It's time to reduce wildfire risk

This year's fires have been devastating with an unprecedented scale of destruction. Seeing so many people evacuated, lives disrupted and homes lost has been heartbreaking. Yet, it has also been inspiring to see our community rally and react with courage, starting with our first responders, firefighters, law enforcement officers, and continuing with so many people who have stepped forward to help their neighbors.

If I could list each church, state, city and county agency, all the people who came forward, it would fill this newspaper. Even the politicians performed with the seriousness and bipartisan can-do attitude we, as citizens, hope to see. Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell, and Governor Bob Ferguson belong to a different party than I do, but when it mattered, we belonged to the same community and worked together.

That work continues. First, we need to provide immediate aid, and then, equally as important, we need to come together to try to prevent this kind of catastrophe from happening again.

My congressional team has been working to help residents navigate immediate needs. We created an Eastern Washington Wildfire Resource Kit online and are assisting folks who need replacement Social Security cards, passports, military records, and medals. Those documents may seem ordinary until a family loses them; then they can be essential to rebuilding a life.

The federal emergency declaration is helping state, local, and Tribal governments respond to the crisis. A Major Disaster Declaration would be the next step to make available additional federal aid. I joined. Gov. Bob Ferguson in requesting a meeting with President Trump to make the case for the state's forthcoming request.

I've also asked the Governor to use his authority (and call a special session of the legislature if necessary) to provide relief to fire victims to rebuild their homes promptly, without new regulations and red tape.

Looking ahead, we need to make our forests healthier and less of a tinderbox. This is something I care about deeply. Forestry is practically in my blood; Baumgartner means "tree farmer" in German. My father spent 40 years as a professor of forestry at WSU, my two uncles both worked for the US Forest Service - one of them as a smoke jumper - and I spent two summers on fire science teams with the Forest Service myself.

When the government doesn't allow logging or thinning of the forest, and puts out fires promptly, then over decades dead and dry trees accumulate. Those fuel loads are far too high across the West.

Both parties in the House supported the Fix our Forests Act earlier this year. I voted for it and it passed, but now it is tied up in the Senate. This legislation is a first step towards getting different agencies to work together and to allow utilities to remove trees near powerlines. When Congress reconvenes in Sept., the Senate needs to act on this and other House-passed legislation that I voted for, like the FIRE Act, which lets local communities do controlled burns without being hamstrung by federal clean air laws.

In the wake of the bravery shown by our firefighters, pilots, and those displaced from their homes, I hope our political leadership can show the same level of courage in working for long-term solutions.

From practical forest restoration to community readiness and recovery, I will continue to focus on reducing wildfire risk before disaster strikes and standing with Eastern Washington families when it does.

I've held off to last the fact an arsonist started the Old Trails Fire. God only knows what drove him to set dozens of fires, and it will take a long time to unravel the legal process that took him from being imprisoned for killing his father in Arizona to being free in Spokane.

As a small step towards discouraging future arsonists, I introduced the Wildfire Event Contract Prohibition Act to ban prediction-market betting on wildfire destruction. We already have enough problems with arsonists; we do not need anyone to be incentivized to start fires, by placing bets on destruction.

The debate over our forestland is decades old, stereotyped as Republicans upset over the web of regulations that stop logging, thinning and active management of the forests; while Democrats want to preserve the natural ecosystem, wildlife, and wilderness.

Instead of fighting over these different viewpoints, we should acknowledge the legitimacy of both "sides," and use them as a starting point, not an end. The trees, the hot wind, and the dry grass will not respond to our arguments; only our actions can change the risk of another catastrophic fire.

-- Rep. Michael Baumgartner, R-Spokane, represents the 5th Congressional District.