[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 80 (Wednesday, May 16, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H3984-H3985]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1030
                              TINDER FIRE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Arizona (Mr. O'Halleran) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. O'HALLERAN. Mr. Speaker, Arizona's First Congressional District 
is home to some of the most beautiful forests in the country, including 
the Grand Canyon, but paired with the dry conditions and high heat, the 
First District is historically home to some of the worst wildfires in 
the country.
  Earlier this month, my constituents in rural Arizona faced off 
against the Tinder Fire, which spread more than 16,000 acres before 
being mostly contained. It could have been far worse.
  I rise today to commend the hundreds of brave first responders, 
community leaders in Arizona and across the West, public safety 
officials, who worked tirelessly over the past 3 weeks to contain the 
fire and protect residents and their homes.
  It was their quick thinking and expert training that prevented this 
fire from spreading even further and destroying hundreds of homes.
  The fire, which was reported on April 27 by Coconino Forest 
officials, and before the fire even reached 50 acres on the second day, 
the decision was made to bring in the Type 1 Southwest Area Incident 
Management Team to oversee the firefighting efforts and safety efforts.
  This is unheard of for fires of this size, but it turns out that it 
was the right call.
  The Type 1 IMT team was able to set up a strong line of defense and 
get hotshots and firefighting crews on the ground to save hundreds of 
homes, ranches, and lives.
  This was not the only proactive measure that was taken during the 
early stages of the fire, Mr. Speaker.
  During my visit to the Type 1 incident command center earlier this 
month and to the fire site, the team shared with me their work. I have 
to extend my sincerest gratitude to the Coconino National Forest, 
Coconino County Sheriff's Office, and the county staff in their work.
  They saw the dry conditions in the area, they saw the weather report 
of high winds coming, and the decision to evacuate residents was made 
before the fire grew to a significant size. It was made correctly.
  They made this decision as that fire moved towards large 
subdivisions, and it was moving at a rate of 3 miles in 1.5 hours. The 
wind speeds were up to 50 miles an hour.
  This contributed to one of the smoothest evacuation efforts these 
teams have ever seen, and it made a difference. It saved lives.
  My team worked with local county and State officials to deliver 
information and resources to those who were evacuated to the centers.
  In addition to the more than 800 personnel on the ground, I want to 
thank the communities who stepped up to help from all across the 
Western United States and from all across Arizona. In both Coconino and 
Navajo Counties, businesses opened up their doors to evacuees and their 
livestock and their pets, and volunteers signed up to assist at 
evacuation shelters.
  It was interesting when I visited the site, the trees were not burned 
except for underneath. The fire was moving so

[[Page H3985]]

fast, that the crown fire did not occur, but you could see where the 
trees were bent and the needles on the tree were all pointing in the 
direction of the wind.
  The fire spread out throughout and then hit those homes, and then the 
homes went up in fire, over 3 dozen homes.
  Fighting efforts were aided by the work of homeowners. These 
residents over time had personally cleared fuel, like small trees and 
underbrush, from their home. They followed fire-wise community 
planning.
  Again, Mr. Speaker, I thank all of the brave men and women who worked 
to contain this fire.
  I would advise anybody to look into this more to understand the 
difficult conditions that they have to work in: 18 hours, 19 hours, 20 
hours on the line, going back to pup tents to sleep for a few hours, 
and then going back out into the field to save lives and save homes. 
Then after this fire, they will move right on to another one. That is, 
sadly, the condition of our forests in the West.
  This fire and the prevention of loss of life and death from other 
destruction was to be accomplished only by professionals who did this 
in a way that brought honor to their service.

                          ____________________