93D CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1697 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 8, 1973 Referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs and ordered to be printed AMENDMENTS Intended to be proposed by Mr. CRANSTON to S. 1697, a bill to require the President to furnish predisaster assistance in order to avert or lessen the effects of a major disaster in the counties of Alameda and Contra Costa in California, viz: 1 On page 2, line 4, strike out "SEC. 2." and insert "SEC. 2 2. (a)". 3 On page 2, line 14, strike out "section" and insert 4 "subsection". 5 On page 2, line 18, strike out "section" and insert 6 "subsection". 7 On page 2, between lines and insert the following: 8 "(b) In addition to grants made pursuant to subsection 9(a), the President is authorized and directed to make grants 10 to reimburse any owner of property located in Alameda or Amdt. No. 115 2 1 Contra Costa Counties in California for the lesser of the actual 2 or reasonable cost of carrying out tree removal activities on 3 his property prior to the date of enactment.of this Act if such 4 activities are directly related to the threatened major disaster 5 referred to in section 1. There are authorized to be appropri6 ated such sums as may be necessary to carry out the provi7 sions of this subsection." Senator CRANSTON. I might say I am particularly delighted to have that wire from a distinguished predecessor of mine in the Senate. I would like to acknowledge the cooperation of Governor Reagan in this effort. I am delighted that Ed Meese is present with us today, and that we will hear from him shortly, and if necessary, we will interrupt briefly the testimony of the next witness to give Ed his opportunity before he departs. I understand there have been developments from the Governor's office today. I am delighted with all this. I apologize to our first witness for the delay in getting to him, and I welcome you to this area. STATEMENT OF DARRELL M. TRENT, ACTING DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS, ACCOMPANIED BY CRAIG C. CHANDLER, ACTING DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF EMERGENCY OPERATIONS OF THE FOREST SERVICE; WILLIAM CROCKETT, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR FOR DISASTER PROGRAMS; ROBERT STEVENS, REGIONAL DIRECTOR FOR CALIFORNIA; JAMES MCALEER, GENERAL COUNSEL STAFF Mr. TRENT. It is my pleasure, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, before starting, I would like to introduce the gentlemen I brought with me today. First, Mr. Craig Chandler, who is the Acting Director of the Office of Emergency Operations of the Forest Service, if he would come forward also at this time. Second, Mr. Bill Crockett, who is my Assistant Director for Disaster Programs; Mr. Robert Stevens, who is my regional director for California, and is located in San Francisco; Mr. Jim McAleer, of the General Counsel's staff. The President today received a letter from Governor Reagan in which an indication was made that additional information reevaluating the situation in the bay area has been compiled by the Governor. I met this morning with Mr. Ed Meese, of the Governor's staff, and agreed to be in California early next week to look at the situation and review the additional information. The Governor requested the President open his reconsideration of a limited disaster, and he did agree to do that. We are interested in working on a continuing basis with the State of California to make an assessment of the situation. Senator CRANSTON. May I interrupt to say that I am delighted with these developments. I am delighted that you are going to reassess the situation and I am delighted you are going to California to take a personal look at the situation there, and I am delighted that Governor Reagan and I have been able to work in step together on a matter of major consequences to people in our State. Mr. TRENT. I would like to go through my prepared testimony, if I might, Mr. Chairman, to give you the basis of our current evaluation of the situation and the information that led to the early finding that an imminent disaster did not exist in the State of California. Since the occurrence last December of the freeze which damaged eucalyptus stands in the San Francisco East Bay area, Mr. Robert C. Stevens, Director of OEP region 9, whose office is in San Francisco, has been monitoring the situation in association with the California Office of Emergency Services and the U.S. Forest Service. Mr. Stevens has followed closely the State and local investigation of the potential fire hazard created by the freeze to determine the appropriate courses of action to alleviate the situation. In response to Governor Reagan's April 14 request for a major disaster declaration for Alameda and Contra Costa Counties, OEP surveyed the damage caused by the freeze and evaluated the imminence of the fire threat. Our investigations did not reveal sufficient damage to warrant the declaration of a major disaster. Although a large number of eucalyptus trees have been killed, the loss of these trees does not in itself constitute a catastrophe that would justify a major disaster declaration under the authorities of the Disaster Relief Act of 1970, Public Law 91-606. Since Governor Reagan had specifically requested that long term, low-interest loans be made available to homeowners for the removal of dead trees and flammable debris, my staff contacted the Small Business Administration and the Farmers Home Administration