN THE UNITED 

STATES 

(115–42) 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON 

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, PUBLIC BUILDINGS, AND 

EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT 

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON 

TRANSPORTATION AND 

INFRASTRUCTURE 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 

MARCH 20, 2018 

Printed for the use of the 

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

( 

Available online at: https://www.govinfo.gov/committee/house-transportation?path=/ 

browsecommittee/chamber/house/committee/transportation 

(II) 

COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE 

BILL SHUSTER, Pennsylvania, Chairman 

DON YOUNG, Alaska 

JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR., Tennessee, 

Vice Chair 

FRANK A. LOBIONDO, New Jersey 

SAM GRAVES, Missouri 

DUNCAN HUNTER, California 

ERIC A. ‘‘RICK’’ CRAWFORD, Arkansas 

LOU BARLETTA, Pennsylvania 

BLAKE FARENTHOLD, Texas 

BOB GIBBS, Ohio 

DANIEL WEBSTER, Florida 

JEFF DENHAM, California 

THOMAS MASSIE, Kentucky 

MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina 

SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania 

RODNEY DAVIS, Illinois 

MARK SANFORD, South Carolina 

ROB WOODALL, Georgia 

TODD ROKITA, Indiana 

JOHN KATKO, New York 

BRIAN BABIN, Texas 

GARRET GRAVES, Louisiana 

BARBARA COMSTOCK, Virginia 

DAVID ROUZER, North Carolina 

MIKE BOST, Illinois 

RANDY K. WEBER, SR., Texas 

DOUG LAMALFA, California 

BRUCE WESTERMAN, Arkansas 

LLOYD SMUCKER, Pennsylvania 

PAUL MITCHELL, Michigan 

JOHN J. FASO, New York 

A. DREW FERGUSON IV, Georgia 

BRIAN J. MAST, Florida 

JASON LEWIS, Minnesota 

PETER A. DEFAZIO, Oregon 

ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of 

Columbia 

EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas 

ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, Maryland 

RICK LARSEN, Washington 

MICHAEL E. CAPUANO, Massachusetts 

GRACE F. NAPOLITANO, California 

DANIEL LIPINSKI, Illinois 

STEVE COHEN, Tennessee 

ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey 

JOHN GARAMENDI, California 

HENRY C. ‘‘HANK’’ JOHNSON, JR., Georgia 

ANDRE ́ CARSON, Indiana 

RICHARD M. NOLAN, Minnesota 

DINA TITUS, Nevada 

SEAN PATRICK MALONEY, New York 

ELIZABETH H. ESTY, Connecticut, Vice 

Ranking Member 

LOIS FRANKEL, Florida 

CHERI BUSTOS, Illinois 

JARED HUFFMAN, California 

JULIA BROWNLEY, California 

FREDERICA S. WILSON, Florida 

DONALD M. PAYNE, JR., New Jersey 

ALAN S. LOWENTHAL, California 

BRENDA L. LAWRENCE, Michigan 

MARK DESAULNIER, California 

STACEY E. PLASKETT, Virgin Islands 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, PUBLIC BUILDINGS, AND EMERGENCY

MANAGEMENT

LOU BARLETTA, Pennsylvania, Chairman 

ERIC A. ‘‘RICK’’ CRAWFORD, Arkansas 

BARBARA COMSTOCK, Virginia 

MIKE BOST, Illinois 

LLOYD SMUCKER, Pennsylvania 

JOHN J. FASO, New York 

A. DREW FERGUSON IV, Georgia, 

Vice Chair 

BRIAN J. MAST, Florida 

BILL SHUSTER, Pennsylvania (Ex Officio) 

DINA TITUS, Nevada 

HENRY C. ‘‘HANK’’ JOHNSON, JR., Georgia 

ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of 

Columbia 

ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey 

STACEY E. PLASKETT, Virgin Islands 

PETER A. DEFAZIO, Oregon (Ex Officio) 

(III) 

CONTENTS Page 

Summary of Subject Matter .................................................................................... iv 

WITNESSES 

Robert J. Fenton, Regional Administrator, Federal Emergency Management 

Agency: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 6 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 27 

Mark Ghilarducci, Director, Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, State 

of California: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 6 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 33 

Hon. Susan Gorin, First District Supervisor, Sonoma County, California: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 6 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 41 

Eric W. Holly, Deputy Fire Warden/Deputy Director of Emergency Services, 

Stanislaus County, California: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 6 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 47 

Fire Chief Thomas Jenkins, President and Chairman of the Board, International Association of Fire Chiefs: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 6 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 52 

iv 


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TO: Members, Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and 

Emergency Management 

FROM: 

RE: 

Staff, Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and 

Emergency Management 

Subcommittee Hearing on "Impacts of the 2017 Wildfires in the United States" 

PURPOSE 

The Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency 

Management will meet on Tuesday, March 20, 20 18, at I 0:30 a.m. in 2167 Rayburn House 

Office Building for a hearing entitled "Impacts of the 2017 Wildfires in the United States." The 

purpose of the hearing is to explore the lessons learned from the catastrophic 2017 wildfires, 

inform long-term policy solutions, and highlight the importance of mitigation, including 

provisions contained in the Disaster Recovery Reform Act (DRRA). The Subcommittee will hear 

from witnesses representing the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the 

International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), and state and local emergency management 

agencies and fire departments. 

BACKGROUND 

Overview of the 2017 Wildfire Season 

In a year of much extreme weather marked by massive hurricanes that devastated Texas, 

Florida, and the Caribbean, 2017 also included one of the worst wildfire seasons in United States 

history. Nationwide, over 66,000 wildfires burned over 9.7 million acres of land. 1 In California, 

alone, over 7,000 wildfires burned through over a half million acres of land.2 Fierce Santa Ana 

winds, dry brush and dead trees, combined with human activity, fueled the start of most of the 

fires. The 20 I 7 wildfires set ablaze a significant portion of the state of California- spreading as 

far north as the Oregon border and as tar south as San Diego. In addition to California, the 

1 https://www .ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/fire/20 1713. 2 Statistics provided by CalFire, available at http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/incidents/incidcnts statsevents. 
v 


Insert offset folio 2 here 36686.002

wildfires raged across the Western United States, hitting 10 states in total including parts of 

Arizona, Oregon, Montana, Nevada, and Washington3 

The Thomas Fire, the most destructive of the 2017 California wildfires, was first reported 

on December 4, 2017, and quickly became the largest wildfire ever to be recorded in California.4 

In total, the Thomas Fire destroyed 281,620 acres of land and an estimated 1,063 structures and 

threatened another 18,000 structures. The Thomas Fire was finally declared contained on 

January 12, 2018. Approximately $177 million was spent on fighting the Thomas Fire alone. At 

least 95,000 Californians were forced to evacuate their homes due to the 2017 wildfires. 

The 2017 wildfire season was the most destructive and the costliest for California in its 

history and the third most destructive season nationwide. 5 The California fires charred hundreds 

of thousands of acres, scorched California's wine country, damaged critical infrastructure, and 

triggered the evacuation of thousands of families throughout a number of California counties. 

Forty-three deaths were reported as a result of the blazes, a total that makes this series of fires the 

deadliest in California history. 

Federal Assistance for Wildfires 

FEMA is the federal government's lead agency in preparing for, mitigating against, 

responding to, and recovering from disasters and emergencies related to all hazards- whether 

natural or man-made. FEMA' s primary authority in carrying out these functions stems from the 

Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (Stafford Act, P .L. I 00-707). 

The Stafford Act authorizes three types of declarations: ( 1) Fire Management Assistance Grant 

(FMAG) Program declarations; (2) emergency declarations; and (3) major disaster declarations. 

Fire Management Assistance Grant Prorrram 

Section 420 of the Stafford Act authorizes FEMA to provide fire management assistance 

to state, local, and tribal governments for the mitigation, management, and control of any fires 

burning on publicly or privately owned forests or grasslands that threatens such destruction as 

would constitute a major disaster. FMAG funding may be used for equipment and supplies, 

labor costs, emergency work, pre-positioning of resources, and temporary repair of damage 

caused by work directly related to firefighting activities associated with the declared fire. A state 

initiates the FMAG process by submitting a request for assistance to the FEMA Regional 

Director at the time the wildfire presents a "threat of major disaster". FEMA processes the 

request on an expedited basis and FMAGs provide a 75 percent federal cost share with the state 

responsible for the remaining 25 percent of actual costs. Before a FMAG is declared, a state 

must demonstrate that total eligible costs for the declared fire meets or exceeds either the 

3 "Statistics" from the National Interagency Fire Center, available at 

https://www.nifc.gov/firelnfo/firelnfo statistics.html {Accessed March 14. 2018). 4 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, "December wildfires scorch southern California in 2017.'' 

December 15, 2017. 5 Statistics provided by CalFire, available at http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/incidents/incidents statsevents (Accessed 

March 14, 2018). 

2 
vi 


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individual fire cost threshold, which is applied to single fires, or the cumulative fire cost 

threshold, which recognizes numerous smaller fires burning throughout a state6 

Presidentially Declared Major Disaster 

When state and local resources are overwhelmed and the "disaster is of such severity 

and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capabilities of the state and the affected 

local governments,"4 the Governor of the affected state may request the President to declare a 

major disaster. FEMA 's primary Stafford Act programs for disaster response and recovery in 

the aftermath of a major disaster are in the Public Assistance Program and the Individual 

Assistance Program. As part of each major disaster, FEMA also provides Hazard Mitigation 

Grant Program (HMGP) funds. 

The Public Assistance Program, authorized primarily by Sections 403, 406, and 407 of 

the Stafford Act, reimburses state, tribal, and local emergency response costs and provides 

grants to state and local governments, as well as certain private non-profits to rebuild facilities. 

The Public Assistance Program generally does not provide direct services to citizens. 

The Individual Assistance Program, authorized primarily by section 408 of the Stafford 

Act and also known as the Individuals and Households Program, provides assistance to 

families and individuals impacted by disasters, including housing assistance. Housing 

assistance includes money for repair, rental assistance, or "direct assistance," such as the 

provision of temporary housing. 

Section 404 of the Stafford Act authorizes HMGP, which provides grants to state and 

local governments to rebuild after a disaster in ways that: (I) are cost effective; and (2) reduce 

the risk of future damage, hardship, and loss from natural hazards such as wildfires. The central 

purpose of this grant program is to enact practical mitigation measures that effectively reduce the 

risk of loss of life and property from future disasters. FEMA provides grants under HMGP to 

assist families in reducing the risk to their homes from natural disasters. In the case of wildfires, 

mitigation measures covered by HMGP include, hut are not limited to: establishing defensible 

space measures around buildings; using fire-resistant building materials; and regularly clearing 

combustibles that could serve as fuel for a wildfire. FEMA provides up to 75 percent of the 

funds for mitigation projects under HMGP and the remaining 25 percent can come from a variety 

of sources (i.e., a cash payment from the state or local government) 7 

The Case of CalifOrnia 

On October 9, 2017, the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) 

secured 10 FMAGs in one day from FEMA to help ensure the availability of vital resources to 

suppress wildfires burning statewide. The FMAGs also enable local, state and tribal agencies to 

recover eligible costs. FEMA issued a Major Disaster Declaration for the wildfires burning 

through California on October 10, 2017. The California counties of Butte, Lake, Mendocino, 

6 "Fire Management Assistance Grant Program," Federal Emergency Management Agency Fema.gov. (Accessed 

March 14. 2018). 7 "Hazard Mitigation Grant Program,'' Federal Emergency Management Agency;' Fema.gov. (Accessed March 14. 

2018). 
vii 


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Napa, Nevada, Orange, Sonoma, and Yuba were all designated as eligible for assistance 

following the President's mqjor disaster declaration. To date, FEMA has approved 4,475 

Individual Assistance applications and obligated $210,475,488 in Public Assistance grants8 

On December 8, 2017, the President issued a second Major Disaster Declaration, 

approving California's request for direct federal assistance to support the response to the 

Southern California wildfires. On January 15, 2018, the President issued a third Major Disaster 

Declaration allowing residents of Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles, and San Diego counties 

to register for disaster assistance with FEMA.9 

For these events, the State Operations Center is activated to coordinate resources in 

support of communities being affected by the fires. State, local and federal agencies work 

together around the clock to support emergency management efforts and provide all the 

necessary resources. Cal OES will request resources, such as engine strike teams, from other 

states via the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC), 10 as well as coordinate and 

collaborate with other states for additional resources. 

For the Southern California Fires, Cal OES coordinated mutual aid resources of2,700 

firefighters, 611 engines and a total of 117 strike teams and task forces (24 Cal OES strike 

teams/task forces and 93 local government strike teams/task forces). They also managed the 

largest wildfire debris removal operation in California history, moving over a half million tons of 

debris. 

Committee Leadership on Disaster Policy Reform 

The Disaster Recovery Reform Act CDRRAI 

On November 30, 2017, the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

unanimously approved DRRA. The House added the DRRA policy proposals to the third 

disaster supplemental appropriations bill, H.R. 4667, which was passed by the House on 

December 12, 2017, but these policy provisions were not included in the final bill that was 

signed into law. 

DRRA places greater emphasis on pre-disaster mitigation, and incentivizes states to 

invest in stronger mitigation measures helping to ensure that our communities are well-equipped 

to better prepare for and withstand disasters of all kinds. For every one dollar spent on 

mitigation activities, six dollars is saved. There is a clear return on investments in mitigation. 

DRRA deals directly with wildfire prevention by permanently amending the Stafford Act to 

allow HMGP funds to be generated from fire management assistance grants. 

8 California Wildfires (DR-4344), "Federal Emergency Management Agency," Fema.gov. (Accessed March 14, 

2018). 

9 California Governor's Office of Emergency Services. "Emergency Proclamations and Declarations." 10 EMAC is an interstate compact approved by Congress that provides an effective avenue by which states can 

provide one another mutual aid in the event of a disaster. Through EMAC, a state impacted by a disaster can request 

and receive assistance from other member states more quickly and efficiently. 

4 
viii 


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CONCLUSION 

The 2017 wildfire season led to a record number of deaths and destroyed infrastructure 

throughout California and other states. The rebuilding that must be done in the wake of the fires 

provides an opportunity to encourage smart, resilient rebuilding, increased mitigation measures, 

and cost-effective federal investments. The central takeaways and lessons learned from last 

year's catastrophic wildfire season will help inform how to strengthen our ability to withstand 

disasters of all types across the Nation. 

WITNESS LIST 

Mr. Robert J. Fenton, Jr. 

Regional Administrator, Region IX 

Federal Emergency Management Agency 

Mr. Mark Ghilarducci 

Director, Governor's Office of Emergency Services 

State of California 

Ms. Susan Gorin 

Supervisor, First District 

Sonoma County California 

Mr. Eric Holly 

Deputy Fire Warden, Deputy Director of Emergency Services 

Stanislaus County, California 

Mr. Thomas Jenkins 

President and Chairman of the Board 

International Association of Fire Chiefs 

5 
(1) 

IMPACTS OF THE 2017 WILDFIRES IN THE 

UNITED STATES 

TUESDAY, MARCH 20, 2018 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, 

PUBLIC BUILDINGS, AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT, 

COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE, 

Washington, DC. 

The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:39 a.m. in room 

2167, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Lou Barletta (Chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. 

Mr. BARLETTA. The subcommittee will come to order. Without objection, the Chair is authorized to declare a recess at any time. 

Before we begin, I ask unanimous consent that Members not on 

this subcommittee be permitted to sit with the subcommittee at today’s hearing and ask questions. Without objection, so ordered. 

The purpose of today’s hearing is to explore the lessons learned 

from the catastrophic 2017 wildfire season that led to a record 

number of deaths and destroyed land and critical infrastructure 

throughout 10 Western States, especially California. 

First and foremost, our thoughts and prayers are with all those 

who have been and continue to be impacted by these wildfires, as 

well as their fellow Americans working to restore vital services to 

the affected communities. 

As the subcommittee with primary jurisdiction over the Federal 

Emergency Management Agency, it is our responsibility to hear 

from FEMA and State and local emergency managers, including 

fire departments, who led the response to and are driving the recovery from the fires. 

Unfortunately, 2017 was marked by many major disasters, and 

while there has been focus on Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and 

Maria, 2017 also included one of the worst wildfire seasons in 

United States history. 

Nationwide, over 66,000 wildfires burned over 9.7 million acres 

of land. In California alone, some 7,000 wildfires burned through 

over a half-a-million acres of land, an area larger than the size of 

New York City and Philadelphia combined. 

The 2017 wildfire season was the most destructive and costliest 

for California in its history, and the third most destructive season 

nationwide. 

It is imperative that we address the destruction caused by the 

2017 wildfire season and work to inform long-term policy solutions 

while highlighting the importance of mitigation and resiliency. 

2 

On November 30, 2017, the committee unanimously approved 

legislation I introduced, the Disaster Recovery Reform Act, on a bipartisan basis because of the good work that began here with this 

subcommittee. 

This legislation incorporated key provisions included in the 

SMART Rebuilding [Supporting Mitigation Activities and Resiliency Targets for Rebuilding] Act introduced by Chairman Denham. 

I want to thank Chairman Denham for his leadership on this issue. 

The focus of DRRA and the SMART Rebuilding Act is to place 

emphasis on predisaster mitigation to help ensure that our communities are well equipped to withstand disasters of all kinds. 

There is a clear return on investment for mitigation. For every $1 spent on mitigation, the taxpayer saves $6 to $8. 

The rebuilding that must be done in the wake of these wildfires 

provides an important opportunity to encourage smart, resilient rebuilding, increased mitigation measures, and cost-effective Federal 

investments. 

It is my hope that an examination of last year’s wildfire season 

will help inform how to strengthen our ability to withstand future 

disasters of all types across the Nation. 

I want to thank you all for being here today. I look forward to 

hearing from you on this important issue. 

I would like to welcome our new ranking member of the subcommittee, my friend and colleague, Ms. Titus. I look forward to 

working closely with you. 

I now recognize Ranking Member Titus for a brief opening statement. 

Ms. TITUS. Well, thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. As you 

mentioned, this is my first hearing in the position of ranking member of this subcommittee, and I am very excited to be part of it and 

look forward to working with you and the other Members. 

