[Senate Hearing 117-512]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 117-512
ADDRESSING THE THREAT OF WORSENING
NATURAL DISASTERS
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HEARING
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON
HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
SEPTEMBER 29, 2021
__________
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov
Printed for the use of the
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
47-978 PDF WASHINGTON : 2022
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COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
GARY C. PETERS, Michigan, Chairman
THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware ROB PORTMAN, Ohio
MAGGIE HASSAN, New Hampshire RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin
KYRSTEN SINEMA, Arizona RAND PAUL, Kentucky
JACKY ROSEN, Nevada JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma
ALEX PADILLA, California MITT ROMNEY, Utah
JON OSSOFF, Georgia RICK SCOTT, Florida
JOSH HAWLEY, Missouri
David M. Weinberg, Staff Director
Zachary I. Schram, Chief Counsel
Christopher J. Mulkins, Director of Homeland Security
Naveed Jazayeri, Senior Professional Staff Member
Benjamin J. Schubert, Research Assistant
Pamela Thiessen, Minority Staff Director
Andrew Dockham, Minority Chief Counsel and Deputy Staff Director
Clyde E. Hicks Jr., Minority Senior Professional Staff Member
Laura W. Kilbride, Chief Clerk
Thomas J. Spino, Hearing Clerk
C O N T E N T S
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Opening statements:
Page
Senator Peters............................................... 1
Senator Portman.............................................. 2
Senator Hassan............................................... 16
Senator Rosen................................................ 18
Senator Padilla.............................................. 21
Senator Ossoff............................................... 22
Prepared statements:
Senator Peters............................................... 27
Senator Portman.............................................. 29
WITNESSES
Wednesday, September 29, 2021
Sima Merick, President, National Emergency Managers Association
and Executive Director, Ohio Emergency Management Agency....... 5
Jerry Hancock, Executive Director, Michigan Stormwater Floodplain
Association and Stormwater and Floodplain Programs Coordinator,
Ann Arbor, Michigan............................................ 6
Jennifer Pipa, Vice President of Disaster Programs, American Red
Cross.......................................................... 8
John S. Butler, Second Vice President International Association
of Fire Chiefs and Fire Chief, Fairfax County, Virginia........ 10
Alphabetical List of Witnesses
Butler, John S.:
Testimony.................................................... 10
Prepared statement........................................... 55
Hancock, Jerry:
Testimony.................................................... 6
Prepared statement........................................... 37
Merick, Sima:
Testimony.................................................... 5
Prepared statement........................................... 31
Pipa, Jennifer:
Testimony.................................................... 8
Prepared statement........................................... 49
APPENDIX
Responses to post-hearing questions for the Record:
Ms. Merick................................................... 61
Mr. Butler................................................... 62
ADDRESSING THE THREAT OF WORSENING NATURAL DISASTERS
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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2021
U.S. Senate,
Committee on Homeland Security
and Governmental Affairs,
Washington, DC.
The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10 a.m., via
Webex and in room SD-342, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon.
Gary Peters, Chairman of the Committee, presiding.
Present: Senators Peters, Hassan, Sinema, Rosen, Padilla,
Ossoff, Portman, Johnson, Lankford, Romney, Scott, and Hawley.
OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN PETERS\1\
Chairman Peters. The Committee will come to order.
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\1\ The prepared statement of Senator Peters appear in the Appendix
on page 27.
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Every September, we observe National Preparedness Month, a
critical reminder that planning ahead for a natural disaster
can help save lives. Preparedness is becoming more and more
important as we continue to see increasingly severe storms and
weather events that create life-threatening situations and
cause serious damage to our communities. Driven by climate
change, these extreme storms, hurricanes, wildfires, and
floods, are becoming more frequent, and more destructive every
year.
At the same time, our Federal, State, and local emergency
responders are also working to address the ongoing public
health crisis caused by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
pandemic. As a result of these compounding circumstances, our
disaster response resources, personnel, and volunteers are
stretched thin, making emergency response and recovery more
challenging and more expensive.
Severe storms, extreme flooding, and devastating wildfires
cost our nation billions of dollars every year. But we can
strengthen our disaster response efforts, and save taxpayer
dollars, by making smart, forward-looking investments in
mitigation before a disaster strikes. In fact, studies have
shown that every $1 invested in hazard mitigation or prevention
saves an average of $6 in recovery costs for taxpayers.
As we continue to see worsening natural disasters and the
dire consequences they have on our communities we must take
swift action to upgrade our infrastructure and ensure our
roads, bridges, homes, and businesses, are resilient enough to
withstand increasingly severe weather events.
That is why I worked to pass the Safeguarding Tomorrow
Through Ongoing Risk Mitigation (STORM) Act, which was signed
into law earlier this year, to help provide States and local
communities with access to the resources they need to make
these critical investments. I was pleased to secure $500
million in initial funding for the program as part of the
Senate-passed bipartisan infrastructure bill, and look forward
to the House considering that bill soon.
The STORM Act, and this initial funding, will help kick-
start loan programs in every State to help communities begin to
reduce their natural disaster risks.
In addition to creating these kinds of new opportunities to
help communities prevent widespread damage, we must also ensure
our disaster recovery efforts are working effectively. Most
importantly, we must have enough personnel and volunteers to
assist in disaster recovery efforts. Ranking Member Portman and
I introduced bipartisan legislation earlier this year that
would help the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA),
ensure that we are able to recruit and retain enough Reservists
to quickly respond to emergencies by providing important
employment protections. I look forward to continuing to advance
this bill so that we can help reduce the burden that make it
difficult for FEMA to recruit and retain emergency response
personnel.
We have also seen firsthand how our disaster recovery
resources do not always reach the communities most in need.
Whether they are recovering from a hurricane or other severe
weather events or seeking resources related to the COVID-19
pandemic response, too many of our most vulnerable communities
do not have equal access to this vital assistance. Communities
of color and other underserved communities often
disproportionately face the consequences of disasters, and our
disaster response efforts typically provide slow or inadequate
relief to those communities.
Last Congress, I worked on legislation that would begin to
strengthen our disaster response for all Americans by creating
an office at FEMA that would be focused on ensuring equitable
access to disaster assistance, and I look forward to continuing
that effort to ensure that no matter when or where a disaster
strikes, help will be readily available.
I appreciate our witnesses for joining us here today and
look forward to discussing these issues and other efforts that
will help strengthen our disaster preparedness and response
efforts across the country.
Ranking Member, you are recognized for your opening
comments.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR PORTMAN\1\
Senator Portman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank the
witnesses for being here today. We are pleased to have a
witness from Ohio with us, who has done a great job in ensuring
that we have preparedness in our own State but also has worked
with the National Emergency Management Association (NEMA). Ms.
Merick, thank you for being here.
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\1\ The prepared statement of Senator Portman appears in the
Appendix on page 29.
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This is an important hearing. We have the opportunity today
to talk about preparedness to deal with these natural
disasters, and let us face it, there are more and more of them.
We have seen, over the past couple of years, the most damaging
wildfires, droughts, and hurricanes in our recent history. We
need to be better prepared, and we need to be sure that FEMA is
there to respond effectively.
FEMA is the principle agency that coordinates the Federal
response to natural disasters, but just to remind people, we
have a decentralized system in this country. FEMA does not
provide the boots on the ground, for the most part. It is local
responders who are first on the scene when disasters strike.
This is reflected by the way FEMA's emergency management
strategy, and I will quote from it, it is ``federally
supported, State managed, and locally executed.''
I have seen firsthand the importance of this local
preparedness and response in Ohio on a lot of occasions over
the past couple decades, representing southern Ohio and now the
whole State. We have had flooding, we have had tornadoes, and
we have had other emergencies.
