[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 10174]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              ERSKINE FIRE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. McCarthy) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, for nearly 2 weeks now, a wildfire has 
raged throughout my district. High heat, dry winds, and a long drought 
conspired together, enabling a fire that has burned tens of thousands 
of acres, hundreds of homes, and taken the lives of two people.
  I did not know Byron and Gladys McKaig personally, but I have heard 
about them and learned a small part of their story. They were good and 
loving people. They met in a church. He was an Episcopal priest and she 
played the organ. Byron would preach; Gladys would play. They helped 
their friends and each other grow closer to God.
  They died, it seems, from smoke. A neighbor said he spotted them, 
after the fire, lying out in front of their house near their fence. The 
trees were still burning. Byron looked as if he were shielding his wife 
from the coming flames. It was one last act of sacrifice for the woman 
he spent his life loving. Such people are a gift to everyone they meet.
  As our community struggles now to return to a sense of normalcy, 
faced with the immense task of rebuilding after so much loss, we have 
our firefighters, police officers, and first responders to thank that 
this disaster was not worse. For days, with little sleep and near 
exhaustion, they kept the flames at bay. They remind us how willingly 
some face danger to protect others. We are forever thankful to them.
  We continue to pray for those suffering from the loss of their 
businesses, their homes, their families, and their friends. Our 
community always has and always will stand strong in the face of 
disaster as we rebuild.

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