[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 109 (Tuesday, July 10, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8883-S8884]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           WESTERN WILDFIRES

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I will be very brief. I know we have so many 
important things to do dealing with this legislation, but I do wish to 
say something about what is going on in Nevada. We have a serious 
problem in Nevada, and it is fires. This is about the fourth year we 
have had these raging wildfires.
  It is so difficult. The smoke is so thick, helicopters cannot fly. 
Firefighters have been lost not knowing where they are fighting these 
fires. It is rough terrain. What people do not understand is, Nevada--
other than Alaska--is the most mountainous State in the Union. It has 
314 separate mountain ranges. We have 32 mountains over 11,000 feet 
high. Some of this terrain, where these fires are burning, is very 
difficult.
  We share Lake Tahoe with California. There was a raging fire there 
that lasted 2 weeks. It has now been put out. But they think that at 
least 400 structures have burned, with 275 or 300 homes burned to the 
ground.
  On a lot of the land in Nevada not many people live there. In spite 
of that, people do live there. It is rural, and fires have been raging. 
What has happened with the fires that have taken place in the past, we 
have these species that are foreign to the high deserts of Nevada. They 
start burning, they get into the low mountains, they get into the 
cedars and the pines and then start burning in the forests. That is 
what has happened in Nevada.
  In one fire we have had three lives lost. This fire burned so quickly 
that three grown men could not escape the fire. They were doing work on 
their farm. There was an 11-year-old boy. They saw the fire coming. 
They said, ``Run for your life,'' literally, and the 11-year-old boy 
ran and did survive. His family did not. They all died--three of them.
  I say this because we have shut down roads. In one part of Utah, 100 
miles of interstate were closed because of fires. Think about that: 100 
miles of interstate closed. People could not go. One reason was the 
smoke was so thick--not the fire, the smoke.
  There has been remarkable heroism, as there always is with these men 
and women who fight these raging fires.
  I quoted, a couple weeks ago, Edward Croker, a long past fire chief 
in the State of New York, who said:

       I have no ambition in this world but one, and that is to be 
     a fireman. Our proudest moment is to save lives. Under the 
     impulse of such thoughts, the nobility of the occupation 
     thrills us and stimulates us to deeds of daring, even of 
     supreme sacrifice.


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  The way fires are fought 100 years after this man said this is 
different than the way they used to be fought, but it still takes a 
great deal of courage and many times heroism to go forward in these 
areas where burning is taking place.
  So far, 245 square miles in northern Nevada have burned. That is a 
lot of ground: 245 square miles. Some of the fires are not under 
control yet. So I want the Record to reflect we have problems in the 
West. Some say it is because of global warming. Whatever the reason, we 
have never had fires such as we have had in the last 4 years in Nevada 
and I think in the West, generally.
  So I would finally say, long after the smoke has cleared, the 
accounts of bravery will still be told in Nevada.

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