In May 2019, we had a series of tornados that touched down
across western Ohio, damaging or destroying hundreds of homes
and businesses in the Miami Valley and displacing a lot of my
fellow Ohioans. The most extreme damage occurred in Dayton,
Ohio, area and the surrounding communities of Trotwood and
Beavercreek.
Incredibly, and thanks in large part to the alert systems
and training of our local first responders, while 166 people
were injured, we did not have a single loss of life in the
Dayton area that night, and if you had seen the destruction as
I did, you would be amazed that people were not killed. It is
amazing how quickly people got out of their homes and were able
to avoid even worse situations. We did, sadly, have one
casualty from a tornado that touched down further north in
Salina, Ohio.
In the immediate aftermath, my wife Jane and I drove from
our home to Dayton, Ohio, early in the morning, right after the
tornado had hit, and we went to thank people, to show our
support for the first responders, not to get in the way, but to
ensure that they knew that we were there to support them and to
talk to constituents who had been displaced.
We saw devastation, downed trees, and property damage, but
we also saw the impressive work being done by our local first
responders as well as immediate response from our State
partners and also Federal partners who were already on the
ground or on their way.
Montgomery County Sheriff, Rob Streck, took the lead in the
Dayton area for much of the damage, and he had a command center
set up immediately. I was able to talk to him and his team and
the Central Ohio Strike Team, which is an urban search and
rescue (US&R) unit out of Columbus, Ohio. I am really eager to
talk more about the US&R teams around the country. We did pass
legislation a few years ago to help our US&R teams, but they do
an awesome job, and respond not just in Ohio but from Ohio all
over the country, most recently with the hurricanes in the
South, Southeast, but also with regard to 9/11. They were
there, on the spot, and that was Ohio Task Force 1.
We also went to see the Red Cross and what they were doing,
which was shelters that had been set up. Again, we talked to
constituents about the situations they were facing. But less
than 12 hours after the tornadoes hit, the Red Cross was
already providing food, water, and shelter, and a place for
people to stay who had lost their homes. This security and a
place to stay was absolutely critical to the people I talked
to, as they prepared to rebuild their lives, some from scratch.
Within a few weeks of the event, FEMA had three active
centers open across the Miami Valley, with case workers, mental
health workers, people who can help with businesses, people who
can help with small business loans. They also established an
area for children to decompress and an area dedicated to
helping people with disabilities. This was all set up pretty
quickly, and again, I had a chance to tour these.
I can assure you, it would have been much worse but for the
preparedness our region and the preparedness our State had in
place and the quick response from the first responders. I am
proud of southwest Ohio for coming together so quickly in this
case, but it is an example that I have seen around the State of
preparedness done right.
Again, to Sima Merick, thank you for being here today and
for the crucial role that you play for the National Emergency
Managers Association in addition to your work in Ohio. You were
leading the Ohio Emergency Management Agency (EMA) in 2019 when
the tornadoes hit, and so I saw the good work that your folks
were doing.
I look forward to all our witnesses today, and I look
forward to discussing the importance of properly preparing for
our natural disasters.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Peters. Thank you, Senator Portman.
It is the practice of this Committee to swear in witnesses,
so if the witnesses will stand and raise your right hand,
including those who are joining us by video.
Do you swear that the testimony you will give before this
Committee will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but
the truth, so help you, God?
Ms. Merick. I do.
Mr. Hancock. I do.
Ms. Pipa. I do.
Mr. Butler. I do.
Chairman Peters. Thank you. You may be seated.
Our first witness is Sima Merick. Ms. Merick serves as the
Executive Director of the Ohio Emergency Management Agency and
has been an employee of the Ohio Department of Public Safety
for nearly 35 years. She began her career as a dispatcher for
the Ohio State Highway Patrol in 1985, and held other positions
within that division until 1996, where she began her career
preparing the emergency management and mitigation techniques
still widely utilized today.
Ms. Merick was appointed by Governor Kasich in 2011, to be
Assistant Director of the Ohio Emergency Management Agency, and
served in that role until being appointed in June 2015 as
Executive Director.
Welcome, Ms. Merick. You may proceed with your opening
remarks.
TESTIMONY OF SIMA MERICK,\1\ PRESIDENT, NATIONAL EMERGENCY
MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION, AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, OHIO EMERGENCY
MANAGEMENT AGENCY
Ms. Merick. Thank you, Chairman Peters, Ranking Member
Portman, and distinguished Members of the Committee for
inviting me here today. Senator Portman, it is good to see you
again. It feels like a couple of days or weeks ago that we were
together at your Nonprofit Security Symposium in Columbus, so
it is good to see you, sir.
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\1\ The prepared statement of Ms. Merick appears in the Appendix on
page 31.
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As President of the National Emergency Management
Association, I am proud to be representing the State emergency
management directors of all 50 States, territories, and the
District of Columbia.
To have success in addressing the threats of natural
hazards, three fundamental pieces must be examined. These
include how States help themselves, how we help one another,
and the State-Federal partnership.
First, States help themselves by understanding FEMA is not
a first responder and also by maintaining a close working
relationship with our local emergency managers. According to
data from a report NEMA does each year with our local
counterparts, in fiscal year (FY) 2020, State and local
emergency management organizations managed 19,752 events
without Federal assistance. Additionally, 27 States maintain
their own State-funded assistance program to help citizens and
businesses when a disaster or emergency does not meet the
criteria for Federal assistance.
Second, States help one another through efforts such as the
Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC). Celebrating its
25th year of service, EMAC has deployed nearly 40,000 personnel
in State assistance since 2016 alone. Most recently here in
Ohio, we used EMAC during the 2016 Republican National
Convention (RNC). This brought trained, experienced, and
equipped officers from other States to assist Cleveland in
managing that significant event.
Finally, the Federal-State partnership is one of the
bedrocks of emergency management. Whether it is the declaration
process, shaping national policy, or programs like Emergency
Management Performance Grants (EMPG), this partnership is seen
in every corner of our profession. EMPG, in particular, is a
great example. The only program in the NEMA suite of grants
that requires a 50-50 match, and many States and local
governments actually overmatch this program. We are grateful
for the continued support Congress has shown over the past 18
months by providing the supplementals.
In my written statement I provide several examples of how
Ohio is building capacity through programs like our Safe Room
Rebate Program, a joint exercise with the Ohio National Guard,
and providing virtual training opportunities. But for today's
hearing I want to be sure I provide some recommendations on
FEMA's future.
First, we must clarify the role of emergency management,
particularly as it relates to events not warranting a Stafford
Act declaration. FEMA should be the consequence manager for the
Federal Government regardless of that. Let FEMA be the
coordinator of Federal resources instead of forcing us, at the
State level, to fumble our way through the Federal Government.
Second, we must ensure diversity and inclusion in emergency
management. NEMA wants to work with FEMA in reviewing all
current emergency management laws and policies through an
equity lens, including identifying the intended and unintended
effects of current policies on vulnerable communities.
Finally, we must work to reduce the complexity of the FEMA
Public Assistance Program (PAP). For too long, FEMA has talked
about simplifying the disaster programs, only to continue
adding to existing procedures. Federal disaster programs and
processes are too complex, they are slow, sometimes
bureaucratic, and, in many cases, can impede State and local
governments' best efforts to improve outcomes for individuals
and communities.
In the past year, we have reiterated to FEMA our desire to
work with them on all of these priorities, and hope we can work
with you as well to find common ground in making FEMA and the
emergency management professional more accessible to those it
is intended to serve.
Thank you for your time today, and I look forward to any
questions you might have.
Chairman Peters. Thank you, Ms. Merick.
Our next witness is Jerry Hancock. Mr. Hancock serves as
the Stormwater and Floodplain Programs Coordinator for the city
of Ann Arbor, which is located in the great State of Michigan.
He is appearing before the Committee today on behalf of the
Association of State Floodplain Managers Association (ASFPM).
