Band Together for Action, Senator Tells Officials

The federal government has committed hundreds of millions of dollars in aid and relaxed environmental regulations to reduce the risk of more catastrophic fires in the nation’s forests, Sen. Dianne Feinstein told a luncheon gathering of Inland Empire officials Tuesday.

Still, more can be done, she told them, and local governments need to band together to ensure Congress gets the message.

“The squeaky wheel continues to get the grease. So please, squeak loudly and come together so there is one loud, unified voice,” said Feinstein, California’s senior senator.

The Democrat spoke to 530 people at a luncheon at the Riverside Convention Center sponsored by the Greater Riverside Chambers of Commerce.

“Leaders in our communities organized this event to discuss how to keep our area safe from future natural disasters,” said Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Riverside), who spoke before Feinstein. “During the wildfires, our attention was rightfully focused on containing and putting out the fires -- now we must focus on the aftermath.”

Feinstein received two standing ovations from an audience filled with city and county leaders from the Inland Empire.

Feinstein spoke of the Southern California wildfires and their toll. The blazes scorched more than 738,000 acres, destroyed more than 3,600 homes, killed 24 people and cost $142 million to fight, she said.

The blame for the widespread fires rests squarely on past forest-management policies, which called for fire suppression and allowed brush and nonnative species to grow wild, Feinstein said. A century ago, pine forests had about 50 trees per acre, she noted, while today there are more than 500 trees per acre in the San Bernardino National Forest, which she described as “clogged with fire potential.”

She noted that 400,000 acres of the San Bernardino National Forest are infested with bark beetles.

Feinstein said California’s congressional delegation has pinned down hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding, including $40 million to remove beetle-infested trees and $500 million in FEMA disaster aid.