Washington—— As firefighters continue to battle the Los Angeles County blaze, California Sen. Alex Padilla is introducing a package of bills to increase their pay and build housing for those affected by the disaster — which could increase the state’s Affordable housing supply.

“Just like the firefighters on the front lines fighting fires right now, we must work together to respond and recover,” Padilla told The Times in an interview in his U.S. Senate office.

His proposal, the American Families Disaster Housing Reform Act, ties together two of California’s top priorities: wildfire assistance and affordable housing.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency will provide temporary housing, such as trailers, to thousands of people who lost their homes in wildfires. The bill, co-led by Padilla with Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), would require the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Housing and Urban Development to quickly build housing that can later serve as long-term, affordable housing. Housing housing.

"We can be a little smarter about this and allow for modular homes, manufactured homes that are inherently more sustainable and more resilient," he said. "Once the disaster is over, people will move back into their communities, Maybe take advantage of them and keep them local for affordable housing.”

Padilla said the measure could serve as "another tool in the toolbox," noting that some landlords have already begun price gouging after the fires.

Another measure is the Fire Suppression and Response Funding Guarantee Act, which would expand FEMA funding for firefighting tools deployed before a disaster. The bill would allow the Federal Emergency Management Agency to cover more resources before a disaster occurs, when the risk of wildfires is high.

"In California, we know that when it's hot, dry and windy, it's a recipe for disaster. So we can anticipate those conditions. Let's start arranging people and equipment just in case," Padilla said, adding said he checks the progress of the fire every hour on the WatchDuty app. "If we can make sure that the program achieves at least 75 percent of that, that's a huge incentive for state and local governments to be able to do that without having to worry about their budgets."

Padilla recalled a time in 1996 when he, as a staffer for the late U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), traveled with the former FEMA administrator to survey wildfire damage. He noted that since then, leaders have learned a lot about fire prevention techniques, such as using non-flammable materials for construction and clearing brush from homes.

Padilla also reinstated the Wildland Firefighter Paycheck Protection Act, which did not win a vote after he introduced it during the last Congress, to boost federal firefighter pay, including providing additional pay for those who spend long periods of time fighting fires. salary. Firefighter pay has been the subject of legislation over the past few years, with President Biden raising the minimum wage for wildland firefighters in 2021 from $13 to $15 an hour. Padilla's legislation aims to bolster the Forest Service's ability to recruit and retain firefighters by promising higher pay.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, federal firefighters earn slightly less on average than state or local firefighters. Unsurprisingly, California has the most firefighters of any state and also has the highest salaries. A 2019 study from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the average annual salary in California was $84,370.