He has an established record of specialized experience over 30
years in environmental planning. His previous roles have
included serving as the Oakland County Drain Commissioner, Land
Development Coordinator, and Natural Resources and
Environmental Planning Coordinator.
Mr. Hancock, welcome to the Committee. You may proceed with
your opening remarks.
TESTIMONY OF JERRY HANCOCK,\1\ EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, MICHIGAN
STORMWATER FLOODPLAIN ASSOCIATION AND STORMWATER AND FLOODPLAIN
PROGRAMS COORDINATOR, ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN
Mr. Hancock. Good morning. Thank you, Chairman Peters and
Ranking Member Portman and Members of the Committee. I am Jerry
Hancock, Stormwater and Floodplain Programs Coordinator for the
city of Ann Arbor, Michigan. I am also the Executive Director
of the Michigan Stormwater Floodplain Association (MSFA). I am
honored to be testifying today on behalf of MSFA and also the
Association of State Floodplain Managers.
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\1\ The prepared statement of Mr. Hancock appears in the Appendix
on page 37.
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My written statement identifies over a dozen specific items
for your consideration.
Today the threat of flooding is worsening nationwide and in
my State of Michigan. Nationally, annual flood losses are
doubling roughly every decade, and in the past decade here in
Michigan we have experienced numerous major flood events, most
notable, our 500-year floods in Detroit in 2014 and again this
year in June. There was also a 500-year flood in the Midland
area that caused two dam failures last year. Then in 2018,
there was an intense 1,000-year flood in Houghton. That is up
in the UP, where I went to college.
For the balance of my time I am going to be highlighting
five areas where preparedness and mitigation can be improved.
First, hazard mitigation and risk assessment. Simply put, we
cannot prepare or mitigate if we do not know where current and
future hazard areas are located. For floodplain managers, this
means we must have a nationwide program of updating rainfall
frequency and have a robust set of flood maps that identifies
all flood hazards, as was envisioned by Congress when it passed
the National Flood Mapping Program (NFMP).
However, today only one-third of the nation's floodplains
are mapped, and those maps do not include things like dam
failure inundation and future conditions of flood areas that
were required by the National Flood Mapping Program. Our flood
maps in Washtenaw County were out of date shortly after they
were adopted, due to our obtaining better topographic and
precipitation data within just a year or two of the maps coming
out.
Second, preparedness and mitigation are informed through
good planning and State and local priorities. Here in Ann
Arbor, we have developed and maintained a local hazard
mitigation plan for the last 15 years, and we recently received
Building Resilient Infrastructure Communities (BRIC) funding
for our next update. Hazard mitigation plans identify
priorities for mitigation strategies, such as the major
structural flood reduction project we just completed for which
we obtained a $4 million FEMA hazard mitigation grant.
However, other communities were not so lucky to receive
hazard mitigation plan funding, as the State set aside in BRIC
or State priorities was too small. FEMA should ensure that pre-
disaster mitigation programs like BRIC provide a more balanced
funding approach to support State and local mitigation
priorities.
Third, preparedness is enhanced through data sharing and
better informing the public. For example, the Federal
Government has been slow to publicly provide dam failure
inundation maps, which again were required by the National
Flood Mapping Program. Here in Michigan, where cascading dam
failures north of Midland last spring resulted in flooding that
went beyond the 500-year floodplain, having those dam failure
inundation maps publicly available might have resulted in less
damage and injury.
Another recently evolving issue is the hindrance of flood
insurance claims data from FEMA. FEMA requires communities to
analyze flood insurance claims information to complete hazard
mitigation plans and to participate in the community rating
system. I know, as Ann Arbor is a Class 6 community rating
system community. However, FEMA is not providing the flood
insurance data necessary to successfully complete this
analysis, or it is not providing it in a timely manner.
Fourth, to be a prepared nation we must have adequate
State, local, territorial, and tribal (SLLT) capacity. Ann
Arbor is unique to have a full-time floodplain manager position
like mine, whereas most communities do not. States could help
fill this capacity gap by providing technical assistance to
communities. FEMA does have a successful program called the
Community Assistance Program (CAP), which supports the National
Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). This program could be
replicated, funded through BRIC, and be made available to build
and maintain capacity of State hazard mitigation programs.
Finally, preparedness and mitigation must be equitable.
Reducing the complexity of applying for and administering FEMA
flood mitigation grants, as was mentioned in the previous
discussion, could assist in equitability.
Again, my written statement goes into much more detail on
these and other floodplain management issues and
recommendations. Thank you.
Chairman Peters. Thank you, Mr. Hancock.
Our next witness is Jennifer Pipa. Ms. Pipa serves as the
Vice President of Disaster Programs at the American Red Cross.
She initially began her career with the Red Cross in 2004,
after volunteering for the Disaster Action Team in Raleigh,
North Carolina. Within one year she became the team's captain
and swiftly moved to a role as caseworker for local families.
Her tenure also includes working as the Operations Program
Lead, Director of Volunteer Mobilization and Support at
National Headquarters in Washington, D.C., and chief executive
officer (CEO) of the American Red Cross of Central Florida.
Ms. Pipa, you may proceed with your opening remarks, and
welcome to the Committee.
TESTIMONY OF JENNIFER PIPA,\1\ VICE PRESIDENT OF DISASTER
PROGRAMS, AMERICAN RED CROSS
Ms. Pipa. Good morning, Chairman Peters, Ranking Member
Portman, and distinguished Members of this Committee. Thank you
again for the privilege to be able to testify today and share
some of the impacts we are seeing across the Nation as we begin
to respond to disasters.
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\1\ The prepared statement of Ms. Pipa appears in the Appendix on
page 49.
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Disaster preparedness, response, and recovery are the heart
of our mission, and these needs are continuing to grow,
especially in vulnerable communities. These communities are
disproportionately impacted by climate-related disasters.
Through this lens, we see climate change as a worldwide
humanitarian emergency, a defining threat in the 21st century.
My full testimony is submitted for the record. Today I am
going to talk about how the Red Cross responds to these
disasters alongside partners at all levels, including the
Federal Government, and to talk about our mission to alleviate
human suffering.
The increasing rate of climate-driven disasters has become
an unsustainable burden on the most vulnerable, notably low-
income, low-income communities of color, elderly, and people
with disabilities. With climate change that was nearly very
recently episodic and just a few series of acute events, it has
now become a chronic issue with devastating impacts.
This situation is only exacerbated by other struggles
disproportionately impacted families face daily, a growing
level of income disparity, the challenges with affordable
housing, lack of access to health care, and food insecurity.
These disparities left many families struggling well before a
disaster ever happened. Indeed, most often the folks that the
American Red Cross helps or serving after large disasters are
those who have little or no resources prior to the disaster. In
fact, in fiscal year 2020, 63 percent of the clients that we
helped were either at or below the Federal poverty level.
I want to share a couple of statistics that help inform our
planning as the American Red Cross as we start to forge forward
with this climate change initiative. The number of major
climate-related disasters has increased sixfold in the past 40
years. By 2030, we anticipate responding to a significant
climate emergency every 10 to 12 days, a near-constant state of
response, leaving our communities in a chronic state of
recovery.
I want to share one anecdote that was not in my written
testimony. I had the opportunity to visit Louisiana this past
weekend, and I spent some time at a Red Cross outreach where we
talked with clients who had been impacted and connecting them
with resources. It was a mom and her 12-year-old daughter, and
as they talked to our caseworker they talked about how the roof
of their home was totally torn off and that their home was no
longer livable.
The natural question to them was, ``So where are you
staying now?'' This mom and dad, and 12-year-old daughter, who
said sometimes she is a good big sister and sometimes she is
not, to her two younger brothers, simply said, ``We are staying
in our car.''