I would also like to point out that we have a visitor with us who 

is a valued colleague, not a member of the committee but someone 

whose district is greatly affected by the topic we are going to be 

discussing, Mr. Salud Carbajal from California’s 24th Congressional District. He represents Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San 

Luis Obispo, where they had the largest fire in California, and I 

would like to welcome him and appreciate his input. 

I represent a neighbor of California, Nevada, in fact the heart of 

the Las Vegas Valley, and like the other States, Nevada is at risk 

of many natural disasters. We have earthquakes, wildfires, severe 

winter storms, and floods. So, addressing these matters is very important to my constituency. 

We do not see it as a Democratic or a Republican matter but as 

something that we as a Nation need to invest in, make a commitment to, so our communities can be more prepared and resilient. 

This committee has operated in that bipartisan fashion, and I 

thank the chairman for that. We need to work together on the 

issues that impact the health, safety, security, and welfare of all 

our constituents. 

Today’s hearing on wildfires is extremely timely, because we are 

seeing natural disasters like wildfires happen much more frequently, with increasingly costly impacts. So, the Federal Government needs to take wildfires seriously. 

3 

My own State of Nevada has experienced wildfires so severe that 

we have called upon FEMA for additional resources through the 

Fire Management Assistance Grant Program for fire suppression 

assistance seven times over the last 2 years alone. 

These wildfires have caused devastating losses to communities, 

and they have destroyed landscapes that can lead to flash flooding 

and mudslides, and that creates even further disasters. 

For example, the 2013 Carpenter fire just outside of Las Vegas, 

at Mount Charleston, led to severe flash flooding. It destroyed 

homes, businesses, wildlife habitat, and endangered the lives of 

residents and first responders. 

Benjamin Franklin said that an ounce of prevention is worth a 

pound of cure, and nothing could be further from the truth when 

it comes to dealing with wildfires. So, we need to invest in mitigation. 

Unfortunately, I do not think our President has taken this mitigation seriously. If you look at FEMA’s Predisaster Mitigation Program budget, we see a proposed $39 million, but that’s a $61 million cut from the current levels. That is not the way that we should 

be moving. We should be going in the other direction. 

The chairman and I agree on this need for mitigation investment. In fact, just last week, we joined nearly 80 of our colleagues 

urging the Appropriations Committee to support the Predisaster 

Mitigation Program. We just can’t continue this ex post facto policy 

of borrowing. 

Apart from the budgetary issues, I would like to also hear today 

about how technology such as unmanned aircraft is playing an increasing role in our detection, monitoring, and response to fires, 

and how FEMA is working on that. 

Much of this research is playing out again in Nevada, which is 

one of the test centers for drone technology. We also have the Nevada Seismological Lab at UNR [University of Nevada, Reno] with 

their ALERTWildfire Program, so I would be interested in hearing 

more about what you’re doing there. 

So, I look forward to learning more from our witnesses. I welcome them. We know that wildfires do not recognize boundaries, 

whether it is between States or communities. It should be a Federal issue. They cross over invisible lines. If we fail to address 

these kinds of issues, we will be missing an opportunity here. 

So, thank you all for coming, and I look forward to learning a lot 

this morning. 

I yield back. 

Mr. FERGUSON [presiding]. Thank you. 

It is now my pleasure to recognize the ranking member of the 

full committee, Mr. DeFazio, for 5 minutes. 

Mr. DEFAZIO. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

This obviously is an extremely important topic, particularly as 

regards fire to those of us who live in the Western U.S. My home 

State had 664,000 acres burned last year. We have had $454 million on attack and extinguishing and some very preliminary restoration activities, and obviously, I don’t think things are going to 

get better. We are having a very low snow pack this year, and with 

climate change, which some of us believe in, it is going to get 

worse. 

4 

Now, we have a study, and you know, we do a lot of stuff around 

here that just does not make one iota of sense. So, we have a natural hazard mitigation study, that interim report, 2017. We save 

$6 post-disaster for every $1 of predisaster funds that FEMA invests. I am not going to say ‘‘spends,’’ because these are investments, and yet, the staff of the President—I am sure he hasn’t seen 

any of this—have proposed to cut that funding to $39 million. 

Now, they can say the deficit is $61 million smaller because we 

cut this wasteful program, except if the disasters happen, and they 

will, and using that same formula, we just have a paper savings 

of $61 million and the actual cost would be over $360 million to the 

taxpayers of the U.S. 

Now, the difference is we come up with a phony budget and this 

omnibus thing being negotiated behind closed doors—who knows 

what we will get for predisaster in there, but then when a disaster 

actually happens, we say, oh, the rules—they don’t count. We are 

just going to borrow the money and we will do it afterwards. 

So, you can be fiscally responsible by cutting a program that can 

save a hell of a lot of money, potentially save lives, save property, 

but then, in the end, you are going to spend more, but that doesn’t 

count, because we did that off budget with a supplemental emergency appropriation. Boy, is that dumb. 

We do other dumb things. We require that the U.S. Forest Service and BLM [Bureau of Land Management] pay for their own firefighting. Every year, they exhaust those budgets. Every year, they 

then begin to reduce other outlays for the fiscal year, including fuel 

reduction mitigation measures that they would take, leading us to 

more intense fires in the future, but somehow Congress, in its wisdom, has decided that floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, windstorms, 

et cetera, et cetera—those are all natural disasters that would go 

via FEMA and ultimately be paid for through an emergency supplemental, but nope, not forest fires, nope, they don’t count. 

No matter how big, no matter how catastrophic, no matter what 

the losses—I haven’t even seen—we will probably hear a number 

today from the Honorable Gorin about what the total losses are, I 

mean many billions of dollars, in addition to the lives lost. We have 

got to start making a little more sense around here, and hopefully, 

today will help lead us in that direction. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. FERGUSON. I would like to thank the ranking member. 

Now, I am pleased to welcome our panel of witnesses today. I 

want to thank each of you for being willing to come and testify 

here, and at this time, I would like to call on Representative 

Denham to introduce our first witness. 

Mr. DENHAM. Thank you, Chairman Ferguson. I also want to 

thank Chairman Barletta and his continued leadership on these 

issues, and I want to thank and welcome Mr. Holly, deputy fire 

warden and deputy director of Emergency Services for Stanislaus 

County, California, my district. 

Mr. Holly brings with him 28 years of experience in fire service, 

most notably in coordinating the responses to and resources for 

large wildfire incidents, not only in the Central Valley but across 

our entire State. 

5 

It is people like Mr. Holly on the ground that are the backbone 

of our response capabilities, and the coordination that we have between county and local jurisdictions makes us all much safer as a 

State. 

With the devastation that was caused by the 2017 wildfires, it 

is critical that we ensure our first responders and emergency managers have the support that they need. 

I know all too well, serving as chairman of this committee, how 

critical the issues of disaster preparedness, response, recovery, and 

mitigation are to survival of our communities and how frustrating 

I hear from each of you having to cut through redtape at a time 

of a disaster. 

That is why I was committed, in the wake of Hurricane Sandy 

back in 2013, to putting together key reforms to help speed up and 

streamline the recovery costs and reduce the costs, as well, and it 

is those exact reforms we passed in 2013 and made significant 

changes to the Stafford Act which actually helped us with the devastation that we saw last year. 

In November, we also saw an increase in incentives for mitigation. I introduced H.R. 4455, the SMART Rebuilding Act. We have 

got to be better prepared as we move forward. As we have seen in 

Mr. Carbajal’s district, not only has his community been devastated 

by fires, but now, certainly facing the challenges of floods and 

mudslides, we need to make sure, as we are looking across the 

State and across the country, that we are better prepared with 

smart building codes and prepared for the different disasters that 

can hit us across the country. 

This was included as part of the budget agreement and now 

signed into law in February. The policy will improve the resilience 

of homes and businesses from fires and secondary events like floods 

and mudslides. 

There is much more we can do, not only focused on disaster mitigation but also predisaster mitigation. We need to continue to push 

FEMA to streamline and simplify its disaster assistance programs. 

You have heard from this committee many times, all disasters 

are local, which is why it is important for us to focus on a bipartisan level across the entire country on fixing so many of these different issues. 

Mr. Holly, I look forward to hearing your testimony. Thank you 

for taking the long trip across the country to join us today. 

Mr. FERGUSON. Now, I would like to recognize Mr. Huffman to 

introduce our next witness, the Honorable Susan Gorin, who is a 

county supervisor for Sonoma County, California. 

Mr. Huffman. 

Mr. HUFFMAN. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thanks, also, 

to our ranking member, Mr. DeFazio; our new subcommittee ranking member, Dina Titus; and all the Members who are here today 

for this important conversation, including our colleague, Salud 

Carbajal, from Santa Barbara. 

This committee has done good bipartisan work, especially the 

Disaster Recovery Reform Act, and so, I am glad we have a hearing 

today that will continue us moving forward with this momentum, 

hopefully seeing that bill through to passage, and toward that end, 

6 

it is my great honor to introduce to the committee Sonoma County 

Supervisor Susan Gorin. 

This committee knows about the wildfires that devastated northern California last fall. From the Redwood Valley and Potter Valley 

complex fires in Mendocino to the Pocket fire in Geyserville, Tubbs 

fire in Santa Rosa, the communities I represent were devastated by 

these tragedies, and the witness we are going to hear from, Supervisor Gorin, will speak not just to the topline numbers we are all 

familiar with—5,000 homes lost, things like that. Her own home 

was one of those homes swept through by the fire, and so, she is 

here to tell us, 5 months into the difficult process of rebuilding and 

recovering, how it is going from a firsthand perspective, what it 

means to a local community, what it means to local governments 

struggling to make ends meet in the wake of a disaster like this. 

Supervisor Gorin has been living in Sonoma County since 1982. 

She is very much a product of our local colleges—Santa Rosa Junior College, Sonoma State University, and was elected to the Board 

of Supervisors in 2012. She is a great colleague of mine, and I am 

delighted that she was able to take the redeye and join us on the 

difficult journey east. 

Susan, welcome to Washington. Thank you for your testimony 

today. 

Mr. FERGUSON. Today we are also joined by Mr. Robert Fenton, 

Jr., the Regional Administrator for region 9 with the Federal Emergency Management Agency; Mr. Mark Ghilarducci, director of the 

State of California’s Office of Emergency Services; and Fire Chief 

Thomas Jenkins, president and chairman of the board of the International Association of Fire Chiefs. 

I ask unanimous consent that our witnesses’ full statements be 

included in the record. Without objection, so ordered. 

For our witnesses, since your written testimony has been made 

part of the record, the subcommittee would request that you limit 

your oral testimony to 5 minutes. 

Administrator Fenton, you may proceed. 

TESTIMONY OF ROBERT J. FENTON, REGIONAL ADMINISTRATOR, FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY; 

MARK GHILARDUCCI, DIRECTOR, GOVERNOR’S OFFICE OF 

EMERGENCY SERVICES, STATE OF CALIFORNIA; HON. SUSAN 

GORIN, FIRST DISTRICT SUPERVISOR, SONOMA COUNTY, 

CALIFORNIA; ERIC W. HOLLY, DEPUTY FIRE WARDEN/DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF EMERGENCY SERVICES, STANISLAUS 

COUNTY, CALIFORNIA; AND FIRE CHIEF THOMAS JENKINS, 

PRESIDENT AND CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FIRE CHIEFS 

Mr. FENTON. I want to start off by thanking Chairman Barletta 

for having this session today, and thank you, Congressman Ferguson, Ranking Member Titus, and other distinguished members of 

the subcommittee. 

My name is Robert Fenton. I am the Regional Administrator for 

FEMA region 9, located in Oakland, California. 

It is my pleasure here today to discuss with you FEMA’s experience with wildfire operations and discuss how we plan for and mitigate against the growing risk from wildfires. 

7 

We used to think fire season ran from spring through early fall. 

However, in recent years, we have seen that is no longer the case. 

Fire season is now all year long, taxing the wildfire system, the 

agencies that make up the Nation’s emergency management system, and the communities that are threatened by fires. 

As we saw in recent disasters, wildfires that affect concentrated 

urban populations such as Santa Rosa and Ventura, California, can 

stress the emergency management capabilities and cause catastrophic damage. 

Let me share a few statistics compiled by my colleagues at the 

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection that highlight the changed fire risks. 

The years between 2012 and 2015 were the driest period in California’s history. In sharp contrast, the following winter of 2016 was 

one of the wettest periods. 

The winter fostered excessive vegetation, which grew into kindling but did not change the overall dry conditions in the forests 

and watersheds. 

In 2017, more than 9,000 fires burned approximately 1.2 million 

acres of land, well ahead of the 5-year average. 

While 2017 has ended, the impacts of the unprecedented fire season will continue for years to come. The question I am sure you are 

asking yourselves is how can we plan for this type of disaster in 

the future? The wildfire season has reinforced what we know. 

Building more resilient communities is the best way to reduce risks 

to people, property, public budgets, and the economy. 

I cannot overstate the importance of focusing on investing in 

mitigation before disaster strikes. Developing capacity before an incident occurs reduces the loss of life and economic disruption. 

When communities are impacted, we want to see rebuilding that 

is safer, smarter, and stronger, but there are significant challenges 

that property owners and communities face in pursuing resilience. 

For that reason, FEMA Administrator Long is calling for a 

change in the cycle of opportunity, to move mitigation investment 

to the front of the disaster cycle, not at the end, where it typically 

lies. 

FEMA is working with Federal, State, local, Territorial, Tribal, 

and private sector partners to help align predisaster and post-disaster mitigation investments to more effectively reduce disaster 

loss and increase resilience. 

FEMA manages the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, the Flood 

Mitigation Assistance Grant Program, and the Predisaster Mitigation Grant Program that funds projects such as seismic retrofits, 

defensible space, safe rooms, and risk reduction for utility and 

other infrastructure. 

These funds play a critical role in building resilient communities 

by reducing the risk of future disaster loss. Effective wildfire mitigation projects include defensible space measures, ignition-resistant construction, and hazardous fuel reduction efforts. 

From a preparedness perspective, FEMA continues to maintain 

and strengthen the National Preparedness System by helping our 

non-Federal partners build their capabilities, which will reduce the 

reliance on the Federal Government in the future. 

8 

Together, we are working to achieve the National Preparedness 

Goal of a secure and resilient nation with the capabilities required 

across the whole community to prevent and protect against, mitigate and respond to, and recover from the threats of hazards that 

pose the greatest risk. 

FEMA is focused on promoting integrated mutual aid across the 

whole community, continuing the development of the national qualification system for first responders, and advancing a national 

training and education system and a national exercise program to 

prepare responders and officials for disasters. 

While we may never be able to completely eliminate risk, we 

must do our best to mitigate against it. FEMA continues to work 

with communities to reach that goal. 

By far, the 2017 disaster season was one of the busiest for 

FEMA. However, I would like to acknowledge that FEMA did not 

do this alone. Disasters pose many challenges at all levels of Government. 

The State of California has done an extraordinary job of building 

the emergency management capabilities and coordinating local and 

State-level response and recovery efforts. Their leadership and heroism continue to be instrumental in helping survivors. 

Additionally, we had the support of many Federal departments 

and agencies, including the U.S. Fire Administration, U.S. Army 

Corps of Engineers, U.S. EPA, and the Small Business Administration, among many others from DHS, and I would also be remiss if 

I did not mention the congressional Representatives in California 

that were personally involved in every phase of the disaster and 

the critical role they played. 

Going forward, there are many more opportunities to work together with our partners to identify solutions. 

I look forward to your questions today. Thank you. 

Mr. FERGUSON. Mr. Fenton, thank you for your testimony. 

Mr. Ghilarducci, you may proceed. 

Mr. GHILARDUCCI. Good morning, Chairman, and members of the 

committee. I am Mark Ghilarducci, director of the Governor’s Office 

of Emergency Services in California. 

It is really a pleasure to be with you here today and give you 

some perspective on, really, the challenges that we have been faced 

with over the last couple of years. 

I think, to provide some context, clearly to understand that, really, California, coming out of 6 years of extreme drought conditions—and when I mean extreme, these are all record-setting conditions that have impacted the entire State of California, and within that 6-year period, having to deal with some relatively extreme 

wildfire activity that we saw as sort of precursors to what the potential could be if these extreme conditions continued to grip California throughout the coming years. 

After the 2015–16 season where we had drought and severe fires, 

the conditions changed and we dealt with a lot of water, a lot of 

rain at one time that ended up in catastrophic flooding. 

Throughout the State, we had 52 of the 58 counties under Federal disaster declaration, and all of that flooding and that response, 

I put in context, because all of the resources that we have in CaliVerDate Aug 31 2005 09:32 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\HEARINGS\115\ED\3-20-2~1\36686.TXT JEAN
9 

fornia were already tasked and taxed in responding to these various events. 

The floods that we had, of course, presented and prepared for a 

new crop of flashy fuels that made the conditions much worse, and 

moving into October, then, which was later in the season, at a time 

when you think that things are starting to cool down and slow 

down, we started to get red flag or what we call fire weather conditions in the northern part of the State, which are typically very, 

very dangerous and don’t happen that often, but when they do, 

perk everybody’s attention, and sure enough, early in the morning 

on October the 8th, we had fires break out in eight different counties. 

The wind conditions were such that we had up to hurricane-force 

winds, winds exceeding 100 miles an hour, sustained for a long period of time, and in fact, in a 12-hour burning period, when it was 

all cleared, we had lost over 8,900 homes and businesses in a 12- 

hour period. 

This was eight counties, including the fire that came over 

through Napa, down into Sonoma, crossed eight lanes of improved 

highway, into a community that had nothing to do with the with 

the WUI [Wildland Urban Interface] but was in a fire corridor that 

resulted in the loss of over 1,000 homes just in that one community 

of Coffey Park. 

Overall, the Tubbs fire, which is the one that—you know, one of 

these fires that impacted Sonoma and Napa, really surpassed what 

our previous large fire was in California that took a great number 

of homes, and that was the Oakland Hills fire in the 1990s. 

