More than a million acres burned across Nebraska this year in what Senator Pete Ricketts described as the state's largest wildfires on record, with property losses and livestock deaths reported. The senator has introduced federal legislation aimed at preventing a repeat of this year's devastation.
Ricketts introduced the Pilot for Regional Emergency Prepositioning of Aerial Resources and Equipment (PREPARE) Act, which would establish a pilot program positioning firefighting aircraft earlier in the year. According to the senator, this would allow the aircraft to be ready when fires break out, rather than waiting until local resources are overwhelmed.
The legislation also targets fine fuels—prairie grasses that quickly burn in Nebraska. According to the senator, "The backbone of federal firefighting is aerial attack," referring to tanker planes and helicopters that drop water and fire retardant to suppress wildfires quickly and over large areas. The PREPARE Act would strengthen federal firefighting efforts at the U.S. Forest Service and Wildland Fire Service, Ricketts' office said.
The senator has also pursued recovery measures. He secured a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant covering 75 percent of firefighting costs from the South Forks Fire, which means local communities will not bear the entire cost of the wildfire. He worked with the Trump Administration to open grazing access at the Valentine National Wildlife Refuge, which he said past administrations had not opened to grazing.
After meeting with Nebraska ranchers affected by the fires, the Agriculture Department loosened requirements for replacing fence posts damaged in the fires, Ricketts said. He also introduced the Fencing Eligibility for New Conservation Equipment (FENCE) Act, which would allow virtual fencing to be used under the Emergency Conservation Program—a change he said farmers and ranchers had requested.