California Members of Congress Call for Year-Round Wildland Fire Workforce

On Monday, Senators Dianne Feinstein and Alex Padilla and Representatives Jimmy Panetta (D-Carmel), Jim Costa (D-Fresno), and John Garamendi (D-Walnut Creek) submitted a letter, signed by twenty-three Members of Congress, urging the Biden Administration to transition to a year-round federal firefighting workforce. The letter highlights that due to the federal government ownership of 57 percent of the forest land in California, federal resources must be changed to better align with needs on the ground for fighting the growing acreage and scale of high severity fires in the state each year.