May 1, 2020 3:20 a.m.
Oregon’s U.S. Senators, along with a group of nine other Democrats from the western U.S., are pressing the Forest Service on planning efforts to protect communities and firefighters heading into the upcoming wildfire station amid the COVID-19 crisis.
The group sent a letter to Forest Service Chief Vicki Christiansen on Thursday.
Their letter said the impacts of COVID-19, combined with high levels of drought throughout the west, will create unprecedented wildland firefighting challenges and may hurt numerous rural areas across the country. They said that could make “the 2020 wildfire season potentially one of the most threatening seasons to date”. The letter said the pandemic “is placing unprecedented demands upon agencies that provide essential public services”.
The senators asked about the Forest Service plans to:
*coordinate with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and state and local health departments to ensure communities impacted by wildfire smoke have access to health care and related supports.
*maintain core operations, while limiting exposure to and transmission of the virus to agency employees and non-agency personnel.
*continue planning and implementing forest management and hazardous fuels reduction activities to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires, while preventing the spread of COVID-19 and more.