They had to protect what little things they could salvage
from the disaster, from a hurricane, and so they had to stay
there to make sure that they were protected. That is just one
story of thousands that we see every year when we respond to
disasters.
And so what the Red Cross is starting to do now, what we
have begun, is using data to inform how we manage our response
activities. We look at social vulnerability index. This allows
us to see communities that were already struggling prior to a
disaster. We then take the forecasted track and then we can
apply that, so we know where we need to be first, where we are
most likely going to be longest, and where the people need the
most help to begin their recovery journey.
This is not an only Red Cross organization. We cannot do
this without partners, both at the Federal level and other
nonprofits. In Louisiana alone, we got to work with the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP) and Islamic Relief. These partnerships are critical.
These help extend our reach into communities and make sure that
every community that is impacted by disaster has the
opportunity to connect with us and other agencies to make sure
that their recovery begins.
Climate change is not about the number of inches that fell
in rain in an hour. It is not about the category of the storm.
It is not about the acres that burned in a wildfire. It is
about a family of five living in their car. It is about people
who were struggling before this disaster ever happened and need
more help now.
We are really privileged to be able to share what the Red
Cross is doing. I want to take the opportunity to thank our
donors who, through their generosity, we deliver the Red Cross
mission. Most importantly, I want to thank our volunteers, who
give the one thing that is most precious, of their time, to the
American Red Cross. We look forward to working with U.S.
Congress, other branches of the government, faith-based
community, other nonprofits and for-profits, because together
we need to help these communities recovery.
I look forward to your questions. Thank you.
Chairman Peters. Thank you, Ms. Pipa.
Our final witness is John Butler. Chief Butler serves as
the Chief of the Fire and Rescue Department in Fairfax,
Virginia. Prior to his time as chief, he served 26 years with
the Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services and 21
years as a United States Marine, including two combat tours. He
brings a wealth of experience, having held roles as a
firefighter, paramedic, Italian chief, Emergency Medical
Services (EMS) chief, and Administrative chief before being
named Howard County's first African American Fire Chief in
2014.
Chief Butler, welcome to the Committee. You may proceed
with your questions.
TESTIMONY OF JOHN S. BUTLER,\1\ SECOND VICE PRESIDENT,
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FIRE CHIEFS AND FIRE CHIEF,
FAIRFAX COUNTY, VIRGINIA
Mr. Butler. Thank you and good morning, Chairman Peters and
Ranking Member Portman. I am John Butler, Chief of the Fire and
Rescue Department, Fairfax, Virginia, and the Second Vice
President of the International Association of Fire Chiefs
(IAFC). I appreciate the opportunity today to discuss how the
Nation can address the threat of worsening natural disasters.
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\1\ The prepared statement of Mr. Butler appears in the Appendix on
page 55.
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America's fire and emergency services is an all-hazards
response force. There are approximately 1.1 million
firefighters in the United States, serving with more than
30,000 career, volunteer, and combination fire departments. We
are usually first on the scene and last to leave.
The nation is facing a wider variety of threats today than
we have in the past. These threats include COVID-19 pandemic, a
longer, more severe wildland fire season, and an increasing
frequency of hurricanes and other major storms. Even a national
pandemic affects citizens in their homes, which puts the fire
and EMS services on the front lines against all these threats.
The past 18 months have provided a real-life stress test
for the nation's preparedness system. Our public safety and
medical staff have performed heroically in face of these
threats. However, we also have found areas of improvement and
new challenges. These include FEMA should review the National
Incident Management System (NIMS) for long-term incidents. NIMS
is designed for incidents that lasted a few days or weeks.
Major incidents can take weeks or months, especially when
recovery operations are included. The National Incident
Management System, must account for command resources,
supplies, and personnel for long-term events.
Second, new partners must be included in planning and
training. The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the need to
include public health officials. Utilities, public works,
communications, transportation, and other critical
infrastructure disciplines must be included to prepare for
hurricanes, tornadoes, and wildland fires. They should be
trained in NIMS and incident command systems.
There is a need to review mutual aid agreements and the
expectations of the parties in these agreements, because like
COVID-19, fire departments found that our neighbors were
suffering from similar staffing shortages. There were concerns
about sending resources across State or the Nation for fear of
exposure to COVID-19. A mutual aid system needs to be
strengthened. Complementary tools to EMAC, like IAFC's National
Mutual Aid System can be used to move fire and EMS resources.
Also, the reimbursement system needs to be streamlined.
Fire and EMS departments can wait years before they are
reimbursed for interstate mutual aid deployments.
Fire and EMS departments are suffering from shortages in
personnel. COVID-19 has created EMS shortages due to burnout
and better job opportunities. Volunteer fire departments also
face workforce challenges. Volunteers are concerned about
taking COVID home to their families or being forced to take
time off from their real jobs, their full-time salaried jobs,
when they are exposed or infected.
There also have been some equipment shortages for basic
personal protective equipment (PPE), including gloves. The
semiconductor shortages has created delays in the delivery of
fire apparatus and ambulances. The Assistance to Firefighters
Grant (AFG) and Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency
Response (SAFER) programs provide important funding to address
these equipment and personnel issues, to provide matching
grants to local fire departments using a peer review process.
To address the threat of growing disasters, the IAFC urges
Congress to support programs like FEMA's BRIC and hazard
mitigation grants. In addition, we urge FEMA to support State
adoption of up-to-date codes and standards. We know that model
building codes save lives and prevent property loss.
Also, communities should engage in planning, preparedness,
and training for potential disasters. The IAFC's Ready, Set,
Go! program helps communities.
I would also like to highlight the need to fund FEMA's US&R
system. The US&R teams are supported through Federal, State,
and local partnerships. All three entities are facing funding
challenges.
Finally, we ask that Congress and the President appoint
experienced leaders for FEMA. For example, we ask President
Biden to appoint an experienced fire service leader as the U.S.
Fire Administrator.
Over the past 18 months, the Nation has faced a wide
variety of threats. The IAFC looks forward to working with you
to address these challenges. Thank you for having me.
Chairman Peters. Thank you, Chief Butler.
As I mentioned in my opening statement, earlier this year
the STORM Act was passed and signed into law. The bill grants
FEMA the authority to work with States and tribal governments
to establish a revolving fund that can be used by local
governments to carry out mitigation projects and reduce the
natural disaster risk that they face. That includes flooding,
it includes shoreline erosion, high water levels.
Mr. Hancock, as you mentioned in your opening comments, our
home State of Michigan has faced record levels of flooding this
year, as well as we have seen some extreme shoreline erosion
along the Great Lakes. I would like you to comment as to how
important accessing funds like will be contained in the STORM
Act is to local governments, and also how important it is for
local governments to have discretion as to which mitigation
projects they would like to conduct.
Mr. Hancock. Thank you. That is a good question. The idea
of providing funds through the State revolving loan fund has
been around for a while but initially it was limited to the
sanitary sewer system, but about 15 years ago opened up for
stormwater. In Ann Arbor we use that extensively. We, in the
past 10 years or so, we have done probably $30 million worth of
stormwater, mainly stormwater quality projects. So that type of
funding is definitely a tool that is needed for communities.
Like I said, we have used it extensively, and maybe so much so
that we have kind of tapped out our resources in that area.
But that is a great tool to expand for flood mitigation and
some of the other disasters and things that you mentioned, like
rising high waters, shoreline erosion. So there are plenty of
mitigation activities that would benefit from this type of
funding, and, it is always good to have another tool in the
toolbox, so this is another tool for communities.
I would say it is not going to replace the idea of grants,
since there is a payback associated with the loans. Some
communities may be limited. Here in Ann Arbor, we have a
stormwater utility so we actually have a budget to do stuff
like this. Some communities do not necessarily have that. But
still, if they have like one particular project that they could
not otherwise do, that is a great tool.
