California officials say the Trump administration’s effort to provide more water to firefighters is useless and that it won’t affect the response to the dozen-plus wildfires still raging through the state.
“We have absolutely no shortage of water,” Mike Mohler, deputy director at Cal Fire, the state’s firefighting agency, told the Washington Examiner. “There is no issue in Northern California, and there is no issue in Southern California with water. The directive has not impacted any of our operations statewide. It’s been status quo. The real issue is the dry conditions and explosive fire growth.”
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on Wednesday directed the National Marine Fisheries Service to allow for redirecting water set aside in California for endangered species protection to be used for fighting wildfires.
Environmentalists, plus water and fire experts were quick to criticize the move as an act of political posturing, since Ross appeared to be acting in response to tweets from President Trump this week in which he placed blame for the fires on the Democrat-led state government’s mismanagement of water. On Monday, he said California wildfires “are being made so much worse by the bad environmental laws which aren’t allowing massive amount of readily available water to be properly utilized.”
Governor Jerry Brown must allow the Free Flow of the vast amounts of water coming from the North and foolishly being diverted into the Pacific Ocean. Can be used for fires, farming and everything else. Think of California with plenty of Water – Nice! Fast Federal govt. approvals.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 6, 2018
Since Ross issued the directive, the Commerce Department and the White House have not explained how it would help federal, state, and local firefighters put out 13 large fires that Cal Fire officials say continue to burn as of Friday.
Asked to explain the rationale for a policy that firefighters say isn’t needed, the White House directed the Washington Examiner to the Commerce Department.
A Commerce Department spokesperson provided a statement that gave no further explanation.
“The Secretary provided clear guidance in his statement on August 8th to remove all doubt that Federal officials can respond to these devastating fires by exercising authorities provided in the law,” the person said.
The #CaliforniaWildfires are a direct threat to people & property and all measures available must be taken to protect both. Today, I directed the National Marine Fisheries Service to facilitate access to the water needed to fight these ongoing wildfires. https://t.co/YQD4FUqhrY
— Sec. Wilbur Ross (@SecretaryRoss) August 8, 2018
The administration never provided a clear explanation of what the directive entailed or how it was supposed to work, but it appears to pertain to a policy that diverts water away from people in Northern California in order to provide a habitat to preserve endangered fish species. California’s State Water Resources Control Board voted in July to allocate more of the state’s water for preserving fish populations, such as the Chinook salmon.
Some Republicans in Congress have called for a larger water allocation for farmers in California’s Central Valley, which has suffered from drought.
But state officials say water access is not a problem for California’s firefighting efforts. Hotter and drier weather from climate change is what’s making the fires worse, Gov. Jerry Brown and others say.
Cal Fire officials say major reservoirs are located near the worst fire areas. The Carr Fire, for example, is near Lake Shasta.
And water is not the primary means to fight fires.
Firefighters do use water as a secondary resource to put out wildfires. But, mainly, firefighters extinguish wildfires by building fire lines around them to contain their spread.
Robert Bonnie, who was the Department of Agriculture’s undersecretary of agriculture for natural resources and environment in the Obama administration, agrees that water access is not a relevant issue to wildfires.
Bonnie, who oversaw the U.S. Forest Service that manages federal forests, said it’s “unusual” for the federal government to try to dictate firefighting response policy during ongoing operations. He said U.S. Forest Service firefighters work “seamlessly” with state and local firefighters to fight major wildfires like the ones in California.
“When I was with the Department of Agriculture, we were not making operational calls with what happens on the ground,” Bonnie told the Washington Examiner. “Those folks know what they need. There is great coordination among all of the agencies.”
Bonnie said the Trump administration can help by providing more funding for forest management projects, which involve the removal of trees and vegetation in forests to take away fuel for fires. Trump and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke have said reducing barriers to these projects are key to managing wildfires.
Zinke and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on Monday plan to visit the site of the Carr Fire in Redding, Calif., the most deadly of the wildfires that has killed eight people.
“Our job as policy folks is to give the firefighters the resources they need, and to do good work in advance so the forests are in good shape,” Bonnie said. “When you are in August and fires are burning, it’s a little too late.”
Mohler, the Cal Fire official, said firefighters are too busy to worry about policy debates.
“At Cal Fire, we are not into the politics,” he said. “Our job is to protect life and property in the state of California. We don’t pay attention to [the federal government’s] message. We have to move forward and do what’s right operationally.”