Throughout this process, our Mutual Aid System was really 

stretched, but we do have a tremendous mutual aid capability, and 

while they were dealing with the cascading impacts and, really, the 

enormity of the northern California fires, of all of these homes and 

these people that had been devastated, the fire weather continued. 

The extreme weather conditions that we had not seen before continued to take hold of the State and moved from a northern posture 

to a mid-part of the State to southern California, and on December 

the 10th, we had southern California—all the counties of southern 

California, all the way up to the middle part of the State, under 

red flag conditions. 

The humidity levels were in single digits, the winds were significant, and sure enough, we started getting fires that broke in Los 

Angeles and San Diego and in Ventura, the first one being in Ventura, which burned for many, many days and turned out to be the 

Thomas fire, now the State’s largest fire in its history as far as 

acreage is concerned, and that fire, beyond burning an additional 

1,000 homes in Ventura, went up into the town of Ojai, buttonhooked around that, and then came down on top of Santa Barbara. 

The key thing is, above Santa Barbara and Ventura is the Los 

Padres National Forest, so a lot of trees, a lot of watershed that 

is critical—critical—to not only being able to address the capture 

of rainwater when it rains but also for the environment and all the 

other things that go along with that. 

This fire was so hot and burned so extremely that literally it 

denuded the entire landscape of that Los Padres National Forest— 

what we call the front area, and completely wiped out that area. 

10 

That then set up another dynamic that we had a rainstorm come 

in and it resulted in catastrophic floods and mudflows in Santa 

Barbara, in Montecito, that claimed an additional 22 lives. 

So, 44 lives in the northern fires, 22 lives in the southern fires 

and in the southern mudflow, and the requirement of all the resources that were necessary—we had over 10,000 firefighters. We 

had 400 local engines from our mutual aid program, 200 out-ofState engines—and I can’t thank those surrounding States enough. 

We even brought in 33 firefighters from Victoria, Australia, under 

an agreement we had. 

At the highest level, we established a unified coordination group, 

which really set the overarching priorities for coordination of this, 

and included FEMA, which, by the way, FEMA—we could not have 

done this without a great partner, FEMA, and they have been with 

us lockstep, and I can’t say enough about all of their efforts. 

Mr. FERGUSON. Thank you, sir, for your testimony. 

It is now my pleasure to recognize Supervisor Gorin. 

You may proceed. 

Ms. GORIN. Thank you so much. I want to thank the leadership 

of this committee and the subcommittee for their work that they 

have previously completed on the disasters that have faced our Nation in totality. 

I grew up in western Pennsylvania, but I have lived in Boston, 

Colorado, and certainly California. I have been prepared for horrendous snowstorms, nor’easters, tornadoes, hailstorms, and earthquakes, but nothing prepared me for the devastation that I experienced in my district and in my county in October of last year. 

I want to really thank all of my colleagues on this panel, because 

without their help every step of the way, we would not have moved 

forward through recovery and resiliency that we are in the place 

today. 

I especially want to thank Congressman Huffman and Congressman Thompson, who have been with us, and the Governor was 

there, and our State senators. It is very important for the local 

community to see that you and our local elected leaders understand 

what we are facing, and as you’ve described, in some of your districts, you do, indeed, understand what we have faced and what 

you have faced. 

I want to deviate from my testimony a little bit. Mr. Ghilarducci 

really talked about the stress and strains and the magnificent performance of the mutual aid firefighters and first responders 

throughout the western part of the Nation and other States, and 

it still warms my heart when I see signs in the communities that 

have been ravaged by the fires to say thank you to the first responders. Without them, we would probably still be here today trying to face an uncertain future—that and the rains, the rains really 

helped out, and our heart goes out to Santa Barbara. 

We could have been that community facing the mudslides. We 

were spared the torrential rains, and our army of volunteers and 

county organizations placed wattles everywhere around our disaster areas. 

As you know, that evening, the firestorms overtook Sonoma 

County with the ferocious winds. It was staggering to me that, almost 50 years to that date, the same patterns of fire overtook 

11 

Sonoma County, and what happened in the Hanly fire 50 years 

ago, took a couple of days to transport themselves across the county line and move into the neighborhoods, took less than 12 hours 

to totally devastate neighborhoods. 

I come to you as a supervisor but also someone, as Congressman 

Thompson said, lost not one but two homes, the home that I lived 

in in the Fountaingrove area for 20 years—that was lost—didn’t 

own it now, but the home that I lived in in October, certainly did 

lose. I lost it 2 days later, and that is really talking—speaking to 

the long sustaining nature of the firestorms. 

It just wasn’t that night; it was a week and a half or 2 weeks 

where homes continued to burn, but CAL FIRE pulled out the 

maps and knew where the dozer lines were going to go and held 

the line, and eventually those fires were contained. 

I want to put a personal slant on it. For those who have never 

lost a home, you see in the debris and the ashes 45 years of life, 

of marriage, of family history, family photos, the ironing board 

sticking up in the ashes, and realizing you need to purchase every 

single item that you lost in the home. 

It is overwhelming, both from a grief and a time perspective, and 

you magnify my experience and my husband’s experience times 

5,000 or more, and you get some scale of the needs of our community. 

Quickly, I want to really talk about community warning systems. 

Many of our residents lost their lives—sadly, we lost 24, but many 

fled their homes in terror in their bare feet. They were awakened 

in the middle of the night, losing power, not able to get their cars 

out of the garage. They lost everything, and they were so fortunate, 

the firefighters picked them up, and I include that the president 

of Sonoma State University as one of those who fled in the middle 

of the night. 

We absolutely need robust, effective, and redundant alert systems that will not fail when the cell towers and the landlines come 

down. 

Secondly, disaster preparedness. Often our community members 

survived because their neighbors knocked on the door or telephoned their friends a couple of blocks away. We need to prepare 

our community, as you just talked about, for the unfolding disasters in the future. 

I come from a community that is absolutely prepared. In fact, 

someone knocked on my door to alert me to the evacuation that 

night. The CERT [Community Emergency Response Team] program and the COPE [Citizens Organized to Prepare for Emergencies] program are absolutely essential in preparing a community and a population for future disasters. 

Disaster mitigation. Thank you so much for your support in disaster mitigation. We have a number of requests in, because we are 

committed to preventing and arming ourselves with the tools to 

survive future disasters. They have come before; they will come in 

the future. 

And one final note. We desperately need funding, flexible funding 

for housing, and economists predicted we need 17,000 construction 

workers to rebuild not only the lost homes but to build the housing 

that we needed on the Saturday before the fire. 

12 

We need money for construction pathway programs and money 

to build housing to house the construction workers. This is of a 

scale that we have not contemplated in the past, and we are certainly painfully contemplating now and in the future. 

Thank you so much for your work, and we appreciate all that you 

are bringing to this issue. 

Mr. FERGUSON. Thank you, Supervisor, and we appreciate your 

testimony. 

Mr. Holly, you may proceed. 

Mr. HOLLY. Good morning. Thank you, again, for the invitation. 

I’m Eric Holly, I’m the deputy fire warden and the deputy director 

of Emergency Services for Stanislaus County. In addition to my 

normal day-to-day activities, I’m also our fire and rescue operational area coordinator, as well as the Emergency Management 

Mutual Aid, or the EMMA coordinator for Stanislaus County. 

A little bit about our county, we are in the Central Valley, the 

southern portion of California’s Mutual Aid System, or region number four. Within Stanislaus County’s operational area is the Diablo 

Mountain Range in the western portion, and the foothills of the Sierra Nevada is in the eastern portion of the county. 

There are just over 500,000 people in our county. We do have 21 

separate fire agencies that provide some sort of fire protection 

within our county. Of those agencies, some are fully paid, there are 

some combination departments and there are some fully volunteer 

agencies. Each agency will participate at some level in the California Fire and Rescue Mutual Aid System. 

During the times of emergencies and disasters, I’m responsible 

for coordinating the local agency responses from Stanislaus County 

to those incidents. And as part of the California Office of Emergency Services, Cal OES, Fire and Rescue Mutual Aid System and 

EMMA systems, in the past years alone we’ve provided fire engines 

and individuals to wildfires statewide: from the border of Mexico 

all the way up to Oregon, to the State of Washington, the State of 

Montana, and recently, to Puerto Rico for Hurricane Maria. 

We send people, from firefighters to law enforcement to emergency medical services, animal services, public works, building department, public health, and county administration departments. 

This year, Stanislaus County agencies continue to support the Master Mutual Aid System; however, as in years past, we have found 

that we’ve been unable to fill some of the requests that we’ve had. 

We’re only able to assist so much before we have drawdown of 

our own resources to exhausting levels, and we’ve found ourselves 

turning down more requests each year for that reason. Some of our 

agencies that have had full-time paid firefighters have had to reduce staffing and close fire stations due to lack of funding. Volunteer agencies have had trouble keeping staffing levels up for years, 

and what staffing they do have fluctuates with the season. 

Most of our rural volunteer agencies are in agricultural areas, so 

during seasons like the harvest season and other specific times of 

the year, many volunteer firefighters are committed to their farms 

and ranches, and have limited capabilities to respond to calls for 

service within their own district, let alone being sent out to the 

large wildfires. 

13 

Even with these challenges, our counties have been able to put 

fire equipment on the road in times of need, and when large 

wildfires start, county operational area coordinators, using our contiguous counties, we get together and we start pooling our resources to see what we have. And if we only have a few, we marry 

them up with other resources from other counties. 

Over the recent years, Stanislaus County Operational Area, 

which is our county, it includes our fire apparatus and individual 

personnel who have assisted with the operations and management 

of these large wildland fire incidents. At times, we don’t have 

enough of the equipment or trained personnel in our county to fulfill those requests. And when this occurs, that’s when we start 

reaching out to our neighbors. 

We’re doing all of this as the fires are beginning, as the fire 

weather starts to come up, and it’s at that local level to do that 

preparedness. We continue to work locally with State and Federal 

agencies on mitigating local hazards through planning and educating the public, training, and exercising for all hazards. 

Through Federal grant funding, we have been able to assist our 

nine cities within our county with mitigation planning, the goal of 

which is to meet those core capabilities of national preparedness. 

The devastation of the wildfires can cripple a community, leaving 

it vulnerable to secondary-type events, such as the landslides that 

we saw. 

For our county, weed abatement and fuel reduction is an ongoing 

task, and each year we spend numerous hours identifying and notifying property owners of hazardous situations. It’s time-consuming. 

We constantly struggle to keep up with the requests from the public regarding fire hazards. With all the responsibilities that our fire 

agencies have, they just don’t have the staffing to do it on a 

proactive stance. 

Public education has some of the same areas of concern. Staffing 

challenges and funding for the education programs continue to be 

a concern. When agencies have staffing issues for emergency response, public education and mitigation suffers. 

It’s important to remember that we need to invest our money 

and our resources, as you said, upfront. Investment in creating 

emergency plans, mitigation programs, and public education will 

save lives, property, and the environment. Increasing staffing, or 

prepositioning fire equipment during Red Flag Warnings or other 

high-probability events likely lessen the likelihood of incidents 

growing into major incidents. 

Our operational area did not have a major wildland fire in 2017, 

and it very well could have. We will. We are like many other counties, and we feel lucky that we were not affected this last year. But 

we continue to try to be prepared as best as we can for these incidents. 

Most agencies in our county have received, at some point or another, some funding through Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Grants or the AFG Grants, the Assistance to Firefighters Grants. These have helped with communications equipment for interoperability, which has allowed our agencies to actually respond outside of our county. 

14 

We must continue to emphasize education and training to 

strengthen our ability to respond safely and effectively, locally and 

statewide to wildland fire events. Without properly well-maintained equipment, we would be unable to assist. There are many 

pieces of the puzzle, and without them, our statewide response 

would be hampered. 

Thank you again for your time. 

Mr. FERGUSON. Thank you, Mr. Holly. 

Chief Jenkins, you may proceed. 

Mr. JENKINS. Good morning, acting Chairman Ferguson, Chairman Barletta, Ranking Member Titus, and members of the subcommittee. I’m Tom Jenkins, fire chief for the city of Rogers, Arkansas. I also serve as the president and chairman of the board for 

the International Association of Fire Chiefs. The International Association of Fire Chiefs represents the leadership of America’s fire 

and emergency medical services agencies. 

We appreciate the opportunity to testify today about the impact 

of the 2017 wildfires that affected our great country. Local fire departments, many of whom you may realize were volunteer fire departments, provided nearly 80 percent of the initial attack on those 

fires. The IAFC is concerned about the escalating cost and damage 

caused by these wildfires. 

According to the National Interagency Fire Center, there were 

approximately 71,500 wildland fires reported last year. They 

burned, as we heard earlier, nearly 10 million acres. This was an 

increase of more than 80 percent over the amount of acreage 

burned in 2016. In addition, 2017 was a record year in which the 

Federal Government spent $2.9 billion on wildland fire suppression. This amount was approximately 84 percent more than the 

$1.6 billion spent in 2008. Our Nation cannot continue to absorb 

these growing costs. 

We agree with the committee’s interest in reducing the cost of 

natural disasters. The International Association of Fire Chiefs supported the Disaster Recovery Reform Act, H.R. 4460, which 

incentivized States and localities to take steps to mitigate the risk 

of disaster. For wildland fires, the IAFC supports the national cohesive wildland fire management strategy. Our association is especially focused on promoting community preparedness, improved response capability, and, of course, mitigation. 

The IAFC encourages localities to develop community wildfire 

protection plans. These plans identify and then mitigate wildland 

fire risks. They also can guide Federal hazardous fuels reduction 

projects and prioritize the use of Federal funding. 

The IAFC’s own ‘‘Ready, Set, Go’’ Program is designed to promote 

community preparedness. It’s a partnership with the USDA’s Forest Service. ‘‘Ready, Set, Go’’ helps communities develop mitigation 

plans—Ready; teaches them to be situationally aware—Set; and 

then act early following personal wildland fire action plans—Go. 

As partners with other community organizations, ‘‘Ready, Set, 

Go’’ fire departments and fire districts engage in activities including webcasts, fuel reduction, youth outreach, civic events, home assessments, and door-to-door smoke alarm campaigns. Currently, 

there are 1,803 ‘‘Ready, Set, Go’’ members in all 50 States. 

15 

An effective response is key to controlling the cost of wildfires. 

The IAFC believes that there is a need for well-vetted qualifications based on the National Wildfire Coordinating Group’s publication, NWCG 310–1, for response staffing, and resources. However, 

we also support efforts to recognize prior learning and structural 

firefighting skills for wildland firefighting duties. 

Our association is also leading efforts to improve mutual aid 

agreements in the response to wildland fires. Fire departments depend on assistance from neighbors, and oftentimes other States, to 

assist during major fires. The National Mutual Aid System was designed by the IAFC, Intermedix, and ESRI to help departments visualize in real-time where resources are and improve decisionmaking when deploying them. 

Delayed reimbursements of fire departments is an obstacle to effective fire response. The reimbursement process can take months 

or even years. Until reimbursement, a local fire department must 

do without. This delayed reimbursement cycle can reduce a fire department’s ability to participate in future mutual aid requests. 

The IAFC also asks Congress to continue to support mitigation 

activities. We ask Congress to make permanent recently passed 

legislation that allow States that receive Fire Mitigation Assistance 

Grants in fiscal years 2017 and 2018 to receive hazard mitigation 

assistance. This assistance will help communities reduce the risk 

of flooding and landslides that we saw in California in January. 

The growth of wildland fire across this Nation is a clear and 

present danger to our citizens. America’s fire chiefs look forward to 

working with the committee to promote community preparedness, 

ensure effective responses to these wildfires, and support mitigation efforts to reduce the risk of fires and ensuing floods and landslides. I look forward to answering any questions that you may 

have. Thank you. 

Mr. FERGUSON. Thank you, Chief Jenkins, and I would be remiss 

if I didn’t say to both you and to Mr. Holly thank you for your service as first responders and to the men and women that you serve 

with. 

And to Supervisor Gorin, I understand, I was a mayor prior to 

deciding I was tired of being happy and running for Congress. But 

in all seriousness, it is so remarkable to me the partnerships that 

you have to have with your other stakeholders in there, and I know 

that the coordination that goes into it requires an awful lot of time 

and commitment. 

So thank you for doing that at the local level, and let me echo 

some of the words of my colleagues here. I’m so, so sorry for the 

loss of your homes in those devastating fires. In 2017, as you know, 

we saw many communities and regions and entire States that were 

truly shattered by these natural disasters, and certainly what’s 

happened out in California has just been absolutely devastating. 

And so I think it’s very important that we examine what has 

happened, learn from that, and then allow this body to help guide 

the conversation forward to make sure the local communities and 

States have the resources that they need not only to deal with the 

aftermath, but in my opinion, more importantly, deal with what 

happens before. 

16 

And I also want to take a minute to thank Chairman Barletta 

for continuing to champion this critical issue, and it’s something 

that has been very important to him, and I think we want to recognize his leadership here. 

With that, I’m going to reserve my questions for the end, and I 

am now going to recognize the ranking member, Ms. Titus. 

Ms. TITUS. Well thank you very much. If I could ask you, Mr. 

Fenton, I would like to follow up on some things that Ranking 

Member DeFazio mentioned in his opening statement. 

Last week when FEMA issued its 2018 to 2022 strategic plan, 

there was no mention of climate change, it just failed to mention 

it altogether. And it also removed references to climate change that 

had been included in the previous 2014 to 2018 strategic plan. I 

wonder if the administration believes that climate change is real, 

and how you think we can prepare for natural disasters if we don’t 

acknowledge that it’s a significant factor in the cause of those disasters. 

Mr. FENTON. I represent region 9. I can’t speak for either what 

Brock Long’s beliefs are or this administration’s beliefs; however, 

I think in my opening testimony, I testified to the part—to the extent of how fire season in California has changed over the years. 

And it’s significantly changed, including not only the driest years 

on record as Mark Ghilarducci, the State director, had talked 

about, but also the wettest season. 

So we’re seeing changes in the climate in California that have 

caused a significant fire season, which continues—a prolonged one, 

which is not only seasonal anymore, but it goes year round. So we 

are seeing changes that are impacting California with regard to impacts on the environment, plus building into urban areas where it 

increases the threat and risk of homes in those areas. 

