Extremely thick smoke from recent Canadian wildfires blanketed the Eastern Seaboard, prompting officials to issue air quality alerts. It refocused wide attention on the issue of fire pollution.
“We are concerned that the proposed rule could inadvertently hinder the ability of land managers to deploy prescribed fires that help California avoid the larger catastrophic wildfires that more significantly pollute the air and threaten public safety,” the legislators wrote in response to their support for tighter regulations.
Controlled burns are deliberately caused, tightly regulated fires with goals such as reducing potential fuel for uncontrolled fires, promoting growth, and reducing invasive species.
According to the letter, smoke from wildfires in the Golden State has pushed back much of the state’s progress on clean air, making it particularly vital to maintain prescribed burns as an option.
“The problem is, if you don’t do these controlled burns, you will have more catastrophic fires that blast way past anyone’s air quality standards. And that has become a chronic problem in Northern California year after year,” said Huffman.
Controlled burns produce smoke but are more manageable and less toxic than wildfire smoke.
“If regulators are not allowing us to use the most powerful tool we have to prevent those kinds of massive air quality violations, then we need to urge them to do better. That’s what this letter is all about,” Huffman said.
Restricting the use of controlled burns “would only exacerbate the risk of catastrophic wildfires that decimate communities and fundamentally undermine the air quality gains we are all working together to achieve,” the letter stated.
California has experienced some of the largest fires in state history and the negative health impacts of lingering wildfire smoke. These devastating fires have burned over 2.5 million acres of land, damaged 30,000 structures, and have been responsible for the destruction of entire communities.
Padilla grew up in a heavily polluted neighborhood of Los Angeles and dedicates his work to ensuring that every family in California and across the country can access clean air.
Padilla has also pushed for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to designate the impacted Southeast Los Angeles neighborhoods affected by the Exide Pollution as a Superfund site, which will help provide critical resources and expertise for a proper clean-up.