{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://defazio.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/rep-peter-defazio-presses-us-forest-service-on-aerial-firefighting", "Rep. Peter DeFazio Presses US Forest Service on Aerial Firefighting Resources", "2017-12-06", "2017", "2017-12", "Democrat", "House", "OR", "Peter DeFazio", "D000191", "defazio.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Rep. Peter DeFazio last week sent a letter to U.S. Forest Service (USFS) Chief Tony Tooke pressing the agency on specifics regarding their aerial firefighting resources and procedures.\n\u201cOregon and other Western states endured some of the worst wildfires in decades this year, yet because of the department\u2019s own missteps, they did not have all tools available at their disposal to fight the blazes\u2014that\u2019s ludicrous,\u201d said Rep. Peter DeFazio. \u201cTo be anything less than prepared for next year\u2019s fire season is unacceptable, and I will continue to fight so that the forest service has the funding they need to acquire the tools they need to effectively fight wildfires next season.\u201d\nThe 2017 fire season was one of the worst in decades, destroying hundreds of thousands of acres in Oregon alone. Prior to the 2017 fire season, the USFS solicited requests for proposals (RFPs) for air tankers to combat forest fires.\u00a0 However, their proposal excluded tankers that exceeded five thousand gallons of flame retardant. Because of the limitation, Global SuperTanker, which owns a 747 with retardant capacity of over 19,000 gallons, was unable to compete.\u00a0\nGlobal SuperTanker protested the RFP to the Government Accountability Office, stating the retardant capacity restriction was unduly restrictive. The GAO upheld Global SuperTanker\u2019s protest, agreeing that there was no reasonable basis for the USFS to limit retardant capacity.\u00a0\nRep. DeFazio has repeatedly pressed the USFS to determine why they did not solicit a high-capacity aerial firefighting plane to combat this summer\u2019s blazes. His letter to Chief Tooke also pushes the agency to describe their plans to ensure they will have adequate fire suppression tools in the future.\nTo read a PDF version of Rep. DeFazio\u2019s letter to the USFS, click here.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://defazio.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/rep-peter-defazio-presses-us-forest-service-on-aerial-firefighting"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.544990111142397, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}