Ms. TITUS. Do you think you’re going to be able to do your job, or FEMA overall will be able to with the proposed about $70 million cut in the budget? 

Mr. FENTON. Well I understand that in building a budget, there 

have to be priorities in building a budget. And, you know, the administration has made its decision on those priorities and where to 

take those cuts. Right now, I have the resources that I need in 

order to do my job as a Regional Administrator, both with the Disaster Relief Fund and funding I have annually to ensure that we’re 

trained and exercised and ready to respond to disasters. 

One of the areas that I think we need to focus on is how to move 

more of the predisaster mitigation upfront so that we could take action prior to disasters and not take action after disasters to better 

protect and build resiliency into the communities and infrastructure. 

Ms. TITUS. Well, that, kind of, leads me to my second question. 

What I mentioned in the opening statement was some interest in 

the use of unmanned aerial systems. I’m wondering if you could 

comment on any barriers that exist with FEMA’s budget or making 

the acquisition or use of those eligible for grant money, anything 

we can do to facilitate that, and then maybe some of our first responders could comment if that would be helpful or not. 

Mr. FENTON. I’m not aware of barriers. I could get back to you 

in writing with regard to the specific grants and what’s available 

17 

and what could be purchased. But I would say that we heavily use 

unmanned aerial vehicles during these fires to provide information 

not only during the fires, but accessed resources through Department of Defense National Guard to do things that we’ve never done 

before. 

One of the things that we did is we used National Guard platforms to do assessments of the fires so we could make decisions on 

the declaration. Plus the firefighters used it to establish perimeters 

and make decisions on where to fight the fire and build defenses 

at. 

In addition to that, we’re using it right now to re-map using lidar 

systems to remap watersheds that were impacted from these fires 

and better prepare for the post-event floods that have happened 

down in the southern California area, and are preparing this week 

for the events that may happen due to the rain that’s oncoming 

this week. 

Ms. TITUS. Gentlemen? 

Mr. HOLLY. Just speaking to the local level, we do have a few 

agencies within our county that have some UAVs. Those agencies 

are the paid agencies in our county. They’re strictly using them 

now for reconnaissance on hazardous material spills as well as 

some of the areas that are not really wildland, where we wouldn’t 

have aircraft working, but in large fields or in river bottom areas. 

They’re very much at the beginning stages of it, but they’re starting to use them and they are showing some good usage with them. 

Mr. JENKINS. That’s an excellent question. Our association has 

championed the issue: We recognize that—while conventional 

methods to suppress fires work—that the use of technology to try 

to gain information, whether that’s reconnaissance, is important. 

But information gathering at the incident command post is only 

going to aid whether we’re making decisions about evacuation or 

offensive strategy, and so we are believers in technology, specifically unmanned aerial devices, and we continue to encourage their 

use as appropriate by local fire departments and jurisdictions. 

Ms. TITUS. I would like, first, to be sure that there aren’t any 

barriers in any of the grant programs that keep you from using 

those to acquire some of this technology, so maybe we can check 

into that. 

Just one other question. It’s always been a concern to me about 

the animals in wildfires. And people often will not leave their pets, 

or then what do they do with their pets? I have the Animal Emergency Planning Act to try to get FEMA involved in that. 

I wonder if you would talk about, Mr. Fenton, what FEMA does 

to encourage local communities to plan for animal evacuation or 

care, or how they encourage people—what to do with their pets? 

Because if they stay behind for the pets, not only are you going to 

lose the pets, you may lose the people as well. 

Mr. FENTON. Following Hurricane Katrina, FEMA’s done a lot of 

work to not only build in caring of pets and evacuation of pets into 

the National Response Framework, but more importantly, have 

worked with State and local governments to ensure that we plan 

for and build the capacity to be able to care for and evacuate pets 

during a disaster. 

18 

California has done a remarkable job on it. I’m sure that Director 

Ghilarducci can talk to some of the things they did in this disaster 

from not only where we both went and saw firsthand where firefighters came to protect pets down in southern California at a zoo 

facility, to opening up some of their local fairgrounds to receive 

pets during a fire so that they could go ahead and care for them, 

and having that process set up beforehand so that people could 

move them to those locations where they would be safe. 

It’s important to have those plans prior to the events, and California has done a tremendous job in having those systems ready. 

Ms. TITUS. I would like to see all the States encouraged to do 

that as well as California. 

Mr. FENTON. Yes, ma’am. 

Ms. TITUS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield. 

Mr. FERGUSON. OK, thank you. Next, I’ll recognize the gentleman from California, Mr. Denham. 

Mr. DENHAM. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Holly, you talked 

in your opening statement about the operational area and coordinator responses between multiple counties and strike teams. 

Can you describe, from a county level, the internal decisionmaking process you go through on whether or not you are going to 

put equipment and teams into a different area of the State and the 

coordination that goes along with that? 

Mr. HOLLY. Certainly. At the local level or at the operational or 

county level, when we hear of fires starting throughout the State, 

we start to coordinate within our county by making phone calls to 

those local fire chiefs to see their availability. A lot of it has to do 

with personnel, with their equipment, if it is ready to go and then 

the length of time that it’s expected for that equipment to be gone. 

As we do that, we are also in contact with our contiguous counties and talking with them to see what their availability is so that, 

as the orders come in, for strike teams or task forces to go out to 

these fires. We can piecemeal things together if we don’t have 

enough resources. We have to look at our county. We have to look 

at any large incidents that might be occurring, any predicted 

events that may be coming up or the weather that is in our county 

as well, protecting what we have before we can send out more to 

other wildland areas. 

Mr. DENHAM. Thank you. And we talk a lot in this committee 

about being prepared and resiliency. We passed the SMART Rebuilding Act here recently, which will incentivize important building standards as we move forward. But one of those issues is certainly the fuel that goes with the fire. That is a lot of the vegetation, a lot of the growth. I wonder if you could describe what you 

think could better encourage important activities on taking away 

some of that fuel. 

Mr. HOLLY. So our county, on both sides, we have some of the 

State responsibility area, which is we have fire districts that partner with CAL FIRE. They have a very robust system and a program for mitigation of the fuels. A lot of it has to do with annually 

going in and taking down some of the new growth that comes up 

where you can have some high fire-prone areas. 

And the center portion of our county is where most of our rural 

agricultural areas are. We do have some issues with weed abateVerDate Aug 31 2005 09:32 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00026 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\HEARINGS\115\ED\3-20-2~1\36686.TXT JEAN
19 

ment throughout the year and the staffing of those voluntary agencies and getting people out to actually make contact with those 

agencies. It is a struggle every year, and we have seen that, you 

know, with the building codes that we have had and the new resolutions in California for the defensible space, it has helped. But 

there still needs to be more done with the public education portion 

of it, I believe. 

Mr. DENHAM. Thank you. And Mr. Ghilarducci, I’ve appreciated 

the opportunity to work with you on some of these disasters and 

the quick response that we’ve seen from the Governor’s team. One 

of the big questions that continues to come up as we are trying to 

rebuild major infrastructure, especially in the north part of the 

State where we’ve had a number of conversations about how do you 

get trucks in and out, debris in and out, how do you fix the bridges 

in a very, very quick fashion, we passed the NEPA Reciprocity Act, 

which not only allows for quick environmental review but allows us 

to streamline the process. 

Now California has the opportunity to apply for section 1309 

under the FAST Act. The question is will your department and the 

Governor take advantage of that and move to quickly expedite 

those projects? 

Mr. GHILARDUCCI. That’s a good question. Thank you, Congressman. I think that the section 1309 is in the area that we are looking at, and we will leverage and maximize it to the advantage of 

the community. You know, the debris operation in the case of the 

North Bay fires really was an unprecedented event. 

You know, today, we’ve moved over 1.6 million tons of debris. In 

context, that’s two Golden Gate Bridges, if you can get a sense of 

how much debris that is. And we’ve done that all in a period of 

about 5 months, which is an unprecedented work pace in addition 

to the work that we’re doing in southern California. And the idea 

is to be able to get those communities as clean and clear as possible 

so that the rebuilding can start but not just rebuilding starting in 

those areas. Have a very serious policy discussion. 

Mr. DENHAM. Let me just—I have only got a little bit of time left. 

Let me be succinct about this. NEPA Reciprocity Act right now has 

a 2-year review process. We’d like to shrink that down to 180 days. 

We’d like to see if the Governor is going to be supportive of that, 

especially, you know, we see the Governor as supportive of waiving 

CEQA [California Environmental Quality Act] for football fields 

and, you know, we saw Pac Bell Park by a previous Governor. We 

waive CEQA all the time. I would think it would be very important 

to streamline NEPA/CEQA in the case of communities that have 

been devastated and we want to rebuild real quick. 

Mr. GHILARDUCCI. Yes. 

Mr. DENHAM. So it should be a very simple answer, and I would 

hope the Governor would work with us on changing that. 

Mr. GHILARDUCCI. We are looking at that—— 

Mr. DENHAM. Thank you. 

Mr. GHILARDUCCI [continuing]. Congressman. 

Mr. DENHAM. Yield back. 

Mr. FERGUSON. Thank you. Now recognize Mr. Huffman. 

Mr. HUFFMAN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And as I look at this 

panel, I see this great team of firefighters, local government, Cal 

20 

OES and FEMA. And this is part of the story that I think we can 

celebrate as a success despite the tragedy that visited our communities. I saw many of these folks every single day during the worst 

of the wildfires. They work together seamlessly. The resources that 

were mobilized from around the Western United States with firefighters streaming in prison crews from neighboring States were 

impressive. There is a lot about this system that actually does 

work, and we are grateful for that, and we learned it firsthand. 

But a lot of our—when we talk about how we can do better going 

forward, we do need to continue this focus on predisaster strategies. And so I want to ask our witnesses about that. And Supervisor Gorin, you did touch on the Emergency Alert System and 

warnings. We saw a lot of folks who lost their lives, unfortunately, 

in our region. And many of those were vulnerable populations, 

many elderly who didn’t get word or even, in some cases, were trying to get out but couldn’t. The power was out. They couldn’t open 

their garage doors, and we saw folks who lost their lives in their 

cars, in their garages. 

I’d like to hear your thoughts on predisaster planning and strategies that can help us with the evacuation of vulnerable populations. And then, also, on the telecommunications piece of this, 

we’ve seen, after these disasters—you know, we can set up wireless 

hotspots, mobile cell sites, charging stations, all these things that 

help, but what can we do to have a more robust system proactively 

in advance of these things? 

Ms. GORIN. This is a very astute question because that is exactly 

what led to the number of houses lost and the number of lives lost. 

We are looking at redundant and robust alert systems in the future 

using, perhaps, the Lake Tahoe system of very tall poles with cameras on it. We could have seen the arcing of the wires and the flash 

of the fires in Napa County when they first started. And we could 

have brought in air resources to suppress those fires at the very 

beginning. And this is what many counties were able to accomplish. 

But the erratic winds that we experience drove those fires so fast 

and so furiously, quite frankly, the cloud cover was so thick that 

we couldn’t get in. Hopefully I am describing this correctly. We 

couldn’t get in the air support to suppress the fires. So we absolutely need the lidar and the smoke-penetrating devices to know 

where the fires are and how to suppress them. 

But the alert system, we know of many people who lost their 

lives because they were hearing-impaired. They took out their 

hearing aids during the night of the fire. A neighbor knocked on 

their door but they didn’t respond. And so we not only need to acknowledge the rapid acknowledgment of a fire and bringing the resources to suppress that initially, and in many different locations 

because we had many fires breaking out in Sonoma County all on 

the night of the firestorm and then merging into two enormous 

fires as they went through the county over the next 2 weeks. We 

need to make sure that those alert systems—and thank you for 

your work on the alert systems and the wireless alert systems. 

Some of the firefighters were so frustrated, we lost cell towers, 

landlines. They were ready to throw their cell phones in the fires 

because they could not communicate. So we need to make sure that 

21 

our vulnerable populations also have the benefit of those alert systems. And just one other factoid: the Sonoma County assessor has 

determined that, thus far, 5,100 homes were damaged or destroyed 

in the fire in Sonoma County, a total loss of $1.6 billion of assessed 

value. 

I am missing a very important budget meeting today. We’re grappling with a budget deficit in the tens of millions of dollars for the 

next couple of years because of our expenses and unreimbursed expenses. So anything that you can do to help not only the cities, the 

counties, you are absolutely right. We are working together but all 

of the special districts put together, including the fire districts. 

Thank you. 

Mr. HUFFMAN. Thank you, Sue. But I am just about out of time, 

but I wanted to give Administrator Fenton a chance to agree with 

me, if he does, that the Emergency Management Performance 

Grant Program is a great way for FEMA to support communities 

like Sonoma County that are working on strategies to quickly evacuate vulnerable populations. 

Mr. FENTON. Yes, I definitely agree. Also, I think moving more 

funds upfront, as I talked about earlier, will help us even before 

disasters to build in resiliency to communities and specifically on 

the IPAWS [Integrated Public Alert and Warning System] and 

being able to do alert and warnings and communication infrastructure, all which is critical to provide people timely information to 

evacuate when necessary. All those things and resources could be 

resolved by better planning, building better redundancy and hardening infrastructure prior to events. 

Mr. HUFFMAN. Great. 

Thanks, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. FERGUSON. Thank you. Next, I’d like to recognize Ms. 

Brownley. 

Ms. BROWNLEY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate it and 

appreciate you allowing me to be here for this committee hearing. 

The first thing that I want to say is just a heartfelt, deep, deep, 

deep appreciation and gratitude to the first responders and firefighters who came to Ventura County as we were fighting this raging, raging fire. It was really unbelievable to see it and to be there. 

And I just can’t tell you, on behalf of all the residents of my community, they are so very, very grateful. 

And everyone that I speak to, even those who lost their homes, 

their response is always, ‘‘But we’re lucky we’re alive. My neighbors are alive.’’ And certainly in the city of Ventura where a lot of 

the damage occurred, people have lived in that community for 20 

and 30 years. And so they weren’t only concerned about themselves. They were concerned about all of their neighbors as well. So 

I just can’t overemphasize the deep gratitude my community has 

for all of the first responders. 

And I will just say that we had—at the height of the firefighting 

operation, we had 8,500 firefighters there from across the Nation, 

987 engines, 27 helicopters, 58 water tenders, 153 handcrews, 80 

dozers and firefighters came from Oregon, Arizona, Washington, 

Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado, and Utah. And I 

think the thing that impressed me the most was the fact that I 

22 

know there is a system in place for firefighters nationwide when 

a disaster occurs. Everyone rallies. 

But the fact that, at the end of the day, this is really, truly a 

volunteer operation. And the fact that everyone came to our calling 

was just amazing, and it has really impressed upon my community 

and the county just how grateful they are and how deep their appreciation truly, truly is. 

And I also want to thank FEMA and Cal OES because you were 

there immediately and took charge. And your swift response was 

just overwhelming. And, again, as we are recovering from the disaster, the community is overwhelmingly grateful to you and understands your response to the community, how quickly we have been 

able to clean up the debris. 

Obviously, there is a long road ahead in terms of recovery. But 

we are extraordinarily grateful. And I think, Ms. Gorin, your description in your own community in Sonoma is exactly the same description that I can say in both Ventura County and Santa Barbara 

County so thank you for that. We had a fundraising event a couple 

of weeks ago here in Washington for the Thomas fire. And the Friday before that, we had had 70-mile-an-hour winds here in Washington, DC. 

And I was able to say to all of those—because everyone that was 

there was from Washington, DC, or the surrounding area. And I 

said, ‘‘Imagine severe drought conditions and striking a match with 

70-mile-an-hour winds.’’ And that’s exactly what happened in the 

Thomas fires in Ventura County. And I tell you the whole room 

just sort of gasped. So, thank you. 

I wanted to ask Mr. Ghilarducci. So in terms of—do you have an 

idea, an update, on the status of California’s reimbursement requests to FEMA for the firefighting and an estimate of what you 

think the future costs will be? 

Mr. GHILARDUCCI. Yes, good question. We do have—well, the update on the firefighting costs and what we call the emergency protective measures has been being processed. And many of those fire 

agencies have already been reimbursed. I am happy to say that 

FEMA has, you know, agreed to provide 100 percent of reimbursement for firefighting costs or those costs for protective measures. 

And it is a varying level on different kinds of projects that we 

are working on. I was also excited to note—and much of the work 

of this body being able to successfully get 90 percent for debris 

clearance. And that was a huge benefit to the communities. And we 

appreciate FEMA’s engagement with all that. 

Ms. BROWNLEY. Well, thank you for that. And I, too, wanted to 

just underscore in terms of my opinion how important predisaster 

and post-disaster mitigation truly is. And when Governor Brown 

came to Ventura to oversee the disaster that had occurred there, 

when he spoke, he said, ‘‘Unfortunately, these fires are the new 

normal for California.’’ And so I concur with that statement, and 

I think it is critically important that we invest more of our resources in that predisaster mitigation but also the post-disaster because, today, we are expecting heavy rains again in Ventura County and are evacuating people as we speak. And so that needs to be 

addressed. I see that my time is up but I thank you—— 

Mr. FERGUSON. The gentlewoman’s time— 

23 

Ms. BROWNLEY [continuing]. For your indulgence, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. FERGUSON. Thank you. 

Next, Ms. Plaskett, you are recognized. 

Ms. PLASKETT. Yes, thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you, 

Ranking Member. First, of course, like so many of my colleagues, 

I want to extend my thanks to you for the work that you do, not 

just in this last horrendous wildfire that we dealt with but all 

throughout the year and all the time you all are prepared and 

ready to serve the people of this country. 

And for that, we are most grateful that you extend not just yourselves but your families and your lives to support us and to help 

us. And we’re all really grateful for that. You know, I think this 

is very interesting because the other committee that I am on is the 

House Agriculture Committee, which has purview over the U.S. 

Forest Service. In October, we reported out a bill that is subsequently adopted by the House in November, the Resilient Federal 

Forests Act. So you are probably familiar with it. 

