Fresno City Councilmember Luis Chavez

Every fire season, state and federal officials battle environmental groups over how to prevent wildfires, a tug-of-war between protecting communities or the environment.

Year after year, residents of the Central Valley are excluded from these conversations. Unfortunately, we are used to seeing our needs fall to the bottom of the priority list — we aren’t Los Angeles or San Francisco. But just because we are often overlooked in times of crisis does not mean we will stop speaking up for our needs.

These catastrophic wildfires pose significant public health concerns in the Central Valley that remain long after the last fire is extinguished.

The San Joaquin Valley is uniquely placed between mountain ranges, creating a 250-mile-long basin that essentially traps air pollution in. This means that smoke from wildfires eventually makes its home in the San Joaquin Valley, leaving our lungs to bear the brunt of every blaze.

As a result, the American Lung Association ranks several Central Valley communities as having the worst air quality in the nation. One out of every six children in the Central Valley suffers from asthma as a result of our air quality, and elderly people in our communities are far more susceptible to life-threatening respiratory complications. Our most vulnerable populations suffer year-round from the damage done during fire season.

Given the severe impact these wildfires have on our communities, we deserve a seat at the table when discussing wildfire prevention. One important tactic in reducing the severity of a fire is the implementation of connected fuel breaks on private lands.

While the implementation of fuel breaks is already taking place on federal lands due to funding appropriated in the previous Congress, it’s critical funding for these projects be extended to private landowners with adjoining properties as well. Wildfires don’t respect property lines.

This public-private partnership would allow the thousands of miles of private land that borders federal lands to be connected by a system of strategically placed fuel breaks, providing better exit routes for residents during evacuations, and would allow firefighters better access to fires from both the ground and air. Fuel breaks are also an incredible tool to naturally mitigate and manipulate the spread of fires as the severe reduction in fuel forces the fire to burn at lower temperatures, spreading at a slower pace.

As Congress begins to lay out the framework for the 2023 Farm Bill, I urge members of Congress to consider this commonsense approach of wildfire mitigation. Immediate funding for these projects could result in a milder fire season, and continued funding for the maintenance of these projects could be a long-term solution for improving the air quality in the Central Valley.

My hope is that in the near future, children in the Central Valley can breathe cleaner air, but real change must be made. Thankfully, commonsense solutions are on the table.

---

Luis Chavez is the District 5 representative on the Fresno City Council.