It is definitely something that I am sure communities are
grateful that Congress is doing, and I applaud the effort.
Chairman Peters. Right. Thank you, Mr. Hancock.
Ms. Pipa, in your opening statement you offered a very
compelling story of the impact on families that these natural
disasters can have. Unfortunately, a wide range of research has
shown that FEMA assistance, despite the best of intentions from
our folks at FEMA, often a FEMA assistant can actually
exacerbate racial and economic inequalities after a disasters.
Marginalized communities, as you mentioned, are often exposed
to damage and have less access to resources in order to
recover, and a trend that is only going to continue as climate
change continues to create more frequent and more destructive
disasters.
My question to you is straightforward. What more can FEMA
do to promote equity within its programs, and ensure that those
who are hit hardest by these disasters and are generally folks
who are economically disadvantaged and in communities of color,
they need to have the opportunity to recover, what more should
FEMA do?
Ms. Pipa. As I said in our opening statement, is it not one
agency. It is a collaboration of agencies altogether. When you
look at a footprint like Louisiana and you look at the multiple
parishes that were impacted and you look at the neighborhoods
that are geographically isolated, in some cases, look at like a
Port Sulphur all the way in Plaquemines Parish, you will see
homes, maybe 15 homes and then another 15 miles of industrial,
and then another 10 homes.
So finding all of those locations and making sure we are
connected is a job of all of the recovery agencies that show up
there, and one of the ways we can do that is through sharing
information and collaboration, so that when we talk to clients
one of the things we make sure we do is make sure that they are
connected with FEMA and that they are registered. It is one of
the first conversations we have with our Red Cross clients as
well.
So making sure that we are showing each one of our
community members what they need to do and how they can connect
with all of the resources, including FEMA, is a critical part
of this.
These disasters are large in scope and scale and very
complex, and different communities will choose to present or
not present, for a wide variety of reasons. That is why it is
important to have a variety of partners there on the ground, so
that those communities feel trusted and welcome to come forward
and apply for assistance.
Chairman Peters. Thank you.
FEMA is the lead agency for Federal emergency response, but
as you mentioned we need other agencies and nonprofits to come
together. My question, though, is to Chief Butler. Specifically
when it comes to first responders, what more would you like to
see Congress do to support first responders who need to be
there first on the scene to helps communities when confronted
with a disaster?
Mr. Butler. Thank you, sir, and that is a really good
question. I would start by saying we appreciate what we already
are afforded in the form of grants, and continuing those grant
opportunities--AFG, SAFER, and the other grants--particularly
funding and continuing to fund the US&R system is very
important to us, because those are the frontliners who are
responding to these disasters at times.
To some extent I will say the continuation of the support
and the funding and an increase in those dollar amounts will go
a long way.
Chairman Peters. Thank you, Chief Butler.
Ranking Member Portman, you are recognized for your
questions.
Senator Portman. Great. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and again,
I thank the witnesses for your testimony today, and more
importantly for what you do every day.
Chief Butler, we just talked a little about urban search
and rescue. Back in 2016, you may recall we passed legislation
that was worked on in this Committee, called the National Urban
Search and Rescue Response Systems Act, and it enhanced
compensation and protections for urban search and rescue teams
and required FEMA to finance and replace certain equipment used
by those teams.
How has that worked? Can you give us a sense of whether
that legislation was helpful or not, and what more could be
done to improve that legislation? You just mentioned the
Federal grants funding the US&R system continuing. But can you
give us a sense of where we are with regard to implementation
of that legislation and what else could be done?
Mr. Butler. Yes. Thank you. We asked that Congress
appropriate, $50 million for the US&R system in fiscal year
2022. This funding would allow the US&R teams to replace
current transportation assets like you have mentioned, sir,
which are nearing the end of their lives, and the increased
funding also would allow FEMA to conduct three or four full-
scale exercises each year, to provide training along with
operational readiness.
I will stop there and answer the genesis of your question,
how has it worked so far. It worked well. It has worked well to
this point. But as we have talked about this morning, the
increasing demands and the increase in weather extremes and
other needs to deploy US&R teams requires that we keep up with
the pace and the funding and the infrastructure.
The US&R teams would be able to improve their capabilities
for responding to subterranean incidents like trench or tunnel
collapses as somewhat of an emerging threat, and also the US&R
teams would be able to validate the use of new technology, like
unmanned aerial systems (UAS) or robots.
The IAFC recommends increasing the funds for the US&R
system, to adequately catalog and validate Federal, State,
tribal, and territorial, local search teams.
Senator Portman. Great. Thanks, Chief Butler. I appreciate
it. We just celebrated our US&R team locally for the good work
that they did down at the most recent hurricanes, but we also
had kind of a sober commemoration of the 20-year anniversary of
9/11, where Ohio Task Force One, Dayton-Cincinnati area took
off immediately. My wife actually saw them on the highway
heading toward New York. She was coming from D.C. and she saw
them in Pennsylvania, lights flashing that morning.
It is a great system. I am a huge supporter. It is a
classic example of State-local. There is so much training and
so much expertise that FEMA gets essentially for free, because
you have these firefighters and others--doctors, people with
trained dogs and so on--and they do a lot of this just as
volunteers, and provide so much help and resources on a
national level. So the search and rescue teams in every one of
our States responds with mutual aid.
I am a huge supporter, and I think, frankly it is an
investment that really pays off. I thank you for your service
and thanks for what you said today, and we will follow up with
you on your comments.
Ms. Merick, thanks for what you do in Ohio, again. One
thing you talked about in your testimony that I thought was
interesting was this Safe Room Rebate Program to help prevent
Ohioans from needing assistance from an urban search and rescue
team, as an example. Can you talk about that and what other
ways that individuals and families can better prepare in order
to avoid situations that would require rescue?
Ms. Merick. Yes. Thank you, Senator. Our Safe Room Rebate
Program in Ohio has just been phenomenal. We have over 450 safe
rooms that have been put into residential plots of land, and
one of the things that we do with that is to ensure that when
people build a safe room or they have an in-ground safe room
that they are coordinating with their first responders to let
them know, like the codes, the geocoding of where it is at, in
the event debris would fall on top of that storm shelter, so
they would know to go and clear that place first. But
otherwise, that is pretty much the response they would have to
do.
Some of the other ways I think that families could better
prepare to avoid these situations would be to make a plan for
all hazards to include severe weather. Ensure you have included
a communication plan. How will you let people know that you are
OK?
I know recently, during Hurricane Ida, I had gotten a phone
call from a friend of mine who has family down in Louisiana,
and said, ``You know, I can't get ahold of them. I don't know
if they are OK. I don't know if they have power. I don't know
if they got out.''
So it is very important, that you have a communications
plan and how you will reconnect, or where you will meet after
an event. Know how you will receive information about those
events. Have alerts active on your phone, enable them for the
wireless emergency alert. Obtain a weather radio to keep in
your house, work, places of worship, and other locations that
may have your phones off or silent.
Probably the last thing I want to make sure is if you have
a safe room, communicate that to your first responders, and
this is so important in the community. While first responders,
to include our urban search and rescue and Ohio Task Force One,
are trained to look for survivors, if you can facilitate their
efforts by letting them know that you have one, they have a
chance to save more people, because they will just do a drive
by your place to make sure that that is not covered by debris,
and then they will be able to move on.
Senator Portman. All good advice. Thank you, and I hope
people are listening and will listen to you. Research has shown
that $1 of mitigation saves, on average, $6 on future disaster
costs. We mentioned earlier that the STORM Act is in the
bipartisan infrastructure bill that is now before the House of
Representatives. But we also have something in there called the
Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program.
There is $1 billion for that. How important is mitigation for
preparedness, Ms. Merick, and how has BRIC impacted Ohio?