Mr. Fenton, one of the things this bill would do is to change the 

way wildfire fighting efforts are funded, ending a process called the 

borrowing by allowing now Federal agencies to tap into disaster 

funds from FEMA when wildfire suppression budgets have been exhausted. I understand that one of the concerns with this approach—and I am wondering if you share this concern—is that 

since funding requests for the Disaster Relief Fund are based on 

a 10-year average of costs, fires could—don’t kill me for the pun— 

burn through the fund right away, and there may not be enough 

left for other disasters, such as tsunamis or earthquakes or hurricanes that have occurred most recently. In your view, would the 

way this approach works fix the issue that had been in the past, 

and do you share concerns that this would end up being less money 

for other disasters, and how would you fix this? 

Mr. FENTON. Well, so let me start with right now underneath the 

Stafford Act. We pay firefighting costs for all fires on State and 

local land. 

Ms. PLASKETT. Mm-hmm. 

Mr. FENTON. And so all the costs for the northern California fires 

and a good portion of the costs for the southern California fires 

that were on State and local land, including all the firefighting resources regardless of local, State or Federal, that fought those fires 

on those lands, we are reimbursing those costs right now. So what 

you’re talking about specifically, fires on Federal lands and to fight 

those fires on Federal lands, the Stafford Act was focused on helping State and local governments during events. So it would be a 

change from that. 

And to further complicate it, as you pointed out, underneath the 

Budget Control Act, based on the 10-year history and the amount 

of funding that it would take to fight those fires on Federal lands, 

it wouldn’t leave sufficient funding. And we’d probably be coming 

and asking for supplementals every month, especially if you got 

later into the fiscal year. 

So we need to look for a way to do that outside of tapping into 

the Stafford Act. I think the Stafford Act has been pretty clearly, 

up until now, focused on supporting State and local governments. 

And I think that should be the continued priority, and we should 

24 

look at something outside of the Stafford Act to support the U.S. 

Forest Service and their requirements. 

Ms. PLASKETT. But, now, you haven’t said whether or not you 

agree with being able to tap into the FEMA funding in other areas 

is going to be beneficial for fighting fires or from—if you’re putting 

on your hat from, you know, when you were directing FEMA, is 

this a concern that you would have with knowing that there may— 

we’re talking care of firefighters from our supplemental right now, 

but that means we’re going to have to tap into other funds elsewhere and not knowing if Congress is going to be willing to give 

you those supplements and to the amount that you need. 

Mr. FENTON. Right. So I am not sure I fully understand your 

question but I think it’s—if we tap into the Stafford Act-specific 

funds, it’s underneath the 10-year average. It’s kind of robbing 

Peter to pay Paul. 

Ms. PLASKETT. Right. 

Mr. FENTON. And, therefore, we have to look for another way. 

And we would be happy to sit down and have a discussion. And I 

know Administrator Brock Long has done that and would be happy 

to entertain the discussions of looking for other ways to meet those 

requirements on Federal land. 

Ms. PLASKETT. Have you talked about lifting the cap on the 

amount of funding that would be there? 

Mr. FENTON. Well, my understanding is the cap is from sequestration and it’s a cap imposed. 

Ms. PLASKETT. You’re not supposed to say the word ‘‘sequestration’’ around here. 

Mr. FENTON. Oh, I am sorry. So it’s a—learn something every 

day. It’s a—so the cap, as I understand it, is an imposed cap. 

Ms. PLASKETT. Right. 

Mr. FENTON. Let me change my word here. 

Ms. PLASKETT. It’s just a dirty word, isn’t it? 

Mr. FENTON. Yes, it’s an imposed cap that would take a change 

in order for that to be lifted. So it’s something that we couldn’t internally do on our own. 

Ms. PLASKETT. OK. Thank you. My time is expired. I yield back. 

Mr. FERGUSON. OK. Thank you. 

And seeing that we’ve got—do you have any more? 

Mr. Garamendi has gone. OK. As said before, I’d reserve my time 

to ask a few questions here at the end. And I am going to kind of 

focus at the local level with these. First, Chief Jenkins, you kind 

of view things from a national level. We’ve heard about the disasters in California today but certainly wildfires occur in other areas 

of the country as well. 

Give me a little bit of an idea about if you were going to design 

a program for mitigation, pre-fire mitigation, what would be the 

flexibility that you would need to be able to address, say, the concerns in California and the concerns in Georgia or western Pennsylvania or even in Arkansas? What are the things that you think 

local communities and local fire districts would need? 

Mr. JENKINS. Well, I think the most important attribute of any 

effort to make our communities not only more responsive to impending disasters, specifically wildfires, but also more resilient is 

25 

that we have to be able to provide them in a framework to make 

it function. 

And at the same time, we have to understand that at the local 

level, we have to be able to provide some artistic freedom for the 

uniqueness of the topography and sometimes the vulnerability of 

those populations at a local level. And so I think if we were to do 

something like that, we have to be able to harness an opportunity 

to work collaboratively with national best practices and also input 

from local fire and emergency management leadership. 

Mr. FERGUSON. OK. Mr. Holly, I was interested in the conversation about removing fuel from the surrounding areas. In Georgia, 

we do a lot of controlled burns. Every 3 years, you go through and 

manage the forest that way, make sure that they are harvested 

correctly. Is that something that’s done? And I am just—this is for 

my own knowledge. Is that something that was done in this area, 

or is that not something that you can do because of the topography? Give me an idea of what that’s like. 

Mr. HOLLY. I can’t speak to the Federal and to the State lands. 

They do controlled burns in their areas. My particular county is in 

the valley. We have a lot of air control issues, air quality control 

issues. And with that, it’s very specific times of year that we can 

or cannot do some controlled burns on the agricultural side. But in 

some of the areas that are more fire-prone, it’s difficult just because of the topography of our area. 

Mr. FERGUSON. And so you have to go in and manually clear 

that? When you say that you remove debris—— 

Mr. HOLLY. Correct. In the areas that butt up against cities and 

towns, the property owners are responsible for clearing that. Sometimes it’s difficult to find those property owners. They are from out 

of the area, or there has been issues where somebody has passed 

away, and we don’t know who the right, full property owner is and 

trying to find someone to clean that, or we can go in and forceclean that. But then that becomes—the cost is borne by the district 

itself, and that can be very expensive, especially for smaller districts. 

Mr. FERGUSON. OK. Supervisor Gorin, you talked about the need, 

you know, lessons learned. You’ve kind of seen what’s happened 

and wishing that you had the, as you said, the taller poles and the 

cameras that are looking out. From your perspective at the local 

level, knowing what you know now, besides the technology, what 

would you have done from the physical standpoint of protecting the 

community? What do you think would have been advantageous and 

knowing what you know now, looking at other communities, what 

do you think that that should look like? 

Ms. GORIN. I really appreciate your astute questions, especially 

regarding how a community can prepare themselves. And vegetation management is something that we are really focusing on. We 

love our trees, especially me, but those eucalyptus trees that bordered my property are gone. I did work with a mountain community and a volunteer fire company on vegetation management using 

a chipper program and our Youth Ecology Corps that we hire atrisk youth to work with property owners to cut down the excess 

fuel, bring the chippers along on the roads, chip it up. 

26 

The fire agencies are not exactly thrilled with chipping because 

woodchips do burn, but I checked back with the board president of 

Mayacamas. She said we lost one out of three homes. If we had not 

engaged in this active vegetation management, we would have lost 

maybe all or most of those homes so they are grateful for that kind 

of program. Also—— 

Mr. FERGUSON. I am about to run out of time and if I—— 

Ms. GORIN. Yes. 

Mr. FERGUSON [continuing]. Could—because I’ve got one other 

question. 

Ms. GORIN. Good. 

Mr. FERGUSON. Physical firebreaks and fire roads, is that something that is normal practice, and do you maintain those 

firebreaks? 

[Nonverbal response.] 

Mr. FERGUSON. OK. Because it’s—again, me trying to understand 

just the severity of what these communities went through, it 

sounds like you are doing a lot of the right things. You are managing the firebreaks. You are removing the vegetation. You are 

doing those kind of things. 

Was this just such a unique event with the 70-mile-an-hour 

winds because it seems like some of the mitigation things were 

done correctly and you were being active in doing that? I make that 

observation that, you know, I want everybody to know that you all 

have been doing some of the pre-event mitigation work. And yet 

this was such an unusual set of circumstances with the drought 

and the high winds that it was just something that—it quite candidly was greater than something that we could have prepared for 

in many ways. Yes? 

Mr. GHILARDUCCI. You are absolutely correct. The challenge that 

we face, though, is that these unique events are becoming more 

regular events and that’s the delta that we’re facing as public safety and the fire service and how do we address that. And part of 

that is how is local land-use planning done now where you have 

the Wildland Urban Interface intermix and how best can we look 

at preexisting fire conditions through situational mapping and forecasting to be able to better identify where those hazard mitigation 

efforts could take place. 

Mr. FERGUSON. OK. Well, thank you. 

I want to thank each of you for your testimony. I want to thank 

you for taking time to come across the Nation and share with us 

your perspective, your expertise, and your knowledge. So if there 

are no further questions, I would ask unanimous consent for the 

record that the record remain open for 15 days for any additional 

comments/information to be submitted by Members or witnesses, 

included in the record of today’s hearing, and, by unanimous consent, that the record of today’s hearing remain open until such 

time as our witnesses have provided answers to any questions that 

may be submitted to them in writing. 

Without objection, it is so ordered. 

Again, I’d like to thank each of you for your testimony and your 

time today. If no other Members have anything to add, the subcommittee will stand adjourned. Thank you. 

[Whereupon, at 12:05 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.] 

27 


Insert offset folio 6 here 36686.006

STATEMENT 

OF 

ROBERT J. FENTON 

REGIONAL ADMINISTRATOR 

FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY 

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY 

BEFORE 

THE 

HOUSE TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, PUBLIC BUILDINGS, 

AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT 

UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 

"Impacts of the 2017 Wildfires in the United States" 

Submitted 

By 

Federal Emergency Management Agency 

500 C Street SW 

Washington, D.C. 20472 

March 20, 2018 
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Introduction: 

Good morning, Chairman Barletta, Ranking Member Titus, and Members of the subcommittee. 

My name is Robert Fenton, and I am the Regional Administrator for the Region IX office of the 

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) located in Oakland, California. Our office 

leads all-hazard support to the states of Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, and the U.S. Pacific 

territories. I would like to thank you for this opportunity to discuss FEMA' s role in the wildfires 

of 20 I 7 and the importance of planning for wildfires and mitigating their destruction. 

In 2017, over 20 million people lived in areas impacted by the wildfires that burned across more 

than 200,000 acres of state and private land in northern California. This, coupled with last year's 

historic hurricane season, tested the Nation's ability to respond to and recover from multiple 

concurrent disasters. Without a doubt, this was FEMA's most demanding year in its 40-year 

history. 

These historic disasters- each historic in its own right- have compelled FEMA to push its limits. 

Congress entrusts FEMA to coordinate effective and efficient response and recovery missions, to 

provide oversight of the taxpayers' investment in these activities, and to maintain a highly 

regarded and well-trained cadre of employees. Today, I will share with you our Agency's 

experience with wildfire activities and discuss how we can support efforts of states, territories, and 

tribal nations to plan for and mitigate the fierce destruction of wildfires. 

2017 Fire Season 

Historically, fire season ran from spring through early fall. However, in recent years, we've seen 

that is no longer the case. Drought conditions dry fire fuels, which increases the likelihood of 

wildfires. Rainy conditions encourage growth of fire fuels, increasing the likelihood of wildfires. 

There is no ideal season that discourages wildfires. Fire season is now all year long, and that taxes 

the wildland fire system, the agencies that comprise the Nation's emergency management system, 

and the communities that fires threaten. 

Last year in California, where my office is located, the wildfire season was devastating. After a 

summer of fires along the border with Oregon and in the central part of the state, one night in 

October, over 100 wildfires broke out in Northern California. During the following days, these 

fires destroyed thousands of homes, overturned communities, and claimed dozens of lives. 

Two months later, this scenario was replicated in Southern California, resulting in two more 

fatalities. My colleague, Chief Ken Pimlott of the California Department of Forestry and Fire 

Protection, or Cal Fire, has shared the following key elements of the 2017 fire season in California. 

• 2012 to 2015 was the driest period in the state in 1,200 years. 

• 2016's wet winter produced an excessive grass crop (kindling) but did not change the 

overall dry conditions of the vegetation in our forests and watersheds. 

• 9,133 fires burned 1.2 million acres (well ahead of the 5-year average of 4,835 fires over 

202,786 acres). 

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• The 13-day Santa Ana wind event in December was the longest ever in recorded history. 

• 2017 saw the most destructive fire (Tubbs) and the largest fire in terms of acres burned 

(Thomas) in the state's recorded history. 

• Tragically, 2017 was also the deadliest year for wildfires on record in California. 

While 2017 has ended, the impacts of the unprecedented fire season will continue for years to 

come. The increased and enduring flood risks after fires are very real. In January 2018, Southern 

California witnessed devastating floods and debris flows that took an additional 21 lives and 

damaged homes, commercial properties, and infrastructure. Communities that burned last year are 

now working to stabilize burned areas, prevent erosion and mitigate flood risks that follow fires. 

Resources to Fight Wildfires 

When wildfires occur, the local first responders-county, state, and federal firefighters-lead the 

firefight. If a wildfire progresses to the point where it threatens such destruction as would 

constitute a major disaster, the state can request and FEMA can approve a Fire Management 

Assistance Grant (FMAG). FEMA reimburses 75 percent of eligible state, local, and tribal 

firefighting expenses in the following areas: field camps, equipment use, materials, supplies, and 

mobilization and demobilization activities attributed to fighting the fire. The intent of the FMAG 

is to provide supplemental funding so the firefighters can concentrate on extinguishing fires and 

not worry about how firefighting resources will be financed. Moreover, the program is designed to 

prevent major fires from becoming major disasters. 

If a wildfire continues out of control after a FMAG has been approved and results in significant 

needs that cannot be addressed by an FMAG, a governor may request that the President declare an 

emergency or major disaster. An emergency declaration allows FEMA to provide direct federal 

assistance and resources to the firefight. With a major disaster declaration, the President may 

authorize a broader array of assistance, including through the Individual Assistance Program (IA), 

the Public Assistance Program (PA), and the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP). This 

escalation from FMAG to major disaster declaration occurred in response to the October and 

December 2017 fires. For the latter, first FEMA approved a series of FMAGs, the President then 

declared an emergency in order to authorize direct federal assistance to aid firefighting operations, 

and, subsequently, he declared a major disaster, which ultimately authorized IA, PA, and HMGP. 

Buying Down Risk through Preparedness and Mitigation 

Building more resilient communities is the best way to reduce risks to people, property, and 

taxpayer dollars. I cannot overstate the importance of focusing on investing in mitigation before a 

disaster strikes. The most critical tools are managed at the community level and involve zoning, 

planning, code adoption and enforcement, risk-based insurance pricing, and development decisions 

that balance disaster resilience and economic realities. 

Developing resilience capacity before an incident reduces loss of life and economic disruption. 

When communities are affected, we want to see rebuilding that is safer, smarter, and stronger, but 

there are significant challenges that property owners and communities face in pursuing resilience. 
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For that reason, FEMA Administrator Long is calling for a change in the cycle of opportunity: to 

move mitigation investment to the front of the disaster cycle, not at the end where it typically lies. 

The National Institute of Building Sciences' (NIBS) Multi-hazard Mitigation Council (MMC) 

estimates that for every dollar FEMA invested in mitigation between 1993 and 2016, society as a 

whole saved six dollars due to reduced future losses. According to research conducted by the 

MMC over the past year, mitigation programs saved the American public an estimated $15.5 

billion dollars by building new construction beyond code requirements, and $158 Billion in 

savings from federally funded mitigation grant programs, funded from 1993-2016. 

Through the Mitigation Framework Leadership Group (MitFLG), FEMA is working with federal, 

state, local, territorial, tribal, and private sector partners to help align pre- and post-disaster 

mitigation investments to more effectively reduce disaster losses and increase resilience. 

FEMA also manages the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP), the Flood Mitigation 

Assistance (FMA) grant program, and the Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) grant program; these 

programs fund projects such as seismic retrofits, defensible space, safe rooms, and risk reduction 

for utility and other infrastructure. These funds play a key role in building resilient communities 

by reducing the risk of future disaster losses. Wildfire mitigation projects can include: 

• Defensible space measures: creating perimeters around residential and non-residential 

buildings and structures through the removal or reduction of flammable vegetation; 

• Ignition-resistant construction: applying non-combustible building envelope assemblies, 

using ignition resistant materials, and using proper retrofit techniques in new and existing 

structures; and 

• Hazardous fuels reduction: vegetation management to reduce hazardous fuels, vegetation 

thinning, and the reduction of flammable materials to protect life and property beyond 

defensible space perimeters but proximate to at-risk structures. 

HMGP is available to a state following a major disaster declaration, if authorized as part of that 

declaration, and its funding level is based on the costs associated with that disaster. Each year, we 

receive more PDM and FMA applications than we are able to fund. From FY 2003-2016, FEMA 

received PDM grant applications requesting a total of$3.4 billion. Of the $3.4 billion, FEMA has 

awarded and closed $914 million in mitigation applications with $31 million remaining pending 

award. From FY 2013-2016, FEMA received FMA grant applications requesting a total of$1.2 

billion. Of the $1.2 billion, FEMA has awarded and closed $53 million in mitigation applications 

with $189 million remaining pending award. Wildfire mitigation including defensible space, 

ignition-resistant construction, and hazardous fuels reduction are eligible projects under HMGP 

and PDM. To the extent wildfires create flood risk, FMA-funded projects can address that risk. 

