A bill has cleared the state House to allow quicker access to well-qualified, temporary emergency workers, providing greater protection against forest fires and the dangers associated with them.  The bill was approved unanimously.

New Milford Representative Bill Buckbee says a constituent, Sergio Ligouri, contacted him about updating the law.  The  trained forest wild fire firefighter has fought large scale forest fires around the country.  

Under existing state law, an individual must also be an employee of Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection in order to fight catastrophic wildfires.  Buckbee says that means private citizens trained within the Connecticut Interstate Fire Crew cannot be called upon to assist in putting out wild fires.

Current law also limits Connecticut’s ability to assist fellow New England states and New York State in the event regional services are needed. While there are mutual aid agreements, Buckbee says limiting the rolls of people that can be called on makes it hard for Connecticut to uphold its end of the agreement.