Ms. Merick. Senator, the first year of BRIC program, Ohio
only received the set-aside amount. We, like most of the
country, did not receive competitive funding due to some of the
technical aspects of the program. Assuming passage of a
bipartisan infrastructure bill, we will have projects ready to
go for the competitive package that we put together for the
first year of funding. We will need to see how those projects
fit within the future notice of funding opportunities that come
out from FEMA. But, of course, we do appreciate having this
additional pot of money to be able to tap into. We just have to
figure out, over the years, the best way to be able to do that
with some of those technical benchmarks that we need to make.
Senator Portman. Great. My time has expired but we will
follow up with you on some specifics on how to improve BRIC
going forward. Hopefully this will pass the House of
Representatives, even this week, and we will have that ability
for Ohio and other States to apply for those competitive
grants. Also we will follow up with you on the bureaucracy of
FEMA and how to reduce some of the costs and inefficiencies and
some of the delays that you have experienced.
Thank you, Ms. Merick. Thanks to all the witnesses. Thank
you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Peters. Thank you, Ranking Member Portman. We now
recognize Senator Hassan for your questions. I also have to run
over and vote, so I will also pass the gavel to you.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR HASSAN
Senator Hassan [Presiding.] Thank you very much, Mr. Chair
and Ranking Member Portman for this hearing, and a special
thank you to all of our witnesses for the important work that
you do to prepare our communities for natural disasters and for
coming before this Committee today. I will add my own
appreciation to that you heard from the Ranking Member and the
Chair for all of the volunteers and first responders and
disaster preparedness folks in our States and our communities.
You do lifesaving, life-stabilizing work and you help our
communities be resilient in the face of just incredible
difficulty. I just want to thank you all for what you do.
I want to start with a question to Mr. Hancock. I am Chair
of the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Spending Oversight
(ETSO), so I am particularly focused on ensuring that the
Federal Government spends taxpayer dollars efficiently and that
we reduce waste, fraud, and abuse.
In 2018, as Senator Peters mentioned in his opening, a
FEMA-sponsored report indicated that every dollar spent on
Federal mitigation grants $6 in savings. Mr. Hancock, how can
we improve the ability of States and localities to invest in
mitigation before a disaster strikes?
Mr. Hancock. I think the best way to do that is with the
Federal Government partnering with the States to increase the
capacity of States to respond. It is more easy for States to
assist communities. With FEMA providing assistance to the
States to increase their particular floodplain management
capacity--in other words, staffing--so that they can, in turn,
then work with the local communities, we think that is an
efficient way to go about that.
An example, Sima Merick from Ohio mentioned that Ohio did
not get any of the competitive BRIC funding. Neither did
Michigan--only the set-aside--and that is an area where within
BRIC there could be a program within BRIC that just simply
funds State assistance to increase the capacity of State
governments to assist the local communities.
Senator Hassan. Thank you. To Ms. Merick, for a long time I
have heard from emergency management professionals in my State
about the need to reduce the complexity of many FEMA programs
and processes. In 2017, FEMA announced an initiative to co-
locate teams of FEMA field staffers with State and local
partners to improve communication and coordination between
Federal, State, and local partners. These teams, known as FEMA
integration teams (FITs), were created to help State and local
partners more easily navigate some of FEMA's bureaucracy.
Emergency management officials in New Hampshire have
responded positively to the creation of a FIT in my State, in
New Hampshire. So based on your perspective as President of the
National Emergency Management Association, have you found that
FITs have been helpful in bridging the gap between State,
local, and Federal partners?
Ms. Merick. Today we do not have a FIT team. Let me make
sure, am I unmuted.
Senator Hassan. There you are, yes.
Ms. Merick. OK. In Ohio we do not have a FIT team member or
an integrated team, but reviews from other State directors that
do have been very positive.
Recently I was at FEMA Region 5 in Chicago, and my partner
States, the majority of them do have one or two in their State
that have been helpful, in the area in which they are hired, in
the preparedness and planning sections, to help navigate
mitigation and working in some of the other programs.
I do not have a tremendous amount on this, but I do know
that as my colleagues and I have talked about it they have been
pleased with the FIT members that they have on their teams from
FEMA.
Senator Hassan. Thank you for that, and I would look
forward to learning more about reactions from other States,
because it seems to me that this might be an area that we want
to expand on.
Ms. Merick, I have another question for you. Federal
disaster recovery funds administered by FEMA allow a small
percentage of each grant to be used to cover management costs
like grant processing or oversight. Currently, management costs
awarded for one disaster can only be used for that particular
disaster.
Ms. Merick, what are the benefits of changing FEMA's policy
so that it permits States and localities to utilize dollars
provided for management costs across all open declared
disasters?
Ms. Merick. Sure. Thank you, and thank you very much for
asking that question. States can utilize a certain portion of
disaster costs to cover some of the administrative costs of the
event. Currently, those funds are limited to a specific
disaster, as you indicated. This creates a disincentive to
close out disasters quickly as States naturally want to utilize
as much of that funding as possible, and by keeping it open
they can do so.
If management costs were disaster agnostic, States would be
able to focus more on the recovery process than the
administrative minutiae of tracking hours per disaster. If we
were allowed to roll over those management costs we could not
only close out disasters much faster but also utilize those
funds to build capacity in the long term for anything that we
may face.
I should note here that NEMA was grateful to your staff for
working with us last year in getting legislation drafted, and
hope we can get something introduced again soon.
Senator Hassan. I thank you for that and I would look
forward to continuing to work with you on that.
I do have one more question but I think it would take us
over time, so I will submit it for the record.
I am now going to recognize Senator Rosen, who should be
with us virtually.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR ROSEN
Senator Rosen. Thank you, Chair Hassan. I appreciate that.
I want to thank Chair Peters for holding this hearing. It is
really important as natural disasters have been occurring more
frequently all around the country and all around the world.
I want to talk a little bit about wildfires, because across
the country, but particularly in the West, devastating
wildfires continue to worsen every year. They pose a serious
threat to human life, to our health, to our personal property,
to wildlife, and, of course, to our public lands.
In 2020, wildfires burned more than 10.3 million acres and
destroyed more than 17,000 structures. Already this year we
have seen over 45,000 wildfires burn nearly 6 million acres of
land, including several recently affecting Nevada, like the
Tamarack and Caldor fires. It is why I have been fighting for
increased funding to mitigate our current wildfires and prevent
further catastrophes, and recently led a group of western
Senators in urging committee chairs to include these resources
in our reconciliation package.
Climate change has increased the severity and frequency of
wildfires and other natural disasters. Many say we no longer
have a fire season. Unfortunately, fires happen year-round now,
and we have to address that.
Ms. Merick, can you talk about the challenges that
emergency managers face when dealing with continuous and
worsening natural disasters year after year, without any
intervening period of relief?
Ms. Merick. Sure. Thank you very much. As we move forward,
and we have learned a lot with this large-scale and ongoing
response with COVID, that, our other tasks, our preparedness,
our response or mitigation to natural disasters does not stop.
We continue to have to be prepared to work on multiple events,
activate or have separate activations simultaneously, at the
same time, to make sure that we are preparing and coordinating
and communicating not only with our locals, who were locally
disasters start, work, and end at the local level, right? Then
we are there when they exceed that capacity, and we also have
that ability, the Federal Government.
But we have to also work with our Federal programs and our
Federal partners to ensure that we know exactly how we execute
those programs and what is on the table those days as we
respond and we move forward and we know what programs we have
to make sure we are executing properly. It is always a
challenge.
Senator Rosen. Sorry. Thank you. By the way, I think my
Internet skipped a beat there, so I did not mean to interrupt
you. Thank you. I thought you were done.
