S. HRG. 110–262 2007 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES HEARING BEFORE A SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION SPECIAL HEARING NOVEMBER 27, 2007—SAN DIEGO, CA Printed for the use of the Committee on Appropriations ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/index.html U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 40–407 PDF WASHINGTON : 2008 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402–0001 COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS ROBERT C. BYRD, West Virginia, Chairman DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii THAD COCHRAN, Mississippi PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont TED STEVENS, Alaska TOM HARKIN, Iowa ARLEN SPECTER, Pennsylvania BARBARA A. MIKULSKI, Maryland PETE V. DOMENICI, New Mexico HERB KOHL, Wisconsin CHRISTOPHER S. BOND, Missouri PATTY MURRAY, Washington MITCH MCCONNELL, Kentucky BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota RICHARD C. SHELBY, Alabama DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California JUDD GREGG, New Hampshire RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois ROBERT F. BENNETT, Utah TIM JOHNSON, South Dakota LARRY CRAIG, Idaho MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas JACK REED, Rhode Island SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas FRANK R. LAUTENBERG, New Jersey WAYNE ALLARD, Colorado BEN NELSON, Nebraska LAMAR ALEXANDER, Tennessee CHARLES KIEFFER, Staff Director BRUCE EVANS, Minority Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, ENVIRONMENT, AND RELATED AGENICS DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California, Chairman ROBERT C. BYRD, West Virginia WAYNE ALLARD, Colorado PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont LARRY CRAIG, Idaho BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota TED STEVENS, Alaska BARBARA A. MIKULSKI, Maryland THAD COCHRAN, Mississippi HERB KOHL, Wisconsin PETE V. DOMENICI, New Mexico TIM JOHNSON, South Dakota ROBERT F. BENNETT, Utah JACK REED, Rhode Island JUDD GREGG, New Hampshire BEN NELSON, Nebraska LAMAR ALEXANDER, Tennessee Professional Staff PETER KIEFHABER GINNY JAMES RACHEL TAYLOR SCOTT DALZELL CHRIS WATKINS LEIF FONNESBECK (Minority) REBECCA BENN (Minority) CALLI DALY (Minority) Administrative Support KATIE BATTE (Minority) (II) CONTENTS Page Opening statement of Senator Dianne Feinstein .................................................. 1 Opening statement of Senator Wayne Allard ........................................................ 4 Statement of Bob Filner, U.S. Representative from California ........................... 5 Statement of Elton Gallegly, U.S. Representative from California ..................... 6 Statement of Scott Peters, council president, Chair on the City’s Committee on Rules, Open Government, and Intergovernmental Relations, and on the Budget and Finance Committee ................................................................... 8 Statement of Tracy Jarman, chief, San Diego Fire and Rescue .......................... 10 Statement of Ron Roberts, chairman, San Diego County Board of Supervis- ors .......................................................................................................................... 11 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 13 Statement of Dennis Hansberger, supervisor, San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors ....................................................................................................... 15 Statement of Bill Campbell, supervisor, Orange County Board of Supervis- ors .......................................................................................................................... 17 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 19 Statement of Mark Rey, Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environ- ment, U.S. Department of Agriculture ............................................................... 29 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 32 Statement of Nancy Ward, Director, Region 9, Federal Emergency Manage- ment Agency ......................................................................................................... 35 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 37 Statement of Ruben Grijalva, director, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection .............................................................................................. 40 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 42 Statement of Kim Zagaris, chief, Fire and Rescue Branch, Governor’s Office of Emergency Services ......................................................................................... 50 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 52 Statement of Jeff Bowman, fire chief, San Diego Fire-Rescue Department ....... 60 Statement of Skip and Linda Miller, victims in the San Diego fires .................. 73 Statement of Steve Poizner, commissioner, California Department of Insur- ance ....................................................................................................................... 75 Statement of Joe W. Carver, chief executive officer, San Diego/Imperial Coun- ty American Red Cross ........................................................................................ 78 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 80 Statement of Eric Larson, executive director, San Diego County Farm Bu- reau ....................................................................................................................... 81 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 83 Statement of Dr. Jon Keeley, Research Ecologist, Western Ecological Research Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Department of the Interior ............................ 84 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 86 Prepared statement of Senator Barbara Boxer ..................................................... 97 (III) 2007 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2007 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, ENVIRONMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES, COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, San Diego, CA. The subcommittee met at 9:30 a.m., in the City Administration Building, San Diego, California, Hon. Dianne Feinstein (chairman) presiding. Present: Senators Feinstein and Allard. Also present: Congressmen Filner and Gallegly. OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR DIANNE FEINSTEIN Senator FEINSTEIN. I’d like to introduce myself. My name is Dianne Feinstein, and I represent California in the Senate. Today, this is a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee, the Interior Subcommittee. The purpose of the hearing is to discuss the fires and hopefully take back to Washington with us some thoughts and ideas that we might be able to put into action to be of help. I’d like to take a mo- ment and just thank the city council. These are very noble accom- modations, and we thank you very much for the use of them. I’d also like to recognize the various members that have joined me this morning. First and foremost, of course, is Senator Wayne Allard on my immediate right. He is the Interior Subcommittee’s distinguished ranking member. As a senior Senator from Colorado, Senator Allard is well-versed in wildland fire issues, particularly as they relate to the wildland- urban interface. I know he’s going to be a valuable resource to me and to this subcommittee as we work to address the problem. I really do appreciate your willingness to come to California for this hearing. Senator ALLARD. Thank you. Senator FEINSTEIN. I also want to welcome Representative Elton Gallegly, who’s sitting on Senator Allard’s right, from the 24th con- gressional district. Congressman Gallegly represents much of Ven- tura and Santa Barbara Counties, which was hard hit by recent fire. Over an 18-day period from October 20 to November 6, more than 20 fires ravaged our State, burning over a half a million acres from Santa Barbara County to the United States-Mexican border. I see we are just joined by Bob Filner, who has represented Cali- fornia’s 51st Congressional District since 1992. His District in- (1) 2 cludes the southern half of the City of San Diego. So he is not only at home here, but he’s also well familiar with the problems of the area. Thank you very much, Bob, for being here today. Well, back to basics. These fires were responsible for 10 deaths, 139 injuries. They destroyed 2,180 homes, damaged another 385, and forced the evacuation of more than 950,000 people. That was the largest evacuation of California history. They caused nearly $1.5 billion of damage and cost Federal, State, and local governments nearly $200 million to contain. By any measure, this was a disaster of monumental proportions. Over this past weekend, we saw even more fire. This time, it was the Corral Canyon fire in Malibu. That fire started early Saturday morning and has burned nearly 5,000 acres. It has destroyed 53 homes and damaged another 34. CAL FIRE has had to deploy 1,156 firefighting personnel, 163 fire engines, and one helicopter. As a matter of fact, I was talking to a friend who was in Mendocino over the Thanksgiving holiday, and