[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 32 (Monday, August 14, 2000)]
[Pages 1806-1807]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Lunch With Firefighters in Burgdorf Junction, Idaho

August 8, 2000

    Scott, I want to thank you for this. And I want to thank Dave 
Alexander for making me feel welcome here. And I just want to say I 
appreciate what you're doing. I could have used this about 7\1/2\ years 
ago I think, when I got to Washington. There was a lot of underbrush 
that needed cutting there. [Laughter] I will treasure this for the rest 
of my life. Thank you.
    I wanted to begin today, if I might, by thanking your Governor, Dirk 
Kempthorne, for coming out here with me, and Senator Larry Craig and 
Helen and Mike--both your Members of Congress are here from Idaho. And 
I'm very grateful to them for that. Let's give them a hand for being 
here and for the support they've given you. [Applause]
    And of course, as Secretary Glickman said, our Secretary of 
Interior, Bruce Babbitt, came today, along with Louis Caldera, the 
Secretary of the Army, and Mike Dombeck, who is your chief of the Forest 
Service. And mostly we came here to say thanks.
    I got to fly over at least some of the fires, and it was early 
morning, and I know they haven't reared their ugly heads yet, but I have 
some sense of what you're doing. I also

[[Page 1807]]

got to see some places where you had succeeded in changing the course of 
the fire and limiting its reach, and I appreciate that very much. I know 
that Mother Nature will burn in our forests one way or the other, but it 
matters how it happens. It matters that people don't die. It matters 
that property is saved. It matters that precious and irreplaceable 
things are saved. And you're doing that.
    I know a lot of the firefighters have been working here for weeks 
and weeks, and probably for months. Given all the problems we've had 
with wildfires this summer, you probably know we've already lost 4 
million acres, which is about twice the 10-year average, before this. So 
we're in for a rough summer, and I know how hard it is on you.
    I'd also like to say a special word of appreciation to the people 
from the military who have come up from Fort Hood to teach you that one 
loud word in the English language. [Laughter] And I heard there are some 
marines here, too, somewhere, doing some work in this area, and I thank 
them. But obviously, I'm especially proud of this group from Fort Hood 
because their leader, Lieutenant Colonel Dell Williams, was my Army 
military aide before he got a real job with you guys. I told him today I 
was glad to see him having to do real work after having that White House 
job for a good while. But it didn't do him any permanent harm.
    So I thank you for your service. And I thank you for the work you're 
doing together. We're going to release today about $150 million in 
emergency funds to help continue to fight the fire and to help restore 
the area afterward. And I hope that restoration work will also lead to 
some jobs for the people in this area who have been disadvantaged by 
this fire.
    And I have asked the Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior to 
undertake an intensive 90-day study and report back to me about what can 
be done to minimize the impact of wildfires like this, because this 
thing was pretty well--thanks to most of you who have been doing this 
for years--this whole issue was much more in hand over the last 10 
years. And this has been a difficult year. And most of the people I talk 
to think that the next 2 or 3 years could also be difficult years. So we 
want to do whatever we can to make sure that we take care of the people, 
as well as the natural resource.
    But the main thing I did--I just wanted to get in the plane this 
morning and fly here and say thanks. I know this is hard, and I know a 
lot of you are a long way from home. I know some of you have to get, 
almost, permission to go back to where you come from just so you can pay 
the bills and keep them from turning off the water and the electricity.
    But I want you to know that your fellow Americans appreciate it. 
These fires have been very well publicized, and the American people know 
how they're being fought and who is fighting them. And you need to know 
that we're proud of you, and we're grateful to you.
    I know there was a terrible fatality, and there is a funeral today, 
and our prayers are with the family of the man who lost his life. This 
is hard, and I know it. And the main thing I wanted to do was just hop 
on Air Force One this morning at 6 o'clock so I could come over here and 
say thanks. You've done a good thing for your country and a good thing 
for your fellow Americans.
    Thank you very much.

 Note:  The President spoke at 11:55 a.m. in the Fire Incident Command 
Post in Payette National Forest. In his remarks, he referred to Scott 
Vail, incident commander, National Interagency Incident Management 
System Team One, who presented the President with a firefighter's axe; 
and Dave Alexander, forest supervisor, Payette National Forest.