[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 20]
[Senate]
[Pages 28101-28103]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES

  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, either my colleague Senator Boxer or I 
have updated the Senate each day on the California wildfire situation. 
Senator Boxer is in California now, and I believe the President is as 
well. I wish to give a brief update to the Senate.

[[Page 28102]]

  So far, this is the largest evacuation of people in California 
history. It is the largest evacuation in the United States since 
Katrina. San Diego remains the worst of the burning regions.
  As of this morning, the President has approved individual assistance 
programs that will allow FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, 
to make payments for rental assistance, home repair, and pay for some 
home replacement costs.
  As soon as the fires die down and the wind in places is easing, FEMA 
will set up centers. I urge Californians, who have been evacuated from 
their homes, who have had their homes partially burned or burned to the 
ground, to go to FEMA centers and see what assistance is available to 
you.
  This morning, on television, I heard a family speak. I think they are 
from Escondido. I think they have a few acres--12. They had a home. 
They have children. The home was burned down, but the father said: We 
have fire insurance.
  Then I heard of another family, with four young children, and no fire 
insurance. The father has no relatives in the area. Fortunately, the 
wife has a mother with whom the family will be in the near term. But 
they said: We don't know what we will do.
  For those people who are in the ``We don't know what we will do'' 
category, this is the job of FEMA, to be out there, to open those 
centers, and to offer help and aid to these people.
  So please, Californians, use this.
  More than 950,000 people have been ordered evacuated.
  More than 420,000 acres have burned. That is roughly 656 square 
miles. If you think of it, it is a huge area.
  More than 6,000 firefighters are battling 19 active fires. They range 
from north of Los Angeles to San Diego, and they have crossed the 
Mexican border.
  More than 1,155 homes have been destroyed and 68,000 are threatened.
  Two deaths are reported so far. I believe there are others.
  Now, if the winds die down today, we will be able, hopefully, to get 
a handle on it. The vast bulk of the damage now is occurring in 
populated areas.
  The good news: The canyon fire in Malibu is 75 percent contained.
  The bad news: Most of the other fires are uncontained and out of 
control.
  Interstate 5, the main artery between San Diego and Los Angeles, was 
closed in both directions earlier, near Camp Pendleton, because of 
smoke. Northeast of San Diego, the town of Julian has been evacuated.
  I am particularly concerned about the coming days and the Herculean 
task of feeding, caring, and providing shelter to hundreds of thousands 
of displaced Californians. We have more than 10,000 in Qualcomm 
Stadium, another 2,000 at the clubhouse at the Del Mar Race Track.
  The Red Cross is doing great. Thank you, Red Cross. Thank you, Red 
Cross volunteers. They are manning at least three shelters that I know 
about, and up to this point food, water, and sanitary facilities have 
been adequate.
  I think there is a lot of food for thought for Californians in what 
is happening in terms of the future, and perhaps it is too early to 
begin to talk about it.
  I do not think there is any blame to be cast on anyone. I think 
everyone is responding: the Governor, the mayors, Homeland Security, 
FEMA, and, of course, the President. I am very grateful for this, and I 
know I am joined by my colleague Senator Boxer. She will be back 
tonight, and I know she will have stories to tell on the floor of the 
Senate tomorrow.
  But I think we need to think a little bit in the future, particularly 
those of us who come from local government. I spent 18 years in local 
government, 9 as a county supervisor and 9 as a mayor, and there is one 
thing I know, and that is that local governments control zoning. I 
think the local governments have to begin to look at their zoning about 
the siting of new housing developments in floodplains in the northern 
part of the State, around levees and the siting of large subdivisions 
in the path of Santa Ana winds in parched, dry areas of the State where 
these winds blow hard and hot.
  In this case, at least up to this point, we believe power lines blew 
down. The winds were so forceful they actually turned large container 
trucks on their side, and the fires were so strong and burned so hot 
that they melted the metal of automobiles so that, literally, nothing 
was left. It could sweep off of a ridge and within minutes come down 
that ridge and just devour homes and take pieces of board, which are 
