The fires burning in Los Angeles County have already destroyed at least 12,000 structures, including thousands of homes, and claimed at least 27 lives. All of these numbers are expected to rise as crews move through areas consumed by the fire, assess the damage and search for remains.
Such devastation should serve as a wakeup call for all levels of government to create more proactive disaster prevention and response plans. This will require a collaborative effort of every level government, from Congress and the president all the way down to local governments and individual citizens. While many fires in California and the West begin on federally managed land, it is local communities -- including homes and businesses -- that are at the greatest risk of destruction. Moreover, local and state personnel are usually the first to arrive on the scene, risking their lives in the opening rounds of a fight against Mother Nature's fury.
All levels of society and government also bear the collective responsibility for how we got here. Too many individuals have long ignored their responsibilities to clear brush while punishing elected officials who propose tax increases for fire resilience. Cities and counties have too often ignored the lack of proper evacuation routes, interdepartmental emergency management trainings and the lack of funding for firefighting personnel, equipment and infrastructure. And states have refused to force electric utility lines underground or to provide sufficient maintenance inspections -- effectively granting monopolies over certain utilities while leaving the industry to regulate itself. We all have to step up and do our part.
Yet, there is a special role for Congress to play -- an opportunity for transformative change in our approach to natural disasters, that will protect American lives, property and the U.S. economy.
The U.S. Coast Guard was established in 1790 and charged with saving lives and ensuring commerce can be conducted safely via America's waterways. The service has a $13 billion annual budget; owns and maintains 4,500 boats, vehicles and aircraft; and employs 44,000 active-duty personnel, 7,000 reservists, 31,000 uniformed volunteer auxiliary and 8,500 full-time civilian support personnel.
By contrast, America's wildfire response relies on a $2.9 billion budget used to maintain a small handful of aerial tankers and a small fleet of aging trucks, along with employing fewer than 15,000 wildland firefighters -- barely more than New York City's fire department. Worse, most woodland firefighters are seasonally employed and lack the security and benefits of full-time employment as firefighters -- and with it the chance to develop their skills and a career saving our nation from disaster. This imbalance is unsustainable as wildfire seasons grow longer and more destructive.
The U.S. Senate Joint Economic Committee released a report last year which found that wildfires cost the economy $394 billion to $893 billion a year and lead to hundreds of thousands of lost jobs. These numbers are only going to get worse as the size, intensity and frequency of fires increase. The mismatch between the losses -- in lives and property -- and the relative pittance we spend to combat fires is gut wrenching.
A federal agency modeled after the Coast Guard could transform wildfire management and enable a rapid response to emerging fires. Such an agency would also generate economic benefits by bringing jobs, educational opportunities and investment to rural communities, while developing local pipelines of skilled workers dedicated to safeguarding lives and property. Many of these skills would be transferable to other forms of disaster.
Thousands of woodland firefighters should be staged around the country ready to respond to fires at a moment's notice. And when not fighting fires, they could be busy managing controlled burns to make wildfires less likely in the first place.
Las Vegas would be an ideal place to stage, say, 5,000 woodland firefighters. They would be an hour's flight from any location in California, Utah and Arizona, 90 minutes from Oregon, Idaho, Colorado and Wyoming. And of course available here. Moreover, staging a firefighting force here would be natural because Nellis Air Force Base can support firefighting aircraft in a time of need. The situation in Los Angeles would have been significantly different had 5,000 additional firefighters arrived in the first hours.
While the new agency fights to save lives and property, Congress can help Americans weather the immediate aftermath of a disaster by modernizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
FEMA does a heroic service with an antiquated model. But we must modernize it to expand the regional staging of emergency supplies, building materials and personnel, ensuring that every region has enough resources and temporary shelter to survive increasingly unpredictable and widespread disasters that bring a wider variety of long-term challenges.
Among those challenges is the new reality that disasters may now threaten entire industries in ways that could have ripple effects across the U.S. and global economy. Industries that once benefited from geographic concentration now run the risk of being entirely shut down by a large-scale regional natural disaster.
For example, 2024's Hurricane Helene caused shortages of everything from IV solutions to solar panels. Those shortages extended across the U.S. and in some instances continue to be felt today.
Congress should evaluate these threats proactively by assessing which U.S. industries are geographically concentrated and where. Similarly, a more robust understanding of the nation's transportation system is needed to understand which goods and services rely on specific highways, rail lines and ports. That information can be used to more effectively prepare for and respond to regional disasters.
Finally, Congress can ensure that communities and businesses are able to rebuild by reforming the insurance industry's response to natural disasters.
One critical issue exposed by the wildfires is the fragility of the insurance market in disaster-prone areas. Insurers are retreating from states where wildfires and hurricanes render underwriting untenable. Homeowners face skyrocketing premiums or lose coverage altogether, leaving them vulnerable to financial ruin when disaster strikes.
California's recent reforms -- allowing insurers to consider fire-hardening measures and use catastrophe models for rate setting -- are steps in the right direction. However, these efforts must be scaled nationally and coupled with fully funded federal disaster coverage modeled on the National Flood Insurance Program but expanded to cover wildfires and other types of natural disasters. Additionally, some level of federal reinsurance is needed to protect the solvency of the insurance industry in the wake of large-scale disasters.
Every homeowner should have access to affordable disaster coverage, which would stabilize housing markets and protect families. Without decisive action, the $1.7 trillion gap between insured losses and actual home values in high-risk areas will only grow, threatening the nation's economic health and stability.
The temptation to politicize disaster relief is both cruel and counterproductive. Natural disasters do not recognize state or party lines, and neither should our response. The time for Congress to take action and create a robust federal plan to address the growing threat of natural disasters is now.