WATCH: Johnson suggests California wildfire devastation was preventable in Noem confirmation hearing
January 17, 2025
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3:52Now PlayingWATCH: Johnson suggests California wildfire devastation was preventable in Noem confirmation hearing
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as posted by the channelSen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., questioned homeland security secretary nominee Kristi Noem in a confirmation hearing Friday held by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
Johnson suggested that the tragedy of the California wildfires was made worse by “gross mismanagement” of the disaster response and readiness from state leadership.
“The more we learn, the more we understand that not only was it predictable, it was predicted, which means it was preventable,” he said.
“You can't prevent the initiation of those fires, but you certainly prevent them from raging into the tragedy that they became: the dozens of people who lost their lives, the hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of property damage,” he added.
The California wildfires were fueled by an extended drought, as well as powerful Santa Ana winds that gusted up to 100 mph hour when the fires began -- similar to a Category 2 hurricane.
“You can't prevent a hurricane. You can't prevent floods,” Johnson said. “But you certainly can try and start reducing the moral hazard.”
Johnson asked how Noem would reduce the overtime in disaster relief.
“Emergencies and disasters are always locally led,” Noem said. “They're led by the local communities and leaders, and that's because they're much more responsive and much better informed on how to bring relief and to get those emergency services there to meet the need.”
Those efforts are then supported on the state and federal level, she added, “which means that when we come in, that we're supporting what the mission is, what those emergency operations and plans are that the local city and county and then also the state has implemented.”
Noem also said that one area that the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is under Homeland, isn’t doing that can help is streamlining communications.
Noem, the Republican governor of South Dakota, is a rancher and a former member of Congress. A close ally to Trump, Noem has called migration across the U.S. southern border “an invasion.” If confirmed, Noem would play a key role in carrying out his promised immigration crackdown by leading the Department of Homeland Security, one of the largest federal agencies.
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