I am going to move on with the same topic but to Chief
Butler, because the current disparity in pay between Federal
and non-Federal wildland firefighters, those hotshots, they
call them, has led to a shortage of our Federal firefighting
personnel. It limits our nation's ability to respond
increasingly, again, to these natural disasters.
Chief Butler, how can Congress help with the recruitment
and retention of wildland firefighters?
Mr. Butler. Thank you, ma'am. That is a really good
question, and being a structural firefighting fire chief my
entire experience has been with structural fires and
communities as such. But my brothers and sisters in the
wildland community are somewhat losing out in the competition
when it comes to pay and salaries. There are a lot of choices
out there, and a lot of opportunities for responders.
Senator Rosen. I am sorry. Go ahead.
Mr. Butler. Yes. So keeping up with the salary of first
responders and firefighters is very important. We know it, on
the structural side, that the wildland community is kind of
behind in paying salary.
Senator Rosen. We are hoping that we are going to be able
to pass some legislation that will create permanent, year-round
positions for wildland firefighters, hopefully adding at least
1,000 more to help the cause--help the fight, not the cause--
help the fight in this and pay them what they deserve to be
paid. We really appreciate everything that they do out there to
protect us.
Of course, you cannot fight a wildfire if you do not have
water, so I want to move on and talk about drought, because 90
percent of the West is currently experiencing drought. The
majority of areas are subject to significantly below average
precipitation, extended dry periods. Again, this is one of the
reasons we are having these wildfires.
Just last month, the Bureau of Reclamation issued a water
shortage for Lake Mead, which provides water and generates
electricity for more than 20 million people. The declaration
means that Nevada is going to lose 7 percent of its allocation
of water. In August, Nevada Governor Sisolak and nine other
western Governors sent a letter to President Biden requesting
that he declare a FEMA drought disaster in the West, allowing
States to access Federal resources.
Like I said, wildfire and drought unfortunately go hand in
hand. Ms. Merick, again, can you discuss the benefits of FEMA
assistance in responding to the drought, and what actions
should our communities be taking to prepare for some of the
extreme drought as climate change begins to exacerbate
conditions and, like I said, increase wildfires, just being one
of them?
Ms. Merick. Sure. Thank you. As we respond to any event,
Senator, I think it is important that we focus on our basics of
response. If we go back and look at our preparedness actions we
continue to communicate with our locals. We refer to our action
plans, in which we need to ensure the response is being
coordinated with the appropriate levels of the agencies,
whether that is Federal, State, or locally, and then talk about
the mitigation measures that have already been designed to move
forward, or the pre-disaster mitigation measures that folks are
starting to undertake, and ensure that those are being put out
there and that people understand that they are happening and
they can tap into those, and how do they tap into those
events--I am sorry, those programs in which they can receive
some guidance or preparatory actions.
Senator Rosen. Thank you. I appreciate all of you for being
here. Of course, in the West extreme heat, drought, wildfires,
they are going to continue to plague us, as well as other
disasters around our Nation. I appreciate the work and effort
that you all put into helping us solve these problems. Thank
you.
Ms. Harris. Thank you, Senator Rosen. Senator Johnson, are
you--you are not available. OK.
I do have another question for Mr. Hancock. Climate change
is increasing the cost of disaster response and recovery. The
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), tells
us that 2020 set numerous records--22 extreme weather and
climate events, which each caused $1 billion or more in losses.
Recent disasters, like the flooding that impacted New
Hampshire communities this summer, underscore the need for
action to safeguard the nation's infrastructure, protect
businesses and communities, and safe taxpayer dollars.
The bipartisan infrastructure package includes funding that
I pushed for to help communities invest in coastal resiliency
measures. Mr. Hancock, could you discuss the importance of
investments to help prepare for and mitigate damage from more
frequent flooding events and other disasters spurred by the
changing climate?
Mr. Hancock. Yes. The amount of disasters, like you said,
are increasing so much so that communities are, as a few other
people have said, it is one disaster after another after
another. The capacity issue, I think, kind of comes back in
this question, that States or communities do not have the
capacity to respond to one after another after another. This is
where we could use assistance from the Federal Government to
help us increase our capacity during times when we are not
having disasters.
This was talked about a little bit earlier, but a lot of
the funding for just disaster response and recovery comes from
disasters. It would be more helpful if it were more consistent
and were not tied to individual disasters, and increase
capacity unrelated to events.
Senator Hassan. Got it. I also just wanted to follow up on
that, because generally we have considered historic flood
patterns when we look at planning and investment and
mitigation. How important is it for State and local
governments, as well as the Federal Government, to consider
future flood risk in their infrastructure plans?
Mr. Hancock. That is a great question. So just like you
said, most flood maps and most of the planning we do is based
on what happened in the past. And to use one example, me, I
work at a local community and respond to building proposals.
When buildings are built they are not built just for today.
They are built for decades. So to plan for a safe building
based on what happened in the past may not necessarily make
that building safe in the future. You can apply that logic to
any infrastructure, whether it be a dam or stormwater pipes.
But when we are building infrastructure we are really
building those for the future, and so having future conditions
shown on flood maps would give communities the ability to plan
appropriately for their infrastructure and buildings of the
future.
Senator Hassan. Thank you for that answer.
I am just going to check with our crew here. Is Senator
Padilla available? OK. So next up is Senator Padilla.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR PADILLA
Senator Padilla. I wanted to follow up on some of Senator
Rosen's questions, but specific to California, where our most
recent wildfire season was the worst on record. In 2020, the
State experienced more than 10,000 fire incidents, more than
4.2 million acres burned, and more than 10,000 structures were
damaged or destroyed.
California residents, both north and south, relied on local
and regional fire departments throughout the State to provide
expedient mobilization and response to ever-worsening fire
seasons. However, as Chief Butler mentioned in his testimony,
the National Fire Protection Association found that a third of
the surveyed department stations did not have access to backup
power, they are also suffering from either mold or asbestos,
old ventilation system, and other environmental problems, and
many do not have proper quarters for female fire and EMS
personnel that serve as well.
So a question for Chief Butler. It is unconscionable to ask
firefighters to fight ever-worsening fires when they do not
have safe and adequate facilities to work in. Can you just
share with the Committee what infrastructure shortcomings mean
for the morale of personnel and the capabilities of the unit?
Mr. Butler. Oh, you hit it right on the head, sir, with the
word ``morale,''--morale equals mission success, and mission
success equals morale. Taking care of the health, safety, and
wellness of the responders is, and should be, paramount. There
are many fire stations that would be condemned in many other
communities. Our mental health is increasingly becoming--always
should be and has been, but there is a lot of spotlight on
reduction, carcinogen exposure reduction of firefighters, and
there is a whole body of knowledge that shows that we need to
pay attention to our personal protective equipment, keeping up
to date, and being funded, funded appropriately for the proper
PPE and fire stations and apparatus that we are on.
Senator Padilla. I particularly appreciate you mentioning
the impact on mental health of firefighters. I know the
International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) has
prioritized behavioral health for its members in the
communities that everybody serves. I appreciate that, and I
welcome ongoing conversation about what else this Committee and
the Senate overall can do to support infrastructure needs of
fire and emergency service.
But while I still have a few minutes I also wanted to raise
the issue of the Stafford Act, which governs FEMA's disaster
efforts. It has given short shrift to communities facing
wildfires specifically. Due to the unique nature of wildfires,
many California communities have experienced difficulty after
difficulty in the wake of recent catastrophic wildfires
regarding reimbursement, regarding debris removal, disaster
assistance eligibility, specifically individual assistance, not
the public assistance, home insurance, and relocation
assistance.
So first to you, Chief Butler. Do you have any specific
thoughts on how FEMA could be more inclusive of the needs of
the fire and wildfire response needs?
Mr. Butler. Yes, Senator. It starts with the leadership and
the selection of the positions to be filled by credible and
competent Administrator.