In the Bipartisan Budget Act, Congress authorized FEMA to provide HMGP funding for FMAGs 

authorized in fiscal years 2017 and 2018, regardless of whether a major disaster declaration was 

declared, in areas where FMAG assistance was provided. With 62 FMAGs approved last year, this 

will deliver millions of dollars in additional mitigation dollars to state, local, tribal, and territorial 

partners. FEMA is developing guidance to implement this new, time-limited authority. I am 

hopeful but also mindful of three major challenges related to mitigation projects: time, 

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complexity, and cost-share. It can sometimes be challenging for communities to focus on 

mitigation opportunities immediately following a disaster, when the focus is on response and the 

immediate recovery. In addition, since there are often several mitigation solutions that could be 

implemented, these projects can take time to develop and evaluate, and meeting the cost-share 

requirement takes resources that communities may not have immediately post-disaster. 

From the preparedness perspective, FEMA continues to maintain and strengthen the National 

Preparedness System by helping our non-Federal partners build their capabilities, which will 

reduce their reliance on the Federal government in the future. Together, we are working to achieve 

the National Preparedness Goal of a "secure and resilient nation with the capabilities required 

across the whole community to prevent, protect against, mitigate, respond to and recover from the 

threats and hazards that pose the greatest risk." Our team is currently focused on promoting 

integrated mutual aid across the whole community, continuing the development of a National 

Qualification System for first responders, and advancing a National Training and Education 

System and National Exercise Program to prepare responders and officials for disasters. 

FEMA, however, is just one part of the team. During a disaster, citizens in the impacted 

communities also become the "first responders." We need to build a culture of preparedness, 

empowering individuals with life skills to help speed the response and recovery efforts. 

Do they know how to shut off water and gas? Do they check on their neighbors? Do they know 

CPR? Are they financially prepared to deal with the impacts of disasters in their communities, 

including having the right insurance for the disasters they face- be they flood, earthquakes, 

tornadoes, wildfires, etc.? Do they have some modest level of savings to allow them to miss a few 

days of work without ending up in financial ruin? 

Developing resilient communities ahead of an incident reduces loss of life and economic 

disruption. When communities are impacted, they should ensure that they rebuild infrastructure 

better, tougher, and stronger to protect taxpayer investment and promote economic stability. 

FEMA is exploring ways to incentivize investments in mitigation that reduce risk, including predisaster mitigation, to help reduce disaster costs at all levels. 

While we'll never be able to eliminate risk, we must mitigate risk. FEMA will work with 

communities and insurers to close the insurance gap across the nation. Building a culture of 

preparedness will ultimately help people and communities recover faster following disasters, 

including wildfires, reducing the overall cost for taxpayers. 

Next Steps and Conclusion 

At FEMA, we seek constant improvement to support America's disaster survivors, citizens, first 

responders, and communities. Responding to and recovering from any disaster is a whole 

community effort that relies on the strength of federal, state, local, and tribal governments and 

non-governmental entities and individuals, in addition to FEMA. The unprecedented events of this 

past fall are no exception. 

The 2017 wildfire season was one of the busiest for FEMA. We look forward to collaborating 

with Congress in the coming months to implement lessons learned, as well as gather any additional 

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feedback that you may have. I look forward to your questions. Again, thank you for the 

opportunity to appear before the Committee today. 

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EDMUND G. BROWN JR. 

GOVERNOR 

CalOES 

OOYEitNOR'S OFFICE 01' ENER8ENCY SERVICES 

Mark Ghilarducci 

MARKS. GHILARDUCCI 

DIRECTOR 

Director, California Governor's Office of Emergency Services 

Governor's Homeland Security Advisor 

STATEMENT FOR THE RECORD 

Before the United States House of Representatives 

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, 

and Emergency Management 

Impacts of the 2017 Wildfires in the United States 

Tuesday, March 20, 2018 

2167 Rayburn House Office Building 

Washington, DC 

3650 SCHRIEVER A VENUE, MA TilER, CA 95655 

(916) 845-8506 TELEPHONE(916) 845-8511 FAX 
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Testimony of Mark Ghilarducci, Cal OES 

March 20,2018 

Page 1 

Introduction 

Chairman Barletta, Ranking Member Titus, and members of the Subcommittee on Economic 

Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management. Thank you very much for the 

opportunity to address the Subcommittee on what ended up being one of the worst fire seasons in 

California history. 

The California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) oversaw the coordination of 

response and recovery efforts for the devastating 2017 wildfire season, and as Director of Cal OES 

it is my responsibility facilitate and effective response and aid in enhancing future response efforts 

by considering the lessons we have learned. The fire season in California has become almost yearround, stretching the resources of local, state, and federal public safety agencies. As we evaluate 

how we can better prepare for future events and mitigate any future damages, it is important to 

recognize the vital assistance and close coordination provided by the Federal Emergency 

Management Agency (FEMA) and the federal government. The continuing strong partnership 

between local, state and federal agencies and offices is essential to saving lives and property in the 

disasters to come. 

This testimony will focus on response and recovery to the 2017 wildfires, including lessons 

learned, and recommendations for the future to mitigate damages, increase preparedness, and aid 

first responders. 

The 2017 California Wildfires 

Beginning on October 8, and following into October 9, 2017, over 100 wildfires broke out in 

Mendocino, Solano, Sonoma, Napa, Yuba, Butte, Nevada, and Orange counties. The most 

destructive fire in California history, the Tubbs Fire, caused massive devastation to the City of 

Santa Rosa and its outlying communities, destroying 8,900 structures. Only two months later, a 

second series of fires began in Southern California, assisted by a delayed and extended Santa Ana 

wind event. The Thomas Fire spread across Santa Barbara and Ventura counties and became the 

largest blaze in California history, engulfing more than 280,000 acres over the course of a month. 

This past year, 46 people perished in the Northern and Southern California wildfires, with an 

additional 20 confirmed fatalities in the subsequent Montecito mudslides in January 2018. 

The October and December fires were simply a crescendo to an already long and exhausting fire 

season. Over the course of2017, a total of9, 133 fires scorched an estimated 1.24 million acres of 

land across the state. The lack of precipitation between 2012 and 2015 represented the driest 

seasons in California history, with a state-declared drought emergency in effect from 2014 to 

2017. The drought exacerbated fire conditions by increasing dry, vegetative fuel availability. The 

record rainfall of2016 and 2017 did little to curb these dangerous conditions, and caused 

excessive crop and overgrown brush that served as kindling for following wildfires. On the night 
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Testimony of Mark Ghilarducci, Cal OES 

March 20, 2018 

Page 2 

of October 8, some Northern California regions experienced winds of 50 miles per hour, with 

gusts of 79 miles per hour reported in Sonoma County. The ferocity of the northern California 

fires was the product of weather patterns that are becoming more common, and contributed to a 

perfect confluence of factors that ultimately caused the destruction of entire communities. 

Coordinating Rapid, Effective Response 

Almost immediately after these wildfires began, it became clear that additional resources would be 

necessary to supplement local tirefighting efforts. Cal OES, through the State's Mutual Aid 

System and through the activation of the National Emergency Management Assistance Compact, 

worked to provide rapid and systematic mobilization, organization, and operation of fire, law 

enforcement, and other emergency services, including thousands of National Guard air and ground 

assets. The response to these events was a massive undertaking and incorporated assets from local, 

state, federaL private sector, and even international agencies. Through a memorandum of 

understanding between Cal OES and the State of Victoria, Australia, California also received 

assistance from over 30 Victoria firefighters. Over 400 state and local government and 200 out-ofstate fire departments sent engines, crews, overhead, pickup trucks, and air assets to the October 

and December wildfire complexes. 

As was the case during the 2017 Oroville Dam emergency, California activated a Unified 

Coordination Group (UCG) on the first day of the October wildfires to lead the overall 

coordination of the response and recovery efforts. The UCG operates out of the State Operations 

Center and is comprised of members of the Governor's cabinet, leadership from the Governor's 

Office, Cal OES, CAL FIRE, the California Highway Patrol, California Department of 

Transportation, California Health and Human Services Agency, California Department of Food & 

Agriculture, and other key state agencies with statutory authorities for public safety and property 

protection. FEMA is a cornerstone member of the UCG as well. As the emergency is unfolding 

and decisions are being made rapidly, having FEMA at the table with state agencies early allows 

for close coordination and has proven to help California streamline and receive the rapid 

assistance it needs. 

Debris Removal 

Recovery efforts to remove disaster-related debris from these disasters are unprecedented in scale. 

This massive undertaking represents the single largest debris removal project in California since 

the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire. To date, over 1.6 million tons of debris has been 

removed from affected areas in Northern California, which is approximately the same weight as 

two Golden Gate Bridges. This has been accomplished through a close coordination between the 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the California Department of Resources, Recycling, 

and Recovery (CalRecycle) which performed debris removal in two distinct branches. USACE 

managed debris removal operations in Mendocino, Lake, Napa, and Sonoma counties, while 

CalRecycle managed operations in Butte, Yuba, and Nevada counties. 
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Testimony of Mark Ghilarducci, Cal OES 

March 20, 2018 

Page 3 

In Southern California, private property debris removal stands at about 60 percent complete with 

289 parcels remaining to be cleared. Local agencies in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, and San 

Diego counties, in conjunction with CalRecycle operating in Ventura County, are removing debris 

from public rights-of-way property and repairing infrastructure damaged by debris flows. At the 

request of the state, USACE enacted scaled programs to clear massive debris basins and 

waterways in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. The continuing debris removal mission across 

in California exemplifies the cooperation between local, state, and federal agencies. At this crucial 

juncture, removing disaster debris is critical in enabling survivors of the fires to move forward and 

begin a path to recovery. 

The partnership between USACE and the State of California has exposed opportunities for future 

growth and examples of best practices in large-scale debris removal operations. In the immediate 

aftermath of the Northern California fires, objectives of mutual interest communication between 

the state and USACE was challenged by process and contracting differences between the agencies. 

The Incident Command System (ICS), a foundational principle of command and control in 

emergency management, was not utilized by USACE to organize at the field level. Given the large 

number of contractors and subcontractors involved due to the complexity of the debris removal 

operations, ICS was necessary to elevate and solve problems quickly with a singular point of 

contact. Limitations on the span of control within ICS force effective and efficient communication 

between organizational hierarchies. With the help of CAL FIRE, USACE was able to successfully 

transition to an ICS organizational model at the field level. As a result, the efficacy of operations 

was instantly increased. In future operations, it would benefit USACE to operate in an ICS model 

pursuant to the National Incident Management System (NIMS), which is based on the 

Standardized Emergency Management System (SEMS). As a comprehensive national model of 

incident management required of federal agencies, adherence to NIMS would greatly improve 

USACE's ability to integrate itself with partner agencies. 

Debris removal is a vital first step in allowing communities to rebuild after disasters. During the 

initial debris removal phase in Northern California, USACE required operational decisions to be 

fed up a chain of command to the Washington, D.C. headquarters. This elongated decision 

structure delayed important decisions related to hazardous materials and contractual issues where 

urgent response was needed to protect public health. Organizational bureaucracy prevented 

USACE on the ground from rendering immediate decisions and field staff were only able to offer 

educated guesses on the outcome of problems until they were sent up the full chain of command. 

To quickly and effectively address urgent emergency management issues, USACE should delegate 

authority to their leadership on the ground. 

However, the recovery process for both wildfire events also highlighted successes in the 

partnership between Cal OES and USACE. California has heightened safety laws and 

environmental standards for debris removal. USACE was very receptive to California's strict 
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Testimony of Mark Ghilarducci, Cal OES 

March 20,2018 

Page 4 

adherence of these standards, and actively worked to meet them. Further collaboration between the 

United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and its state counterparts, the California 

Environmental Protection Agency and the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, 

resulted in effective and efficient initial sweeps of household hazardous materials due to enhanced 

coordination and agreement on adherence to these California standards. 

There were debates in the field about ground-level policies and procedures, but these were able to 

be resolved amicably with compromise. For example, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) 

standards vary between federal and state agencies. Where the state deemed these PPE 

requirements unnecessary and even dangerous to operational safety, the state and federal agencies 

were able to conclude the application of PPE requirements depended on individual circumstances. 

This flexibility and rationality between partner agencies fostered greater cooperation and allowed 

for rapid clean-up of hazardous household waste. 

Individual Assistance and Small Business Administration Disaster Loan Programs 

In coordination with local jurisdictions, Local Assistance Centers (LACs) were established to 

assist victims in navigating the recovery process and to obtain state and federal resources. 

Strategically placed throughout affected areas in Northern and Southern California, LACs offered 

in-person support to individuals and business owners in areas designated for Individual Assistance 

(lA) programs by the Presidential Major Disaster Declaration. Recovery specialists from the 

Department of Motor Vehicles, Department of Insurance, Contractor State Licensing Board, 

FEMA, the United States Small Business Administration (SBA), and other local government and 

private and community nonprofit organizations were represented at the LACs to disseminate 

programmatic information and provide application-filing assistance. Cal OES developed a website 

to assist individuals, businesses, and local government in finding information on applicable 

programs and contacts, and inform the community of major updates and events. 

As it has in numerous past disasters, the state encountered a significant road block in rapidly 

obtaining a declaration for the SBA Disaster Loan Program. SBA policy prohibits the SBA from 

authorizing the Disaster Loan Program, which brings vital low-interest loans to individuals and 

businesses in affected regions, until FEMA has made a decision on whether to authorize 

Individual Assistance (!A) programs. A state may have received a Presidential Disaster 

Declaration, but there is often significant delay in receiving an !A decision due to a lengthy 

Preliminary Damage Assessment, or because a state is in the process of appealing an lA denial 

from FEMA. In both cases, the region affected by the disaster may have easily met the criteria for 

an SBA declaration, but this essential aid is hindered by dependence on FEMA's lA decision. 

After the 2014 Napa Earthquake, the SBA Disaster Loan Program approval process lasted ten 

weeks. During this time, some businesses closed their doors and others moved out of the area, but 

ultimately the economic recovery of the region was harmed. Given these challenges, the SBA 
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Testimony of Mark Ghilarducci, Cal OES 

March 20,2018 

Page 5 

disaster assistance program request process needs to be expedited to get essential funding to 

qualified individuals, households, and businesses as quickly as possible and to keep the economy 

from suffering in the days and weeks immediately following a major disaster event. The SBA 

Administrator should be unburdened from red tape preventing declaration when damages clearly 

meet the SBA criteria, regardless a state's intent to request Stafford Act programs through FEMA 

and the President. The SBA has indicated its eligible contiguous county policy would cause 

confusion and possible unfairness if an SBA declaration and a Presidential declaration, after the 

fact, included different eligible counties. California suggests this is something that can be 

remedied through your assistance, if necessary, or between FEMA and SBA in order to expedite 

recovery. 

Short-Term and Long-Term Housing Solutions 

Housing solutions for survivors continues to be a top priority for Cal OES. Shortly after the 

October fires began, Cal OES and FEMA established a Joint Housing Task Force dedicated to two 

goals: identifying short-term and long-term housing solutions. Short-term housing was a joint 

federal-state effort, including partnerships at the local level and with the private sector achieved 

through contributions from the private sector, leveraged with state capabilities and properties, and 

federal resources. When IA was authorized for the Northern California wildfires, Transitional 

Sheltering Assistance, Housing Assistance, Direct Housing and Other Needs Assistance programs 

provided housing assistance and financial aid to eligible disaster survivors. Although there are 

many circumstances that can lead to delays in the dissemination of program funding, these 

programs have provided a necessary lifeline for survivors of the Northern California wildfires. 

Updated direct housing solutions and housing programs should be reviewed for more expedient 

ways to achieve survivors' post-disaster housing needs. 

With regard to the long-term housing solutions, Cal OES continues to work in close coordination 

with local government leaders, state housing partners, and the U.S. Department of Housing and 

Urban Development to identify long term solutions for survivors, as well as identify mitigation 

measures which can be taken to avoid wildfire destruction in the future. We look forward to 

working with Congress and federal agencies on the allocation of valuable U.S. Department of 

Housing and Urban Development Community Development Block Grant funding to California 

and other impacted states that have suffered housing losses in the past year. 

Infrastructure Investments 

California has actively worked to sustain and promote partnership from the private sector, 

including investor-owned utility and telecommunications partners. Infrastructure system 

modernization and enhancements must be made across the United States to mitigate risks and 

lower disaster costs to local communities and federal taxpayers. 
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Testimony of Mark Ghilarducci, Cal OES 

March 20.2018 

Page 6 

The devastation of the 2017 California wildfires highlighted the importance of robust, reliable 

emergency alert and communications systems. During the October wildfires, the California Public 

Utilities Commission reported a total of 341 cell sites as destroyed or offline. With approximately 

80 percent of 9-1-1 calls coming from cellular devices, this impacted not only individuals 

attempting to reach 9-1-1, but also impacted the ability for people to receive wireless alerts and to 

access the Internet and detailed information about the fire. Wireless alerting requires a survivable 

(non-impacted) cellular network. Both 9-1-1 calls and alerts and warnings can only be received if 

the system remains on the air during a disaster. 

In addition to ensuring the network is available, there is a need for a unified emergency alert 

system. Since different methods are currently being used to reach the public, it would be helpful to 

have a standardized message format for all delivery platforms that could be sent one time to all 

users. Education, best practices and outreach is also needed to help local officials determine which 

alerting method or methods should be used during a disaster. 

Federal support with legislation and funding is needed to improve 9-1-1 resiliencies. Hardening of 

the cellular networks would initially require the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to 

direct the cellular carriers to harden the infrastructure, improve carrier reporting, and increase 

training and outreach regarding the limitations of the current cellular network. Although all 

carriers adhere to baseline regulatory and statutory requirements, enhancing these requirements 

based on best practices for wireless providers may be the only way to ensure the cellular network 

is available when needed. A functioning cellular network is required for the wireless emergency 

alerts and warning to mitigate loss of life and property. 

Emergency Management Performance Grants 

As the State of California looks to the future with our local and tribal communities, private sector 

and non-profit partners, and federal counterparts, there are actions needed to prepare for and 

mitigate the effects of future disasters. Across the nation, response and recovery costs to public 

agencies and first responders are increasing at an untenable rate. If local, state, and federal 

emergency management agencies are to keep pace with these dynamic disasters, there need to be 

proactive, targeted investments made towards reducing the cost of response and recovery. 

