APCIA and Coalition Urge the Senate to Approve Fix Our Forests Act

WASHINGTON - The American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA) released the following statement urging support for the Fix Our Forests Act. This statement may be attributed to Sam Whitfield APCIA's senior vice president of federal government relations.

"Wildfire events affecting communities have grown in severity and number over the last years. These catastrophic events are wide-spread, impacting communities across the country. Federal reforms are needed to prevent these fires from wreaking such devastation. The Fix Our Forests Act is a critical step to address these concerns and reduce wildfire risk, harden the built environment, safeguard lives, and protect communities."

The House passed its bipartisan bill (H.R.471), led by Reps. Bruce Wasterman and Scott Peters in January, and in April Sens. John Curtis, John Hickenlooper, Tim Sheehy, and Alex Padilla introduced a similar version (S.1462).

"APCIA appreciates that both the House version of the Fix Our Forest Act and the Senate bill closely align with many of the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission recommendations, including provisions that seek to reduce the fuel loads in our nation's forests and rangelands, to help prevent utility infrastructure from igniting fires by enabling more active vegetation management and removal of hazardous trees in federal rights-of-way, and to support community wildfire risk reduction. We encourage the Senate to take swift action and pass their version, which also would promote fire-resistant building codes, methods and standards.

"Congress has the opportunity to act now, before the next fire. Inaction consigns us to an ever-increasing cycle of loss."

APCIA is among a wide-ranging coalition of 22 organizations that sent a letter calling for the Senate to pass the Fix Our Forests Act. The letter is available here .

APCIA, along with other insurance trade groups, sent a letter to the Senate earlier this year.