called embers, and send them a mile or two away to start a new fire.
  In San Diego 4 years ago, there was the cedar fire. It destroyed 
2,000 homes. And now there is this fire in the same area.
  So the question comes: Would local officials be well advised to take 
a look at zoning codes and to begin to protect areas that are prone to 
catastrophic wildfire from housing developments?
  Secondly, community fire plans. Community fire plans are very good. 
Communities can come together--they did it in the cedar fire area, and 
they have done it quite successfully--to be able to establish fire 
plans: how they keep a fire break from their house, what they can take 
down, the kind of ground cover they should have, the kind of roof that 
is fire resistant, the siding that is fire resistant--and actually get 
some Government help to implement these fire plans. This is now going 
on in the Nevada Tahoe area and in the California Tahoe area as well.
  So I believe very strongly that local officials should exercise their 
zoning control to see that citizens in the future are protected by 
staying out of heavily fire-prone and heavily flood-prone areas. I will 
be having more to say about that in the future.
  It is also pretty clear to me that we have to develop some 
Government-helped catastrophic insurance. I have been very concerned. 
Allstate Insurance Company pulled out of California, and they pulled 
out of California because they said: It is catastrophe prone, it is 
fire prone, it is earthquake prone, and we--Allstate--don't want any 
part of it. So they are not insuring in California any longer. This 
must not be allowed to happen. Companies must not be allowed to cherry-
pick the United States and only insure areas that are safe and secure 
and say to other areas: You are on your own.
  So we are kind of rethinking this area. I think the State of 
California, which has an earthquake authority which helps underwrite 
insurance in earthquake-prone areas, perhaps should also develop a 
flood and fire authority where they can enter into the same kind of 
undertaking. Just think about what it would be like to have four 
children standing in front of a television camera and saying: My house 
burned down. With it, all my possessions, all my children's 
possessions, all our photographs and albums and memories, and virtually 
everything we held dear, and we have no insurance. Think about it. 
Think about how you would feel if you were in that situation.
  So I think there is going to be a lot of food for thought coming out 
of these fires in terms of public policy, and I am delighted that my 
colleague, Senator Boxer, is there, and I look forward to her report 
tomorrow. I believe we will have much more to say about the public 
policy that goes into the future for our State and other States that 
are catastrophe prone.
  I will just tell my colleagues one other little story. I received a 
call a while ago from the head of the San Francisco Fine Arts Museum 
saying that they had an opportunity to bring two paintings to show in 
San Francisco from the Met, and the insurance for those two paintings 
was $8 billion, just to bring them out for show. Why? Because insurance 
was being denied because California was a catastrophe-prone area. This 
is just one other example of what is ricocheting out there under the 
surface now, and I think this body has to become involved. Any one of 
us can have a catastrophe. Any one of us can have a major bombing. Any 
one of us can have a major earthquake, a major flood, or major fires. I 
think it is up to us to see that we have in place the regulations and 
the laws that enable people to get the insurance they need on a cost-
effective basis to be able to restore their lives and rebuild once 
again.

[[Page 28103]]

  I thank the Chair, and I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alabama is recognized.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Is there any pending business?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. We are in morning business, with Senators 
recognized for up to 10 minutes.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, I wish to speak in morning business. 
Before I do, I just want to express my concern and sympathy to Senator 
Feinstein and the people of California. It has been horrendous. I 
caught some of it last night, and my wife has been watching it off and 
on all day. It is a horrifying spectacle to see the power of that fire 
and the helplessness you face when the winds are right. I think it 
does, I say to the Senator, indicate, as she has suggested, whether we 
are talking about hurricanes or earthquakes or fires or floods, we can 
probably do a better job with policy and reaction to that. I look 
forward to working with the Senator from California.

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