The Environmental Protection Agency may have started the “War on Fire Trucks,” but Sen. John McCain of Arizona helped end it — but not before losing tens of thousands of acres of trees at one of his state’s parks.
The Republican senator issued a detailed “wrapup” on Tuesday of all the regulations being imposed on his state by the EPA and other agencies, including climate rules and expensive regulations for controlling smog and regional haze. But among the regulations targeting specific types of pollution was EPA’s seemingly random fire truck ban, which McCain deemed “a war.”
The “war on fire trucks” is an avenue of EPA restrictions that affected McCain’s state in a unique way, as it would prevent Arizona from battling wildfires because the vehicles needed would violate emission rules.
According to the wrapup, the EPA banned the transfer of fire trucks and related vehicles from the Department of Defense to Arizona firefighters at the height of the wildfire season.
“Roughly $150 million worth of surplus military equipment is transferred to local fire departments every year,” the document said. “In the summer of 2014, during the middle of an active wildfire seasons, the EPA forced the Department of Defense to halt two programs that donate surplus military trucks and other equipment used to fight wildfires by rural fire departments.
“Why would the EPA ban such an important program? The EPA was worried that the fire trucks might not meet vehicle emission standards,” the wrapup said. “Of course, the EPA neglected to consider that smoke from wildfires is extremely toxic and releases many tons of harmful chemicals and ash. The EPA’s own studies show that exposure to these chemicals can cause asthma, [and other breathing disorders], childhood respiratory disease and other public health hazards.”
McCain said the “EPA’s ban on surplus equipment” occurred when a fire in Arizona’s Slide Rock State Park was at its height, resulting in 21,227 acres of scorched earth. He said at the time, fire departments around the nation had spoken out against the ban on firefighting equipment.
He said he and 24 other senators responded by sending Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel an urgent letter asking him to end the EPA’s ban to allow the equipment transfer to go through.
“Within days of Senator McCain’s letter, DOD and EPA reached an agreement to allow a transfer of the military equipment,” according to the McCain regulatory wrapup.
McCain in a letter that accompanied the report said citizens must remain vigilant against these regulations even as President Obama’s time in office comes to an end. “We must not cease in our efforts to undo the red tape that stifles growth and innovation across Arizona,” he said.
The document was released as McCain is facing a re-election fight in his state against Democrat Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick’s bid to join the Senate. RealClearPolitics showed McCain holding a near 14 percentage point lead over Kirkpatrick.