OK. I was kind of frozen there for a second. So, yes. I
will stop there.
Senator Padilla. Yes, OK. No, I appreciate that. We will
follow up. And just on the same topic, in my time remaining on
the same topic let me ask a question to Ms. Pipa. As a leading
partner of FEMA in disaster response, do you have any ideas or
suggestions on how FEMA regulations could be updated to better
respond to the new reality of extreme weather and better
support to better response to wildfires?
Ms. Pipa. Thank you for the question, Senator. There are a
couple of ways that we can work together, and I think making
sure that folks are connected into the system and that not just
our agency but other nonprofits and for-profits and religious-
based entities are there, helping to extend the reach into each
one of those communities.
As we have seen, especially with the wildfire season over
the last couple of years, it has begun much earlier, it has
gone longer, and we have seen more ongoing destruction.
One of the things we look at is refreshing our workforce
and making sure that we have additional volunteers to come out
and support. At the same time, making sure that we are
connecting with FEMA, both at the State level and at the
national level, to make sure that we are aligned and that we
know that we are both covering the communities that need those
impacted and need the assistance in order to begin their
recovery process.
Senator Padilla. Thank you very much. I look forward to
following up with everybody. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Chairman Peters [Presiding.] Thank you, Senator Padilla.
Senator Ossoff, you are recognized for your questions.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR OSSOFF
Senator Ossoff. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to
our panelists in person and joining us remotely.
Ms. Pipa, I would like to discuss with you issues of
particular concern to my constituents in coastal Georgia. Just
a few weeks ago, I visited St. Marys in Camden County, Georgia,
and convened local leaders to discuss the community's readiness
for more intense tropical storms, storm surge events, coastal
inundation.
The good news is that the bipartisan infrastructure bill,
which the Senate passed last month, includes more than $12
billion for coastal resilience programs, improving drainage
infrastructure, marshland remediation, the weatherization of
public and private buildings, improvements to evacuation routes
to assist coastal communities like those in Georgia's Golden
Isles.
While these investments will help to mitigate the effects
of disasters, we also need a prepared public, prepared local
officials, and a robust and adaptable disaster response system.
I have two questions for you on this subject. The first is,
can you describe what the American Red Cross is doing with a
focus on the coastal Southeast and coastal Georgia to adapt
your organization and resource allocation for events like
those? The second question is, would you or a senior American
Red Cross executive commit to joining me for a roundtable with
local officials and community leaders in coastal Georgia to
help inform the public about steps they can take to prepare
themselves and to coordinate a better cross-jurisdictional
preparedness program for those kinds of events?
Ms. Pipa. Thank you for both questions. I think to the
first one, historically what we have seen is that there were
certain geographic areas of the country that took preparedness
seriously. We talk about the Gulf Coast. We talk about the West
Coast. As we have seen over the past five to six years, that
climate change is now exposing area that would not typically
take preparedness actions, to take them.
Part of what the Red Cross is doing is trying to reach all
of those communities with not only education that is in person,
in schools, to kindergartners, to second-grade with Pillowcase,
and then we have third through fifth with Prepared with Pedro.
But we also do it through an app now, that is just a free app
that folks can download.
One of the things we hear a lot in feedback is becoming
prepared is expensive. It is a cost allocation, and for a
family that is operating at or below the poverty level they do
not have the luxury of being able to build a kit and be
prepared. A lot of what we focus on are non-financial
components that they can take into account--communications
plans, as Sima talked about, making sure that you are calling
someone; copies of your documents; knowing a hurricane escape
route. There are absolutely no-cost preparedness actions that
each family along the coast can talk.
You talk about investing in a better infrastructure to
facilitate evacuations, right. As a family, we own part of that
responsibility to know how we need to get out of that area and
to listen to those officials.
So it is ongoing. We find that we educate parents but then
we also educate the kids at school, which takes it home to them
and helps. But what we see is messaging, time and time again,
especially from leadership and elected officials. As you start
into hurricane season it is a prime time. After a disaster you
have seen, from a national perspective, people are more
receptive to preparedness messaging and taking additional
preparedness actions. Those are all pieces that the American
Red Cross supports.
For your second question, for someone to commit to come
down, absolutely. We have a fantastic regional executive there
in Georgia or someone from National Headquarters would be happy
to join you and facilitate a roundtable.
Senator Ossoff. Thank you so much, ma'am. I appreciate that
commitment. I am looking forward to continuing to work with
you.
My next question is for Mr. Hancock, please. Mr. Hancock,
are you still with us?
Mr. Hancock. Yes.
Senator Ossoff. Excellent. Mr. Hancock, Georgia hosts about
24 million acres of forests and woodlands. Approximately 91
percent of this forest is privately owned. Georgia, therefore,
has more privately owned acres of timberland than any other
State in the Nation. I have heard consistently from private
forest landowners in Georgia who are struggling to adapt and
respond to natural disasters, that the resources are not in
place at the Federal level to ensure that they are made whole
and can continue with their work and the cultivation of what is
a crop after, for example, a major tropical storm that fells
forests or a major fire.
As we anticipate increasingly severe natural disasters,
like hurricanes and wildfires due to climate change, we will
have to commit greater resources to protecting and cleaning up
forestlands and remediating damage to forests, conducting site
preparation and replanting.
I discussed with Ms. Pipa the $12 billion in coastal
resilience investments in the bipartisan infrastructure bill.
Fortunately, we were also able to help secure--and I want to
give a shout-out to Senator Reverend Warnock, my colleague, for
his efforts on this front as well--more than $5 billion in the
bipartisan bill for forest management.
But can you please share, Mr. Hancock, your perspective as
a local environmental land and resources management
professional what Georgia managers and owners of forestry can
do to better prepare for natural disasters and what the Federal
Government can do to better support private landowners of
forests? Thank you.
Mr. Hancock. Yes. I think the answer to that is in
preparedness, and preparedness starts with identifying hazards
and potential hazards. Like I talked about with flood mapping,
there are large parts, two-thirds of the floodplains in the
country that are not mapped.
But the idea of the National Flood Hazard Mapping Program
is that these maps should be showing all hazards. That would
fit in with the forestry in Georgia, that maybe if they had
these flood maps that showed all hazards it would help people
be more prepared to respond to disasters, just so they know
that these disasters are a potential there.
Having data that makes for good maps is critical. One
example is precipitation frequency estimates, and that is
something that is typically done by NOAA, in something called
Atlas 14. In Atlas 14, the program for updating that is very
disjointed, and each part of the country has a different method
of getting money from States to help them or from the Federal
Government. Shoring up that program and making it whole across
the nation--I mean, there are parts of the country where the
rainfall data is 30 to 50 years old. If we could have a
consistent program and update that, say, like every five years,
people might be able to prepare better for disasters. It would
make mapping of these disasters much more efficient and
accurate.
I think that is the answer, is having better data to
prepare for these type of disasters.
Senator Ossoff. Thank you, Mr. Hancock, for your response.
Mr. Chairman, I yield.
Chairman Peters. Thank you, Senator Ossoff.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank our
witnesses for joining us today for this discussion. As we
commemorate National Preparedness Month, it is important that
we all take the time to hear from experts on how we can improve
our nation's preparedness at all levels of government. This is
increasingly important as climate change increases both the
frequency and the severity of extreme weather events in our
country.
I want to thank our witnesses for their testimony as well
as thank them and all emergency responders all across our
country as they have been working to address a very challenging
COVID-19 pandemic as well as all of the other disasters that we
face.
I also want to thank Ranking Member Portman for holding
this hearing with me, as well as all the great work that we
have been doing together on this topic.
The record for this hearing will remain open for 15 days,
until 5 p.m. on October 14, 2021, for the submission of
statements and questions for the record.
This hearing is now adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 11:24 a.m., the hearing was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
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