美国国家公共电台 NPR Politics Of Wildfires: Biggest Battle Is In California's Capital

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Here in California, these massive wildfires are setting records for the second year in a row. And state leaders here are scrambling 1 to close some gaps in the law. They're hoping this might help curb 2 future fires or make the difference between life and death once a blaze breaks out. They're rushing to do this before the legislative 3 session ends this month. From member station KQED in San Francisco, Marisa Lagos reports.

MARISA LAGOS, BYLINE 4: Patrick McCallum is no stranger to Sacramento. He's a lobbyist in the state capital, representing community college districts.

PATRICK MCCALLUM: But on the morning of October 9 at 4:02 in the morning, our smoke alarms went off in our bedroom and woke Judy and I up. And she started screaming.

LAGOS: McCallum's Sonoma County house was in the path of the biggest blaze that broke out north of San Francisco last fall.

MCCALLUM: And I jumped out of bed, and, looking down the hallway, we saw our house on fire. And we ran.

LAGOS: Nearly a year later, McCallum now finds himself embroiled 5 in one of the biggest political debates of the year in California - how state officials should respond to the ferocious 6 wildfires that have repeatedly swept through the state. The questions plaguing California lawmakers are challenging many Western states - whether electrical utilities should pay if their equipment starts fires, how to shore up emergency alert systems and how to prevent fires through better forest management.

HANNAH-BETH JACKSON: We have looked at fire as an enemy.

LAGOS: But that's a problem, says State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson. She represents Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties, which were devastated 7 by the enormous Thomas fire last December.

JACKSON: We have been doing less and less to try to clear vegetation, to do controlled burns. And as a result, we have conditions that are seeing them - the fruition with these enormous and out-of-control fires.

LAGOS: Jackson says, after years of inaction, everyone in California is finally at the table, including environmental groups. There's widespread support for bills like hers that would expand prescribed burns and other forest management practices on both public and private lands. Jackson also has a bill that would let counties automatically enroll 8 residents in emergency notification systems. She notes that technology has changed.

JACKSON: We rely upon people's cell phones, so we've got to adapt. And that's what this program will hopefully do.

LAGOS: At the national level, there's also political maneuvering 9 over fires. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen visited a fire zone in Northern California earlier this month and promised to start providing federal emergency funding earlier, while California's U.S. Senator Kamala Harris spoke 10 about her push to expand federal funding for both fighting and preventing wildfires during a recent tour of a fire area.

KAMALA HARRIS: Let's also invest resources in things like deforestation and getting rid of these dead trees and doing the other kind of work that is necessary to mitigate 11 the harm that is caused by these fires.

LAGOS: It's a rare issue that's received bipartisan support. Several bills are before the U.S. Congress, including one that's backed by senators from 10 other states, many of them in the fire-prone West. The federal money those bills could bring is important. California has blown through its firefighting budget in seven of the last 10 years and is on track to do so again. This fiscal 12 year started just six weeks ago, and the state has already spent three-quarters of its firefighting budget for the entire year. For NPR News, I'm Marisa Lagos in San Francisco.

(SOUNDBITE OF BOSSK'S "THE REVERIE")