[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 60 (Tuesday, May 16, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H3056-H3057]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   INCOMPETENCE CAN CAUSE DEVASTATION

  (Mr. GIBBONS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GIBBONS. Mr. Speaker, one of the worst wildfires in history rages 
continually out of control in New Mexico today and so far has burned 
over 10,000 acres of land in that State. And it is the National Park 
Service who is to blame. Thousands of residents have been evicted, 
hundreds of homes have been destroyed or damaged and the

[[Page H3057]]

lives of these families threatened. Yet all of this devastation and 
upheaval could have been prevented if the National Park Service had not 
blatantly ignored key information.
  The National Weather Service informed the Park Service hours before a 
controlled burn was to begin that weather conditions were actually a 
blueprint for spreading a fire. But in spite of this warning, the fire 
was started, anyway.
  Our heartfelt sympathies go out to all those families who have lost 
everything as a result of this man-made disaster and our deepest 
appreciation goes out to the firefighters now risking their lives 
battling a wildfire which should never have occurred.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the negligence and incompetence of the 
National Park Service, an agency supposed to be responsible for 
protecting our national land.

                          ____________________