A community wildfire defense program caught up in the Trump administration’s spending freezes should instead be expanded, an advocacy group told a House Natural Resources panel Thursday.
At a hearing on legislation to improve forest management and head off big wildfires, the nonprofit group Megafire Action said community wildfire defense grants should be changed to allow for home-hardening and defensible space projects that reduce the spread of fires in populated areas.
The testimony by Megafire Action puts a challenge before the Republican-led Congress: embrace a program funded through the Biden-era bipartisan infrastructure law and the Inflation Reduction Act, or follow the Trump administration’s lead toward leaving such efforts in local hands.
Community wildfire defense grants help local officials create wildfire defense plans, but they don’t cover measures to ensure homes are built with more fire-resistant material or properties designed with noncombustible landscaping, said Megafire Action CEO Matt Weiner.
