Ranking Member Dexter Fights for Community Led Fire Resilience

WASHINGTON, D.C— Today, Congresswoman Maxine Dexter, M.D. (OR-03), the Ranking Member of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, fought to uplift community-led fire resilience efforts to combat increasingly deadly wildfires during a committee hearing on forest management. Dexter, a critical care and lung physician, came to Congress to fight for clean air. She emphasized that any effective wildfire strategy must prioritize public health and community resilience over corporate interests. 

Read Ranking Member Dexter’s opening remarks, as prepared for delivery, below:   

“Thank you, Mr. Chair. And thank you to our witnesses for being here today.  

Wildfire has always been a natural part of ecosystems across the country, helping to sustain biodiversity and forest health.  

But what we’re facing now is different—wildfires are burning hotter, faster, and more unpredictably than ever, putting lives and entire communities at risk.   

This isn’t an abstract problem—it’s a crisis we know all too well in Oregon. We’ve seen entire neighborhoods reduced to ash, hazardous smoke choking our skies, and families forced to flee with nothing but what they could carry. And it’s not just the flames we have to worry about. A 2025 study found that between 2006 and 2020, smoke from climate-fueled wildfires was responsible for approximately 15,000 deaths in the United States. 

Vulnerable groups, such as children, older adults, pregnant people, and those who work outdoors, are especially at risk. The science is clear: climate change is driving this crisis. It’s increasing average temperatures, drying out vegetation, extending fire seasons, and contributing to pest and disease outbreaks that weaken forest health and increase flammability.   

Nearly a quarter of the contiguous United States is at moderate to very high risk of wildfire. This isn’t just a Western problem. More than 1,100 communities across 32 states share wildfire risk characteristics with Los Angeles and other areas that have recently experienced devastating urban wildfires.  

In fact, one-third of all homes in the United States are in the wildland-urban interface. These are places where homes and infrastructure meet undeveloped natural areas. That means millions of families are at risk, not just from wildfires themselves, but also from toxic smoke, displacement, and economic devastation.   

Some of the most catastrophic fire disasters in recent memory—the Pacific Palisades Fire in California, the Lahaina Fire in Hawaii in 2023, the Marshall Fire in Colorado in 2021, and the Almeda Drive Fire in Oregon in 2020—all share key features: their triggers likely involved human activity, they occurred near developed areas, and they were fueled by extreme wind events.   

If we neglect the built environment, communities will continue to be vulnerable regardless of how well we manage forests. We cannot keep repeating the same mistakes. 

We need proactive solutions like “Zone Zero” policies that prohibit combustible materials—such as brush, mulch, wooden fences, sheds, or outdoor furniture—within five feet of structures. At the same time, we must encourage home hardening techniques, including the use of fire-resistant roofing, ember-resistant vent and eave covers, and nonflammable exterior walls and siding. Studies show that the cost of constructing a fire-resilient home is nearly the same as that of a conventional home.  

Yet widespread adoption of these practices has been impeded by bureaucracy, limited resources, weak enforcement, and misinformation.  

The growing impact of urban wildfires is also disrupting the home insurance market.   

Between 2020 and 2023, homeowners saw insurance premiums increase by an average of 13 percent nationwide due to climate-related disasters.  In California alone, four of the five most expensive wildfires on record occurred between 2018 and 2022, causing major insurers to stop issuing new home insurance policies in the state. A 2021 study found that applying ecological forestry practices to appropriate areas could lead to a 41 percent drop in residential insurance premiums and save $21 million per year in reduced insurance losses.   

Science-backed practices like prescribed burning, selective thinning, and maintaining strategic fuel breaks have also proven effective in lowering wildfire risk. But we must also confront what doesn’t work: policies that prioritize corporate profits over public safety, gut environmental protections, or ignore the root causes of these megafires.  

In March, President Trump issued two executive orders expanding commercial logging on public lands. Logging operations that often leave behind flammable debris and remove large, fire-resistant trees, are making forests more vulnerable to catastrophic fire, not less. Annually less than 1 percent of wildfires intersect with Forest Service treated fuel-reduction zones, indicating that timber harvests are not an effective metric for safety or forest health. And let’s be clear: the Trump administration’s cuts to key wildfire prevention offices have also severely weakened our ability to prepare for and respond to fires.  

Hundreds of federal firefighters were laid off in February. And even if some of them are hired back, the broader loss of foresters, scientists, and natural resource managers means we won’t have the interdisciplinary workforce needed for effective wildfire resilience.  

Organizations like the Lomakatsi Restoration Project, which has been crucial in reducing wildfire risks across Oregon, northern California, and Idaho, were forced to pause operations due to federal funding freezes.    

DOGE is pouring gasoline on a fire while telling everyone they put it out. 

But there is hope. I’m encouraged that the Senate version of the Fix Our Forests Act provides crucial funding to support community-led wildfire resilience plans, enhances federal-tribal coordination, and promotes collaborative wildfire mitigation.  

These are steps in the right direction.   

To truly meet the moment, we need a comprehensive, science-based wildfire strategy—one that prioritizes resilience, forest health, and public safety over short-sighted policies that benefit the timber industry.  

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I yield back.” 

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