Rep Min: “I’m pleased to be leading this bipartisan effort to make Orange County safer”
Washington, D.C. —Today, Representatives Dave Min (CA-47) and Young Kim (CA-40) introduced the Building Resiliency and Understanding of Shrublands to Halt (BRUSH) Fires Act to improve wildfire mitigation in shrubland ecosystems and ensure first responders have the tools necessary to combat extreme brush fires, like Los Angeles’s devastating January 2025 fires. Fox 11 News first reported on the bipartisan effort. Watch here.
“The recent LA wildfires illustrated the massive and unique wildfire risks that Southern California communities face,” said Rep. Min. “As climate change has accelerated, the annual Santa Ana winds are blowing more fiercely and the foliage is drier than it’s ever been, creating the conditions every year for ever more intense wildfires. I’m pleased to be leading this bipartisan effort to make Orange County safer.”
“My community faced the wrath of the Airport Fire that burned nearly 24,000 acres less than a year ago. The more we fact find from past wildfires, the better we can ensure our first responders are prepared for future wildfires,” said Rep. Kim, who represents the canyon communities under U.S. Forest Service – Cleveland National Forest. “We must do all we can to support our first responders running into harm’s way to keep us safe, which is why I’m proud to join fellow Orange County Rep. Dave Min to lead the BRUSH Fires Act.”
Data on fire risk reduction strategies remains significantly limited for shrublands compared to other ecosystems, according to the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), making it difficult for fire managers to quantify success and identify best practices in high-risk areas like California’s chaparral. This bipartisan legislation requires the U.S. Forest Service to conduct a study on the effectiveness of its wildfire mitigation practices in shrublands—including fuel treatment and modification activities, strategies to prevent the spread of invasive species and mitigate unplanned ignitions, local partnerships on wildfire resilience, and more.
“The ever-intensifying inferno of bigger, faster, and more devastating wildfires is no longer merely a fire service problem; it is a societal problem, one that demands collective action from all facets of government to provide the protection our communities expect and deserve,”said Brian Fennessy, President of the California Fire Chiefs Association. “Congressman Min understands that reality, and his new bill — the BRUSH Fires Act — will lead to more effective, data-driven, and geographically appropriate fuel management methods that will save life and property.”
“As a coastal city surrounded by chaparral and coastal sage scrub, Laguna Beach knows firsthand the escalating wildfire risks that shrubland ecosystems pose to life, property, and infrastructure,” said Alex Rounaghi, Mayor of Laguna Beach. “The Building Resiliency and Understanding of Shrublands to Halt (BRUSH) Fires Act represents a vital and long-overdue investment in science-driven mitigation. By focusing on shrubland-specific strategies, this legislation will help communities like ours safeguard residents, property, and our environment as well as ensure that federal fire management resources are applied where they are most effective. I strongly support this bill and thank Representative Min for his leadership.”
“We appreciate the leadership of Representatives Min and Kim in the introduction of the BRUSH Fires Act,” said Scott Morrison, California State Director of the Nature Conservancy. “Shrubland ecosystems are different than forests. Therefore, they require different strategies to mitigate the risk that wildfires pose. These strategies should be based in science. In California, shrubland ecosystems are biodiversity hotspots and home to millions of people, and to plants and animals that exist nowhere else on earth. Human-caused ignitions are now the leading cause of fires, with wind-driven embers starting fires far ahead of the fire front, damaging ecosystems while putting millions of lives at risk. To be effective, any approach to mitigating the risk of fire to people and structures must be based on sound science and will require collaboration between agencies at different levels of government.”
“As we have seen recently, wildfire in shrublands in our region is very different from forests,” said Michael O’Connell, President & CEO of Irvine Ranch Conservancy, a non-profit that manages more than 30,000 acres of wildlands. “This bipartisan bill by Representatives Min and Kim will help keep our communities and wildlands safe by identifying and promoting strategies specific to our region and its unconventional wildfire regime.”
This bill is supported by The Nature Conservancy, California Fire Chiefs Association, Endangered Habitats League, and Irvine Ranch Conservancy.
The bill is cosponsored by Representatives Jared Huffman (CA-2), Josh Harder (CA-09), Julia Brownley (CA-26), George Whitesides (CA-27), Luz Rivas (CA-29), Mike Levin (CA-49), Yassamin Ansari (AZ-03), Jimmy Panetta (CA-19), and Sara Jacobs (CA-51).
Bill text and additional background can be found here.
