REPS. GARAMENDI AND WHITESIDES INTRODUCE BIPARTISAN BILL TO ENHANCE WILDFIRE RESPONSE

Washington, June 29 -- Congressman John Garamendi issued the following press release:

Today, Congressman John Garamendi (D-CA-08) and Rep. George Whitesides (D-CA-27), Lance Gooden (R-TX-05), Salud Carbajal (D-CA-24), and Jason Crow (D-CO-06) introduced the bipartisan Wildfire Response Modernization Act. This bill would expand the United States government's ability to detect, track, and combat new wildfires.

Last year, Reps. Garamendi and Whitesides introduced the FireGuard Reauthorization Act, which authorized the Department of Defense to use their satellites to detect wildfires and distribute information to firefighting efforts on the ground. The program has detected numerous fires in the critical first moments that they break out, and ...