WASHINGTON — As firefighters continue to battle the Los Angeles County fires, California Sen. Alex Padilla has announced a series of measures to increase pay for firefighters and provide housing for those affected by the disaster. A bill is being submitted. This could later further increase the state’s affordable housing supply.
“Just like the firefighters who are on the scene right now, we must help with the response and recovery,” Padilla told the Times in an interview in his U.S. Senate office.
His proposal, the Disaster Housing Reform for American Families Act, would link two of California’s top priorities: wildfire assistance and affordable housing.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency plans to provide trailers and other temporary housing to many of the thousands of people who lost their homes in the wildfires. Padilla’s bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), would require the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Housing and Urban Development to provide long-term, affordable, functioning housing. The content requires prompt establishment. housing.
“We can be a little smarter about this and allow the use of modular housing, manufactured housing, which is itself a little more sustainable and more resilient,” he said. “Once the disaster is over and people start returning to their communities, we may be able to utilize them and keep them local for affordable housing.”
Padilla said the measure could serve as “another tool in the toolbox,” noting that some landlords have already raised prices in the wake of the fires.
Another measure, the Fire Suppression and Response Funding Guarantee Act, would expand funding from FEMA for firefighting equipment deployed before disasters. This bill would allow FEMA to better cover these resources during periods of high wildfire risk and before a disaster occurs.
“We know that in California, when it’s hot and dry and windy, disasters happen. So we can predict those conditions. We have the right people and equipment in place just in case.” Let’s start putting them in place,” Padilla said, adding that he is checking the progress of the fire hourly on the WatchDuty app. “If we can ensure that this program recovers at least 75% of that, that’s a big incentive for state and local governments to do it without worrying too much about their budgets.”
Padilla recalled a trip he took with the former FEMA administrator to assess wildfire damage in 1996 as a staffer for the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). Since then, he noted, leaders have learned a lot about fire prevention techniques, such as building with non-combustible materials and removing brush from homes.
Padilla is also reinstating the Wildland Firefighter Pay Protection Act, which he introduced in the last Congress but did not pass, to increase pay for federal firefighters, including premium pay for firefighters fighting long fires. Firefighter pay has been the subject of legislation in recent years, with President Biden increasing the minimum wage for wildland firefighters from $13 to $15 an hour in 2021. Padilla’s bill aims to strengthen the Forest Service’s ability to recruit and retain firefighters. Promise higher pay.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, federal firefighters earn slightly less on average than state and local firefighters. Unsurprisingly, California has the highest number of firefighters and the highest salaries of any state. According to a 2019 BLS study, the average annual salary in California was $84,370.
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