FEMA's Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG) enables funding for state. locaL 

and tribal governments to prepare for all hazards through planning, training, exercises, and 

professional development. It supports agency response capabilities, emergency operations centers, 

mutual aid agreements. and public outreach campaigns, including community alerts and warning 

notification systems. Together with other forward-leaning measures, California has leveraged 

these EMPG funds to help build preparedness throughout all levels of government. 
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Testimony of Mark Ghilarducci, Cal OES 

March 20, 2018 

Page 7 

In fiscal year 2017, Congress committed $350 million to EMPG which, factoring in the minimumrequired dollar-for-dollar match, translates to an impact exceeding $700 million. The President's 

Fiscal Year 2019 Budget proposes a $71 million decrease in EMPG funding, to $279 million. 

However, according to data from a survey taken by the National Emergency Management 

Association, the number of disasters nationwide has risen by forty percent since 2013. The 

National Emergency Management Association is advocating for a five percent increase in EMPG 

funding for fiscal year 2019, however we believe that a much greater investment should be made 

to this invaluable program. After witnessing the devastation caused by the 2017 wildfires, our 

state and local governments understand now more than ever the importance of building all-hazards 

emergency management capacity at the local, state, and tribal levels. Without maintaining mature 

emergency management systems, more disasters will exceed state and local capabilities, requiring 

costlier federal response and recovery support. 

Conclusion 

The economic impact of these events cannot be understated as suppression and recovery costs 

have exceeded all estimated budgetary needs. We are appreciative that the Congress passed the 

latest federal disaster appropriation. This funding, allocated through FEMA, Department of 

Agriculture, Small Business Administration, and other agencies, will go a long way to aid 

communities in impacted regions throughout our state. 

Thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today and for your ongoing support of disaster 

resiliency, response, and recovery in the face of increasingly escalating threats. I look forward to 

answering your questions. 
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SONOMA 
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Testimony of Susan Gorin, 1st District Supervisor, County of Sonoma 

March 20, 2018 

Chairman Barletta, Congressman Johnson, and members of the Subcommittee on Economic 

Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management. I'm pleased to be here today to 

share with the Subcommittee our experiences in Sonoma County, and the lessons we have 

learned, relating to the horrible wildfires that so tragically struck our County just five months 

ago. I would also like to express our special appreciation to Congressman Huffman, who serves 

so well on this Committee, and to Congressman Thompson, for their diligence and 

responsiveness in helping us respond to the worst disaster to strike the County during the 

lifetimes of any of our residents. 

I am here before you in both a professional and personal capacity, for I am both a County 

Supervisor- whose district lost thousands of homes- and a survivor- who personally lost her 

home in the fire siege. I represent Sonoma County, located 4S miles north of the Golden Gate 

Bridge. Our beautiful and hardworking county of SOO,OOO is the heart of Wine Country and the 

Gateway to the Redwood Empire. On the evening of October gth and into the early morning 

hours of October gth, our community was overtaken by several wildfires. The wildfires burned 

through complete neighborhoods in just a few hours. Tragically, our county alone lost 24 

people, of which the vast majority were elderly. Receiving more than 350 calls per hour, our 

local 911 dispatch system handled over 800 reported fires in the first 24 hours. Given the 

number of fires and the speed at which they advanced, the system was overwhelmed. That 

evening, we had to evacuate two of our three hospitals and over 100,000 residents, one-fifth of 

our population. In total, the fire burned over 100,000 acres in Sonoma County and destroyed 

5,200 homes. 

I want to thank Director Ghilarducci and the California Office of Emergency Services, as well as 

Administrator Fenton and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, for their unwavering 

support of Sonoma County over the past several months. Their efforts have made a real 

difference. 

I'm here today to share a few observations from the fires with the hope that other communities 

may benefit from our experiences: 

1. Community Warning Systems 

As Director Ghilarducci notes, the devastation of the 2017 California wildfires highlights the 

importance of robust, reliable, and effective emergency alert and communications systems. 

We must develop and implement standardized message formats as well as education and 

training for both the general public and our local emergency response officials. Most 

importantly, we need to realize the full potential of all the various warning systems and 

technologies to ensure we can provide aggressive and compatible emergency 

communications that meet the needs of our vulnerable populations including those with 

access and functional needs. 

1 
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Testimony of Susan Gorin, 1st District Supervisor, County of Sonoma 

March 20, 2018 

Emergency alerts and warnings are only effective if they get through. Poorly designed, 

complex, and unevenly deployed technologies impede the timeliness, accuracy, and 

effectiveness of warnings. The increasing dependence on wireless and social media 

systems, means that government -local, state, and federal- must continue to develop 

tools that can reach people where they really live. While we applaud the FCC's recent 

moves to improve the effectiveness of the Wireless Emergency Alert (or 'WEA') system, this 

is but one step needed to advance the ability of residents to receive targeted and truly 

informative emergency information. Additional work is needed to get telecommunications 

providers to improve the capabilities of their systems for public information and warning 

and to protect these critical systems when disasters strike. 

As 1 stated previously, at least 17 of our 24 deaths resulting from the wildfires were of 

people at least 67 years old. It has been reported that over half of those who perished in 

the Hurricane Katrina disaster were over the age of 65. Taken together, this should tell us 

something. I would hope that this would tell FEMA and everybody listening that, as a 

nation, we need to be doing more to prepare for the evacuation of our older residents 

when disaster strikes. Additionally, we had at least one other resident die who was 

wheelchair bound. And during previous disasters in recent years, we know we had great 

difficulty in convincing some of our homeless population, whose encampments were clearly 

imperiled by advancing floodwaters, of the need to relocate. 

We urge that emergency preparedness plans around the country address the best means 

for assuring that the elderly, disabled, and homeless be properly evacuated in the event of 

an emergency. We hope that FEMA will place some emphasis on this and, with FEMA 

assistance, we would be pleased to develop a plan that might serve as a best practice for 

others to follow and adapt for their own communities. 

Additionally, we know how critically important it is to have effective vegetation 

management efforts in the wildland-urban interface areas. 

2. Disaster Preparedness 

As our culture evolves, so too do our expectations of each other and the institutions that 

serve us. Local governments are on the front line as we directly provide the services and 

resources that our citizens depend upon. In the area of emergency response, our citizens 

have come to expect timely fire, law and EMS response via the 911 system. However, as 

recent disasters have continued to demonstrate, there will be times and occasions when 

these systems can't cope with the scope or scale of the demand. We applaud FEMA's 

current initiative to help the nation develop a culture of preparedness. Educating our 

residents and moving them toward actively preparing for disasters such as floods, 

hurricanes, and wildfires is an area where federal leadership and resources are vital. As the 

2 
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Testimony of Susan Gorin, 1st District Supervisor, County of Sonoma 

March 20, 2018 

direct and indirect costs from ongoing disasters continue to mount higher and higher, now 

is the time to examine just how much we are willing to spend in effort and treasure before 

disaster strikes. As Benjamin Franklin famously said "By failing to prepare, you are 

preparing to fail." 

In Sonoma County, many residents lost their lives, their homes and their possessions due to 

the difficulty of warning them of a rapidly approaching and poorly defined threat. Warning 

others is predicated on understanding the nature of the event that is being faced. 

Enhancing the ability of first responders to fully grasp a rapidly developing disaster as it 

unfolds, is critical. The ability to provide "situational awareness" is fundamental to effective 

early alert and warning efforts. Understanding what is happening is that fundamental first 

step in deciding what to do about it. In Sonoma County, our 911 system was overwhelmed 

trying to answer calls from the public and coordinating the initial response- our national 

911 system has to expand its capabilities to better support this dual mission. We need 

better resources to integrate and manage the massive shifts in mobile technology as well as 

quickly integrate disparate sources of information into a cohesive picture. 

3. Disaster Mitigation 

I understand that there has been considerable work in both the House and Senate to 

develop new approaches for disaster management and preparedness. One proposal -

referred to as the 6% proposal (putting the equivalent of 6% from the previous year's 

disaster impact into predisaster mitigation funding for the current year) is imperative to 

help our nation move from being reactive to being proactive. One thing that Mark 

Ghilarducci and Bob Fenton (both with me today) always say is that all Disasters start local 

and end local. Preparedness fits into that category as well. We must learn from the 

disasters that have devastated large areas across the nation in the last year as a turning 

point from which to finally and truly embrace pre-disaster mitigation. We seek your 

support to help us, at the local level, in order to help you at the federal level. Pre-disaster 

mitigation funding is essential to implement much needed programs including: 

a. Better addressing the needs of Vulnerable populations- this has to include 

effective warning systems and practical evacuation planning 

b. More effective vegetative management approaches and practices in the wildland 

urban interface areas. 

c. Support for a broader and more effective public outreach campaign to help 

individuals be better prepared in their communities. 

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Testimony of Susan Gorin, 1st District Supervisor, County of Sonoma 

March 20, 2018 

4. Recovery Challenges- Housing 

The predominant factor in a community being able to recover from a disaster is directly tied 

to how quickly the community is able to rebuild. As I mentioned, our community lost over 

5200 homes. Fire survivors are facing several significant challenges in their effort to being 

able to rebuild. First, the vast majority of fire survivors were significantly underinsured. 

Second, our region simply does not have sufficient numbers of construction workers to 

rebuild 5,200 houses. Christopher Thornberg with Beacon Economics calculated that 

Sonoma County would need 17,000 new construction workers to rebuild our houses in one 

year. Even a three-year rebuild horizon would require 6,000 new construction workers to 

come into our County. However, we have no place to house them. There is no place for 

new construction workers to live in our county. In Sonoma County, we were already 

experiencing a severe housing shortage prior to the fires. Our pre-fire vacancy rate of 1.5% 

has since diminished further. The fires have exacerbated the housing crisis in Sonoma 

County. 

In addition to the significant challenges faced by burned-out homeowners, there is an 

additional subset of our local population who have been greatly impacted by the wildfires. 

These are renters who have been displaced from their homes as landlords have given give 

them notices to vacate in order to make room for other fire survivors. These renters have 

no place to go in our community, given our severe housing shortage. Some of them, no 

doubt, will find themselves living in their cars or on the streets. 

It is imperative for our recovery efforts that federal programs be flexible so that we can 

address our most critical needs at the local level through creative solutions. We greatly 

appreciate the 90% cost share from FEMA. We, of course, appreciate the supplemental 

funding offered by Congress to California and to other communities that were so 

devastated in 2017. 

The most important focus now, though one not under the jurisdiction of this Committee, is 

the HUD CDBG-DR and USDA Emergency Watershed Protection programs. Along with the 

City of Santa Rosa, our largest city, County seat, and home of so many who have lost their 

homes, we ask that HUD exercise the authority with which it was provided in the Disaster 

Supplemental Appropriations bill, and allocate CDBG funds directly to our municipalities. 

And we ask you as our legislative branch to not just deploy those monies to the federal 

agencies, but to also ensure that they administer it according to their intended use while 

providing us with maximum flexibility. We in Sonoma County and the City of Santa Rosa 

have experienced significant impacts to our residents and to our local economy, and these 

programs are vital for us to recover from this disaster and to continue our renewed focus on 

disaster mitigation to prevent future disasters of this scale. 

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Testimony of Susan Gorin, 1st District Supervisor, County of Sonoma 

March 20, 2018 

In conclusion, the devastation that Sonoma County experienced will happen again. The 

contributing factors prompting the firestorm was extreme weather record low humidity, 

vegetation by impacted by years of drought, and wind gusts in excess of 75 miles per hour. All 

of this combined to create the perfect conditions for a true fire storm. With climate change, 

this extreme weather will increasingly impact communities across our nation. We need to 

prepare our systems, our responders, and our citizens to face the challenges of this new normal 

-our new reality. 

Thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today and for your ongoing support of 

disaster resiliency, response, and recovery in the face of increasingly escalating threats. I look 

forward to answering your questions. 

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STATEMENT OF 

ERIC W. HOLLY 

DEPUTY FIRE WARDEN/DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF EMERGENCY SERVICES 

STANISLAUS COUNTY, CALIFORNIA 

BEFORE THE 

COMMITIEE ON TRANSPORATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE 

SUBCOMMITIEE ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, PUBIC BULDINGS, 

AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT 

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES WASHINGTON D.C. 

IMPACTS OF THE 2017 WILDFIRES IN THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 20, 2018 
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Chairman Barletta, Ranking member Titus and distinguished members of the Subcommittee, 

thank you for the invitation to testify today about the impacts of the 2017 Wildfires in the 

United States. I am Chief Eric Holly, Deputy Fire Warden/Deputy Director of Emergency 

Services for Stanislaus County, California. In addition to my normal day-to-day duties, I am a 

Fire/Rescue Operational Area Coordinator and Emergency Management Mutual Aid (EMMA) 

Coordinator for Stanislaus County. 

Stanislaus County is located in the Central Valley of California and in the southern portion of 

California's Mutual Aid System, Region IV. Within the Stanislaus County Operational Area is the 

Diablo Mountain Range in the Western portion of the county and the foothills of the Sierra 

Nevada Mountain Range in the Eastern portion of the county. The county has a population of 

just over SOO,OOO people. There are currently twenty-one (21) agencies that have responsibility 

for fire services within the county. The fire agency staffing models vary from: full time paid 

career staff, combination paid career and volunteer staff, and fully volunteer staff. They range 

in size from a one station agency to our largest agency with eleven stations. Some of the fire 

agencies have contracted for services with other agencies or formed a Joint Powers Authority 

(JPA) to reduce costs or streamline services. Each agency participates, at some level, in the 

California Fire/Rescue Mutual Aid System. 

During times of emergencies and disasters I am responsible for coordinating the local agency 

response resources from Stanislaus County to those incidents as well as any requests for 

assistance that would come from my county should we suffer an emergency or disaster that 

goes beyond our capabilities. As part of the California Office of Emergency Services (CaiOES) 

Fire/Rescue Mutual Aid and EMMA Systems Stanislaus County, in the past several years alone, 

has responded by providing fire engines and individual personnel to wildfires statewide: from 

the border of Mexico to the border of Oregon, to the State of Washington, the State of 

Montana, and Puerto Rico for Hurricane Maria. Personnel from multiple disciplines including: 

Fire, Law Enforcement, Emergency Medical Services, Animal Services, Public works, Building 

Department, Public Health, and County Administration Departments have all been deployed to 

assist other Operational Areas in their time of need. 

Impacts of the 2017 Wildfires in the United States 

Stanislaus County agencies continue to support the California Mutual Aid System however, as in 

years past Stanislaus County has found itself unable to fill some of the requests received for 

mutual aid coming from the major wildfires throughout the state during 2017. Agencies are 

only able to assist so much before they have a drawdown of their own resources to an 

exhaustion level. We have found ourselves turning down requests more and more each year 

for these reasons. Some of our agencies that have full time paid career firefighters have had to 

reduce staff and close fire station due to lack of funding. Volunteer fire agencies have been 
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having trouble keeping staff levels up for years and what staffing they do have fluctuates with 

the season. 

Most of our volunteer fire agencies are in rural, agricultural areas of the county. During harvest 

season and other specific times of the year many volunteer firefighters are committed to their 

farms and ranches and have a limited capabilities to respond to calls for service within their fire 

district. Without a sufficient response in their home district those agencies are unable to send 

out fire apparatus and personnel for large wildfires because they must be able to provide 

services for their own district. 

Even with these challenges counties have been able to put fire equipment on the road in times 

of need. When a large wildfire starts, county Operational Area Coordinators begin assessing 

their county for any current large incidents that may prevent an out of county response. They 

begin polling their local agencies for their capability to respond to the larger incident. All of this 

information is then forwarded to the California Region IV Fire/Rescue Regional Mutual Aid 

Coordinator. 

Over recent years, responses from the Stanislaus County Operational Area Fire resources to 

statewide incidents have increased at about the same rate as all other Operational Areas within 

Region IV. This includes fire apparatus as well as individual personnel to assist with the 

operations and management of the incidents. Agencies respond multiple times throughout the 

year to these incidents and many times are demobilized from one incident only to be sent 

directly to another. 

At times we will not have enough equipment or trained personnel in our county to fill requests 

for Strike Teams of engines to an out of county wildfire. Strike Teams are multiple units of the 

same kind and type of equipment with a leader. When this occurs the Operational Area 

Coordinators have called their neighboring counties to pull together enough resources to be 

able to fulfill the request and respond. Other times the coordinators will put together multiple 

resources of different kind and type of equipment with a leader these are known as a Task 

Force and make them available to respond in place of Strike Teams if it is appropriate for the 

incident. Without the coordination between neighboring jurisdictions we would see far less 

Strike Teams and Task Forces responding to wildfires than we see today. 

We continue to work locally with state and Federal agencies on mitigating local hazards through 

planning, educating the public, training and exercising for all hazards. Through federal grant 

funding as a sub-grantee of the Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP) Stanislaus County has 

been able to assist all nine of its cities within the county and many of the counties special 

districts with their hazard mitigation planning. The goal which is meeting the core capabilities 

of the National Preparedness is necessary for resilient communities. The devastation created 
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by a wildfire can cripple a community leaving it vulnerable to secondary type events such as 

landslides. 

Weed abatement and fuels reduction is an ongoing task for us. Each year agencies spend 

numerous hours identifying and notifying property owners of hazardous situations including 

the fire hazards of overgrown and uncontrolled vegetation. While this practice is time 

consuming it is vital to reducing the fuel loads of vegetation fires and creates Defensible Space 

around structures to assist responding fire personnel. We constantly struggle to keep up with 

requests from the public regarding fire hazards. With all the responsibilities of fire agencies, 

many of them are reactive rather than proactive to vegetation management issues because 

they do not have the staffing. Some of our county fire agencies boundaries are within the State 

Responsibility Area (SRA) and they have a mutually beneficial working relationship with our 

state fire agency, Cal FIRE and their mitigation and public education efforts benefit from that 

relationship. 

Public Education has some of the same areas of concern. Staffing challenges and funding for 

the education programs continue to be a concern. When agencies have staffing issues for 

emergency responses public education suffers. We continue to take lessons learned and best 

practices from wildland fire incidents and implement them in county. 

It is important to remember that we need to invest our money and resources up front. 