to determine whether such low-interest loans could be made available for that purpose. We were advised that existing authorities do not permit this action. In evaluating the applicability of section 221, Pre-Disaster Assistance, of Public Law 91-606, to this case, I directed the U.S. Forest Service to investigate the potential fire hazard. The results of their investigation were then evaluated to determine the possibility of a major conflagration occurring in the East San Francisco Bay area, and, if it did occur, what damages could be anticipated. They were also requested to consider whether the situation constituted an imminent threat to life or property. I would like at this time to ask Mr. Craig Chandler, Acting Director of Emergency Operations and Director of Forest Fire and Atmospheric Sciences Research, U.S. Forest Service, to present a technical evaluation of the fire potential. Mr. CHANDLER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for this opportunity to testify on S. 1697. Senator CRANSTON. Thank you for being with us. Mr. CHANDLER. Since overall natural disaster responsibilities within the executive branch are assigned to the Office of Emergency Preparedness, the Department of Agriculture defers to OEP on the need for this legislation. The Forest Service, Department of Agriculture, acts as technical adviser to the Office of Emergency Preparedness on all requests for Federal assistance under Public Law 91-606, involving forestry matters. As Director of Emergency Operations for the Forest Service, I am responsible for conducting investigations of facts material to such requests and for transmitting the findings of such investigations to the Director of OEP. In the case of the 1972-73 eucalyptus frost kill in California, the Forest Service interest and investigations began in early January 1973. We became involved early because our Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station is located in Berkeley, Calif., and scientists there have been working on the silviculture of eucalyptus for many years. Since January, we have maintained an interest in the situation and have conducted studies, both on our own, and in cooperation with the local and State governments, and with scientists from the University of California, and the Stanford Research Institute. With specific regard to the fire hazard, the Forest Service undertook the following actions: Between February 9 and February 28, plant physiologists took stump cutting from several hundred eucalyptus trees in the affected area. They determined that between 65 percent and 95 percent, depending on location, were dead from the root collar up, and could not be expected to resprout at crown level during the 1973 growing season. Aerial photographs using color and color-infrared techniques were taken on February 15. The total acreage with severely affected crown canopy was determined to be 2,745 acres falling within the following jurisdictional boundaries: 1,500 acres in East Bay Regional Parks. 600 in city of Oakland. 260 in University of California. 255 in East Bay Municipal Utilities District. 50 in city of Berkeley. 95-97-73-2 On March 14-15, 61 samples of ground and aerial fuels were collected in areas affected and unaffected by the freeze. The composite results were: If we assume that the unaffected areas represent the normal prefreeze fuel condition for the area, the December freeze increased the fuel hazard by 75 percent. On March 18, samples of crown fuels, similar to those you see here, were put through standard flammability tests by the Stanford Research Institute in cooperation with Forest Service research personnel. The freeze-affected samples were ignited by thermal pulses of two calories per square centimeter per second while fuels from the unaffected area required nearly 4 cal/cm2 sec. Flame heights from freezeaffected samples were 1.8 times as high as those from equal weights of fuels from the unaffected area. Based on these results, we project that the fire hazard in the affected area is approximately three times normal, considering the increase in the amount, ignitability and combustion intensity of the freeze-killed fuels. In order to predict the probable results of a threefold increase in fire hazard, we made studies of the weather and past fire history of the Alameda County area. Eucalyptus was first introduced into Alameda County in 1856. By 1870 there were 170,000 trees planted in the county, mostly in the Hayward area. The planting of Eucalyptus peaked in 1909, and the practice was essentially abandoned by 1914. We studied the fire records beginning with 1865. This year was chosen on the basis that the oldest plantations were 9 years old and the Eucalyptus type could be considered a normal part of the Alameda forest fuel environment. Since 1865 there have been four major fires in Alameda County: On October 8, 1887, two fires started, one in Talomeres Canyon and one in Redwood Canyon, immediately behind Lake Chabot. By October 13, the two had merged and burned 13 square miles. On July 11, 1897, a fire started immediately behind the University of California campus, which burned 3,000 acres the first day and was contained on July 13 at 7,000 acres. On September 17, 1923, 640 homes were destroyed in "The Berkeley Fire," which is still listed in the National Fire Protection Association Annals of Famous Conflagrations. On September 22, 1970, 250 acres burned near Fish Ranch Road with a loss of 36 buildings destroyed and 37 severely damaged. |