Fix Our Forests Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. CRANK. Mr. Chair, I thank the gentleman for his leadership on this important wildfire prevention bill. We need these provisions in FOFA to protect our communities and maintain the health of our forests. My own community has seen its share of wildfires. The Hayman fire in 2002 burned 138,000 acres in Pike National Forest and killed five firefighters.

Colorado Springs lies west of Pike National Forest, which contains over 1 million acres of forest. I was evacuated from my own home several years back from a forest fire. Portions of the Pike National Forest are included in the wildfire crisis landscape, and four of the five largest fires in recorded Colorado history have occurred there.

This is a real threat in my backyard, but the pace we are doing fire management is unacceptable, and it has deadly consequences. The scale and severity of wildfires can be managed and contained. This bill gives us the tools to do that, but we have to be proactive.

Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to vote in support of this critical bill.

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