Congressman talks about fires
California’s District 1 Congressman Doug LaMalfa visited Plumas County on Aug. 23, and met with a group of district leaders at the Graeagle Fire Hall. A variety of county supervisors from Lassen, Sierra, and Plumas, as well as industry leaders and educators from all over the county heard LaMalfa’s updates on Washington D.C.
LaMalfa spoke about the divisive attitude in Washington D.C., calling it “the most separated it has ever been,” however, he said the Republican Congress is still getting somethings done including establishment of the new tax regime. He said the constituents in his district will receive an average of $2,088 more dollars a year than in previous tax years.
He also said he was working on a bill to streamline the process of building broadband structure and getting broadband access in rural areas.
The continuous topic of the meeting was the fire situation in the state. LaMalfa said it was a topic he felt strongly about and he wanted to advocate for a forestry policy that centralized fire suppression to one agency in the case of emergencies. He cited instances where the Forest Service sent CalFire away from fires, even though they were shorthanded. He also said the National Parks system held up the process of fire suppression during the Carr Fire due to the archeological significance of the area.
“The National Parks doesn’t get to say what to do on a park when a fire is happening,” said LaMalfa.
“We need to effectively fight fire, not just at the time of the fire, but we need to know how to get ahead of it,” he continued. “We have to do something completely different.”
LaMalfa suggested the use of executive orders, partnerships, and legislative tactics to help solve the problem. He said there is a bill sitting in the Senate right now called the Resilient Forest Federal Act, which provides immediate tools for the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management to begin managing forests, and streamlines the environmental protection requirements
“If you want to help, contact your senator right now and ask them to pass that bill,” he said.
LaMalfa also fielded questions concerning broadband access, NEPA requirements during forest fires, job creation, housing crisis management and the legalization of cannabis.
Big dough lamalfa is as worthless as the subsidized white rice he grows, let’s rotate the crop in November, vote Audrey Denney.
Whatever.
Hey Lamalfa, why don’t you do a survey of USFS fire personel’s moral in California. The pay isn’t making it, along with all the other political nonsense they have to deal with. I Challenge you to compare USFS and calfire’s wages for jobs with equal duties. In the last 10 years the cost of living in California has skyrocketed and these little 1.6-1.9 pay increases for USFS firefighters is an insult. Its a serious problem that keeps going unaddressed by you politicians. Keep up the good work and see what happens. Oh by the way, cal fire refuses to respond to fires in Plumas County every time they are called. To add insult to injury, USFS PNF fire personell pay California state taxes which pay for cal fire fighters to make 4 times the…
Has the time finally come that a lifelong resident of the state formerly known as golden can ask the BIG question,or are we not there yet?
Is it now okay to ask if these seemingly now co-ordinated starts are politically motivated? Like, is Ca under attack?
Just askin
Congressman talks about fires…
But mostly blows smoke.