[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 21]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 29857]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               HONORING SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA FIRE FIGHTERS

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. HILDA L. SOLIS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 18, 2003

  Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak about the courage of 
fire fighters from Los Angeles County Fire Department. Firefighters in 
my community, from the cities of Azusa, Baldwin Park, Bradbury, 
Claremont, Covina, Duarte, El Monte, Glendora, Irwindale, Rosemead, San 
Dimas, South El Monte, Temple and Unincorporated areas of Los Angeles 
County, fought the fires and saved the lives and homes of countless 
people. Had it not been for the rapid response and bravery of 
firefighters, the loss of life, the damage to residents, housing, and 
commercial property would have been much worse.
  I am hopeful that if we learn one lesson from this horrible disaster, 
it will be that more financial resources need to go towards helping 
fire departments protect people. According to the Forest Service, more 
than 90 percent of wild land fires are the result of human activity, 
and fires are almost twice as likely to start near roads than in the 
wilderness.
  Even though they are adjacent to some of America's largest 
communities, Southern California forests only receive a fraction of the 
money they need to manage fire every year. Last year, Southern 
California forests received only $4 million out of the $53 million 
spent on California fire reduction--a mere 8 percent of the fire 
funding distributed to California's National Forests.
  The Southern California fires demonstrate that the federal government 
must spend its fire management dollars near communities. Firefighters 
should not be put in harms way when we can prevent future tragedies by 
making communities near forest areas.
  Our Nation is blessed with brave men and women who protect our 
homeland from every potential danger and the risk of their own safety 
to demonstrate their commitment to the state of California. They are 
true American heroes and I thank them on behalf of my constituents.

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