Investment in creating emergency plans, mitigation programs and public education will save 

lives, property, and environment. Increasing staffing or pre-positioning fire equipment during 

Red Flag Warnings or other high probability events likely lessen the likelihood of the incident 

growing into a major wildland incident. By having more equipment staged and staffed and 

closer to the area of wildland fire concern a quicker response can be had. While the California 

Fire/Rescue Mutual Aid System works well equipment can only get there fast. Distance and 

time are not our friends when it comes to a wildland fire. 

The Stanislaus County Operational Area did not have a major wildland fire incident in 2017. It 

very well could have. We like many of California's counties feel lucky that we were not affected 

like other California counties. Much work has been done to improve public safety, wildland fire 

response, and recovery in our county but there is still much more to be done. We have had 

major wildland fires in our county in the past and we will have them again. It's not a question 

of if but when. We look forward to continued cooperation and coordination between local, 

State, and Federal resources. 

All agencies in Stanislaus County attempt to educate themselves on Wildland Urban Interface 

scenarios and train to the latest standards. Training is conducted annually and we continue to 

look back at lessons learned to ensure safety and efficiency in our wildland responses. But we 
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could do more. One area we look for improvement in is the training of personnel to fill all 

positions on the fire engines with certified and qualified individuals for out of county responses 

to wildfires. Some of the smaller agencies do not have enough personnel certified and qualified 

at certain fire positions to be able to sustain an out of county response. We have been working 

toward increasing the number of staff but with volunteer attrition rates just keeping up is 

challenging. Recruiting and maintaining volunteer firefighters is a challenge. Some agencies 

have been seeing success with the use of the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency 

Response (SAFER) Grants. This funding has made a positive impact and we hope to see it 

continue. 

Additionally, most if not all agencies have been the recipient of the Assistance to Firefighters 

Grant (AFG) Program funding. Specifically, the funding of the communications equipment to 

allow for interoperability between agencies on emergency incidents has been beneficial. 

Without this funding many of our fire agencies would not have the proper communication 

equipment to respond statewide as part of the Mutual Aid System. Again, this type of funding 

has made a positive impact on local agencies' ability to respond safely to incidents within their 

jurisdictional boundaries as well as participate in the California Mutual Aid System. 

We must continue to emphasize education and training to strengthen our ability to respond 

safely and effectively locally and statewide to wildland fire events. But without properly well 

maintained equipment we would be unable to assist. There are many pieces to puzzle and 

without one of them our statewide response would be hampered. 

Conclusion 

I thank you for the opportunity today to testify about the impacts of the 2017 Wildfires in the 

United States. Pre-disaster mitigation, emergency preparedness and training, an effective 

timely response, and disaster recovery are all important to the safety and well-being of our 

local communities. The continued commitment to the coordination of these at the local, state 

and federal levels is critical to being successful in providing for a safe and healthy community. 

By continue to build on our successes and learned lessons we will build a better fire service. 

We must cooperate, coordinate, collaborate and communicate for this to keep our 

communities safe and resilient. 
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.S. 
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Good morning, Chairman Barletta, Ranking Member Titus and members of the subcommittee. I 

am Chief Thomas Jenkins V, fire chief of the Rogers Fire Department in Rogers, Arkansas, and 

president and chairman of the board of the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC). The 

IAFC represents approximately 12,000 leaders of the fire, rescue and emergency services. Thank 

you for the opportunity to testify today about the impacts of the 2017 wildland fires in the United 

States. 

The local fire department is an all-hazards response force that must provide: 

• fire suppression 

• emergency medical response 

• hazmat response 

• multi-casualty, civil unrest and terrorism response 

• urban search and rescue 

• train-derailment response 

• technical, high-angle, swift-water, building-collapse, confined-space and deep-trench 

rescue 

During times of crisis, the local fire department serves as the closest thing to government that 

provides service to the victims, their communities, their families and their friends. 

The IAFC is concerned by the continuing increase in costs and damages caused by wildland fires 

across the nation. According to the National Interagency Fire Center, there were 71,499 wildland 

fires reported across the United States in 2017. These fires burned 10,026,086 acres and a total of 

12,306 structures, including 8,065 residences, 4,002 minor structures, 229 commercial structures 

and 10 mixed commercial-residential structures. By comparison, there were 67,743 wildland 

fires in 2016, which destroyed 5,509,995 acres. These statistics demonstrate that even if the 

number of fires remains similar, the damage done by these fires is increasing in severity. 1 

The increasing severity of these fires also affects federal wildland-fire suppression costs. For 

2017, the federal government spent a record $2.9 billion on wildland-fire suppression. By 

comparison, the average cost of federal wildland-fire suppression operations from 2008 to 2012 

was $1.3 billion. For the following five years, the average annual cost rose to $2 billion, an 

approximate 36% increase in costs. 2 

The increasing damage incurred by wildland fires and the escalating cost of suppressing them is 

caused by several factors, including the growing density and decreasing health of our forests, a 

hotter and dryer trend in climate and the increase in the number and density of homes built in the 

wildland-urban interface. 

1 National Interagency Coordination Center, Wildland Fire Summary and Statistics: Annual Reoort: 2017, p. 7. 

(https:/ /www .predictiveservices.nifc.gov/intelligence/20 17 statssumm/intro summary 17 .pdf). 2 National Interagency Coordination Center, Federal Firefighting Costs (Suppression Only). 

(https://www.nifc.gov/firelnfoifirelnfo documcnts/SuppCosts.pdf). 

2 
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To address these trends, the IAFC supports the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management 

Strategy. This strategy was developed by federal, state and local partners to address the wildlandfire issue. It promotes three collaborative tenets: 

• landscape-scale forest management 

• the promotion of fire-adapted communities 

• collaborative response to fire in the wildland and wildland-urban interface 

To address the national wildland-fire problem and the ensuing damage caused by wildland fire 

and post-fire floods and landslides, the nation must continue to support collaborative efforts like 

the Cohesive Strategy. From the perspective of the fire and emergency service, federal, state, 

tribal/territorial and local partners must focus on promoting greater community-preparedness 

efforts, effective response and mitigation activities. 

Community Preparedness 

Communities must take steps to protect themselves and be prepared for the threat of wildland 

fires. They can set and adopt codes to ensure that residences are built using fire-safe materials 

and fire-resistant landscapes. Homeowners should ensure that they have cleared brush and 

vegetation around their homes to create defensible space. 

Federal, state, tribal/territorial and local governments must work together to clear hazardous 

fuels in their communities. To effectively address these and other hazards, localities should adopt 

community wildfire protection plans (CWPP). These plans help to identify and mitigate 

wildland-fire risks within communities. They also help to guide hazardous-fuels reduction 

programs on federal lands and prioritize federal funding for associated projects. 

With the assistance of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Forest Service, the IAFC 

runs the "Ready, Set, Go!" (RSG) Program to help communities prepare and respond to the 

threat of wildland fires. Using RSG resources, local fire departments assist residents in 

developing mitigation plans (Ready) and teach them to be situationally aware (Set) and to act 

early and follow their personal wildland-fire action plans should there be a need to evacuate 

(Go). Currently, there are I ,803 RSG members in all 50 states. 

The RSG Program helps federal, state and local partners collaborate to prepare for wildland fires. 

For example, the Kittitas County (Washington) Fire District #7 joined RSG in 2012. Over the 

years, the fire district has worked with The Nature Conservancy, Kittitas County Conservation 

District, Washington Resource Conservation & Development Council and other partners to form 

the Kittitas County Fire Adapted Communities Coalition. This collaboration includes fuel 

reduction/treatment, youth outreach, civic events, homeowner's association outreach, home 

assessments and door-to-door outreach with smoke alarm installation. In the fall of2017, the 

Jolly Mountain Fire threatened 1,500 homes in the district. In response, the fire district held 

public meetings to distribute RSG materials and help residents prepare for the fires. These efforts 

were livestreamed on Facebook to reach 700 residents in addition to the more than 50 citizens 

who attended the meetings in person. The coalition is now working to update the county's 

CWPP. 

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The Florida Forest Service (FFS) presents another example of the effectiveness of the RSG 

program. The FFS took the lead in developing the RSG Program by involving state, county, 

federal and private-sector partners. The coalition developed a Florida RSG Action Guide to 

implement the program and created videos, public service announcements and kits for door-todoor outreach to local citizens. The FFS RSG program has also expanded from education to even 

collaborate on prescribed burns and CWPPs. Due to the FFS' efforts, their RSG program has 

more than 80 participating fire departments and has given out over 300 RSG kits and 20,000 

RSG guides. 

Community preparedness is a key component to addressing the wildland-fire issue. By 

promoting collaboration at the local level, communities can work with federal, state, 

tribal/territorial and local partners to educate local citizens about the risk of fire and help them 

take actions to reduce these risks. Community-preparedness programs can also help localities 

reduce the threat of fire by collaborating on efforts to reduced hazardous fuels and help residents 

make their homes more fire-safe. Finally, these programs are important in helping local citizens 

evacuate safely and in a timely manner. 

Improved Response Capability 

When a wildland fire breaks out, it is important to have an effective response to reduce the 

potential for loss of life, injury and property damage. Local fire departments-in many cases, 

volunteer fire departments-provide nearly 80% of the initial attack on wildland fires in the U.S. 

These fire departments provide wildland fire and emergency protection to 43% of the nation's 

population, which is an estimated value of $36 billion per year.3 In situations where federal landmanagement agencies are responsible for fire protection on their lands, they rely on local fire 

departments for initial attack and surge capacity to assist them through mutual-aid agreements. 

For large fires, fire departments can respond from around the U.S. to assist. For example, 17 

states, including North and South Carolina provided assistance to help California respond to the 

October wildland fires. 

In order to ensure an effective response to wildland fires, the IAFC would like to work with the 

committee and federal agencies, including the USFS and the Federal Emergency Management 

Agency (FEMA) to improve or build upon existing policies. One key component is the need to 

have well-vetted qualifications of response staffing and resources. The National Wildfire 

Coordinating Group's (NWCG) publication, National Incident Management System: Wildland 

Fire Qualification System Guide (NWCG 310-1 ), establishes minimum requirements for 

training, physical fitness and experience for wildland-fire positions, which participating agencies 

have to meet for national mobilization. 

The IAFC supports existing efforts for alternate routes to qualification, such as recognition of 

prior learning and efforts to qualify structural firefighting skills for wildland firefighting duties. 

In addition, we support FEMA's efforts to improve adoption ofNIMS and the Incident 

Command System by fire departments, emergency medical services and law enforcement 

3 "Volunteer Fire Assistance: providing a little help to our friends," USDA Forest Service, 

https://www.fs.fed.us/fire/partners/vfal. 

4 
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agencies across the U.S. By having universally recognized qualifications and incident command 

principles, fire resources from various parts of the country will be able to operate together 

seamlessly on the fire ground. 

Another area that needs to be addressed is resource ordering and tracking. As an addition to the 

Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC), the IAFC developed the Intrastate 

Mutual Aid System in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to help states create statewide mutualaid agreements and plans to deploy fire department staffing and equipment in response to major 

disasters and everyday incidents. To help states manage their resources, the IAFC developed 

Mutual Aid Net, which 18 states are using today. 

As a further evolution, the IAFC has partnered with Intermedix's WebEOC and ESRI's ArcGIS 

platforms to develop the National Mutual Aid System (NMAS). NMAS will be a tool used to 

request, locate and deploy resources through all phases of a response. Using NMAS' GIS 

mapping tools, fire departments will be able to visualize in real-time where resources are and 

where they need to go and determine response times for decision-making. Beta testing of the 

NMAS will begin soon in five states: Arizona, California, Florida, Tennessee, and Utah. 

One continued challenge to an effective response is the timely and complete reimbursement of 

fire departments after major wildland fires and other disasters. When a state requests fireresponse personnel and resources through the EMAC, local communities send their firefighters 

and apparatus to respond. These costs are then borne by the communities until they are 

reimbursed. Sadly, the reimbursement process can take months or even years as the complicated 

federal/state process unwinds. Local leaders are left facing holes in their budgets and must make 

difficult spending decisions like cutting budgets, stretching funds or raising taxes to provide the 

expected level of service to their communities while waiting for final reimbursement. The IAFC 

requests that FEMA develop a streamlined process for reimbursing states for emergencyresponse operations and making sure that the states reimburse the local agencies in a timely 

manner. In addition, we ask that local agencies be made whole for their expenses, including 

setting a reimbursement rate for volunteer firefighters. 

At the Congressional level, the IAFC asks Congress to take action to end the practice of fire 

borrowing at the USDA Forest Service and U.S. Department oflnterior (DOl). Currently, the 

agencies use a 10-year average to estimate the costs of wildland-fire suppression for the 

upcoming fiscal year. Unfortunately, as the cost of wildland-fire suppression escalates, these 

agencies find that their operations are underfunded. They are forced to take funds from forest 

management, hazardous-fuels reduction and other preparedness programs in order to pay for 

wildland-fire suppression operations. In September 2017, Secretary Perdue expressed concern 

that 2017 was the most expensive year on record for wildland-fire suppression costs and that the 

USDA Forest Service's spending on fire suppression had escalated from 15% to 55% or more of 

the agency's budget.4 

4 U.S. Department of Agriculture Press Release, "Forest Service Wildland Fire Suppression Costs Exceed $2 

Billion; Secretary Perdue Calls For Congress to Fix "Fire Borrowing" Problem," September 14, 2017, 

https:/ /www. usda.gov /media/press-releases/20 17 /09/14/forest-service-wildland-fire-suppression-costs-exceed-2-

bil!ion. 

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To resolve the fire-borrowing problem, the IAFC recommends that USFS and DOl be able to 

access the Disaster Relief Allowable Adjustment (Disaster Cap). The Disaster Cap was created 

by the Budget Control Act of 2011 (P.L. 112-25) to provide a buffer for emergency spending 

above the mandatory defense and nondefense spending caps without requiring supplemental 

appropriations. Unfortunately, the Disaster Cap itself is underfunded due to its formula. The 

Disaster Cap fell from a high of $18.4 billion in Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 to a low of $8.1 billion in 

FY 2017. FEMA projects that the Disaster Cap will fall to $7.4 billion in FY 2018 and fall again 

to somewhere between $6.8 billion and $7.3 billion in FY 2019. As the costs of all disasters 

continues to rise, Congress must fix the formula for the Disaster Cap and allow USDA Forest 

Service and DOI to access it for federal wildland-fire suppression operations. 

The IAFC also asks Congress to continue to fund the USDA Forest Service's Volunteer Fire 

Assistance (VFA) program. This program provides federal assistance to state foresters to help 

rural fire departments respond to wildland fires on neighboring federal land. Communities with 

populations of less than I 0,000 can receive training and equipment through the VF A program. 

The IAFC thanks the House of Representative for supporting $16 million for the program in 

FY 2018, an increase over the president's budget request and the Senate's proposed funding 

level. We urge Congress to adopt the House's funding level for this program. 

The IAFC also thanks Congress for reauthorizing the Assistance to Firefighters Grant and the 

Staffing for Adequate Fire Emergency and Response Grant programs last year. These programs 

help local fire departments protect their communities from all hazards. Many fire departments 

respond to wildland fires without adequately training or equipping their firefighters for these 

specialized operations due to financial constraints. The matching funds provided by the FIRE 

and SAFER grants help localities better train and equip for wildland fires and help recruit career 

and volunteer firefighters to staff their efforts. The JAFC urges Congress to fund the AFG and 

SAFER Grant programs at $365 million each in FY 2018. 

Mitigation 

Another important aspect to addressing the wildland-fire problem is mitigation. The IAFC 

applauds the committee's focus on promoting mitigation to reduce the effects of major disasters. 

We endorsed the Disaster Recovery Reform Act of2017 (H.R. 4460). We were glad to see 

provisions from this legislation included in the recent Bipartisan Budget Act of2018 (P.L. 115-

123), including those that would increase the federal cost share for disasters to 85% if states took 

steps to adopt building codes and invest in mitigation plans and investments to reduce the risk 

from all hazards. 

The federal, state, tribal/territorial and local governments can take steps to mitigate the risk of 

wildland fires, including reducing hazardous fuels. Also, communities should adopt building 

codes and wildland-fire preparedness policies to reduce the threat of fires, especially as more 

Americans build homes in the wildland-urban interface. As the 2016 tragic fires in Tennessee 

demonstrated, the wildland-fire problem is not just a Western problem, but something that 

communities across the nation should identify and take steps to mitigate. 

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Related to the wildland-fire problem is the risk of flooding and landslides. Wildland fires can 

scar land and destroy vegetation. When rainstorms follow these fires, the risk of major flooding 

ensues. For example, Southern California suffered from a major winter storm that impacted areas 

in Montecito and Carpinteria that had been recently burned by the Thomas Fire. The resulting 

mudslides and debris flows made national news by killing 22 people and destroying over I 00 

structures. In March, California is still in the process of trying to clean up over 2 million cubic 

yards of debris. 

The committee has been steadfast in its support of legislation to prevent this tragedy. H.R. 4460 

included provisions that would allow states that receive Fire Management Assistance Grants 

(FMAG) to also receive hazard-mitigation assistance. This assistance would go to the localities 

affected by the wildland fires and allow them to reseed land, set up erosion barriers and take 

other actions to mitigate the risk of landslides, floods and future wildland fires. The IAFC 

appreciates that P.L. 115-123 includes provisions to allow states that received FMAGs in 

FY 2017 and FY 2018 to receive hazard-mitigation assistance. We look forward to working with 

the committee to make this program permanent. 

Conclusion 

I thank the committee today for the opportunity to represent the leadership of the nation's fire 

and emergency service and discuss the impact of the 2017 wildland fires. The specter of wildland 

fires now threatens communities across the nation. The IAFC looks forward to working with the 

committee and our partners at the USDA Forest Service and FEMA to reduce the risk of these 

fires. We are working to educate local communities about how to prepare for and mitigate the 

risk of wildland fires. Also, we are working with our federal partners to improve the response to 

wildland fires through better resource management and deployment in order to reduce their 

damage. Finally, we look forward to continuing to work with the committee to promote 

legislation to mitigate the damage these fires and resulting floods and landslides can cause. I look 

forward to answering any questions that you may have. 

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