Crews Battling Wildfires Won’t Be Pausing for July 4

Good morning, it’s Tuesday, July 3, 2018 and leading Route Fifty’s state and local government news roundup are the wildfires in western states and the firefighters fighting them heading into the July 4 holiday. Scroll down for more stories from places like Seattle, Washington; Frankfort, Kentucky; Marion County, West Virginia; and North Providence, Rhode Island.

FIRST RESPONDERS | As most Americans have July 4 off, firefighters working to contain blazes across western states won’t be pausing for this week’s Independence Day holiday. That includes those in Northern California fighting the Pawnee Fire in Lake County and County Fire, which is now impacting parts of Napa and Yolo counties west of Sacramento. While we often measure wildfires by the number of burned acres and percent of containment, it’s sometimes hard to appreciate just how large wildfire response can be for some for these monster blazes. Looking at CalFire’s incident page for the County Fire, as of Monday night, here’s a by-the-numbers rundown of the current response:

• Total Fire Personnel: 1,226
• Total Fire Crews: 29
• Total Helicopters: 12
• Total Dozers: 23
• Total Water Tenders: 34

Looking at the Pawnee Fire, as of Monday evening:

• Total Fire Personnel: 2,381
• Total Fire Engines: 123
• Total Fire Crews: 57
• Total Helicopters: 9
• Total Dozers: 34
• Total Water Tenders: 30

If these early-season wildfires are any indication of what lies ahead this summer and fall, it’s going to be a difficult few months ahead for firefighters in the West and elsewhere. [County Fire / CalFire; Pawnee Fire / CalFire; @CAL_FIRE]  

PUBLIC HEALTH | Responding to a U.S. District Court judge’s recent ruling against his administration’s plans to institute work requirements for Medicaid beneficiaries, Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin on Monday announced the state would cut vision and dental benefits for nearly 500,000 state residents. The Republican governor’s office called the Medicaid cuts "an unfortunate consequence of the judge's ruling." At a press conference on Tuesday, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer joined several Kentucky Democrats, including U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth and several state legislators, decrying Bevin’s action. Fischer called the cuts "callous.” “Investing in our people, our workforce, is the right thing to do, it's compassionate and it’s smart for business,” the mayor tweeted. [Courier Journal; Insider Louisville; @louisvillemayor; Route Fifty]

HOUSING | For the most part, we don’t hear too much from lieutenant governors in the states that have the position. Depending on the state they’re serving and the scope of their official duties, state LGs can sometimes blend into the woodwork. In Washington state, Democratic Lt. Gov. Cyrus Habib didn’t mince words in a recent tweet where he skewered the editorial board of The Seattle Times, which had published an opinion piece urging local officials to not upzone single-family neighborhoods in the Pacific Northwest’s largest city—that’s been a hot-button issue in a city with some of the most expensive housing in the nation and zoning that leaves vast swaths of the city off-limits to new and denser housing. “I resent this column by the Seattle Times far more than the one in which they asked voters to choose anyone but me for LG. That was just politics,” Habib tweeted. “This anti-density position is to housing what climate change denial is to our planet. No credible economist would agree with them.” [The Seattle Times; @cyrushabib]

ELSEWHERE …

• Cleveland, Ohio: The FBI and the Joint-Terrorism Task Force announced the arrest of a Maple Heights man who told an undercover agent of his plot to detonate bombs in downtown Cleveland during July 4 celebrations this week. According to court filings, the suspect, 48-year-old Demetrious Pitts, also eyed an attack on Philadelphia City Hall over Labor Day weekend. [The Plain Dealer / Cleveland.com; The Inquirer / Philly.com]

• Atlanta, Georgia: The Atlanta City Council ratified an executive order from Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms that prohibits the city’s detention center from accepting new Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees. [WAGA / Fox5 Atlanta]

• Honolulu, Hawaii: Gov. David Ige is expected to OK legislation banning sunscreen with certain chemicals harmful to coral reefs and that could reshape regulations far beyond Hawaii. [The Washington Post; National Public Radio; Honolulu Civil Beat]
   
• Marion County, West Virginia: A proposal to sustain a coal waste plant in Grant Town is seeing resistance. [Charleston Gazette-Mail]

• Lansing, Michigan: A group of conservative business and political leaders in Michigan recently released a report showing that if the state hit a 30 percent renewable energy target by 2027, there’d be $10.3 billion in economic impact in the state. [Michigan Radio; MCEF]

• Dallas, Texas: “I couldn't believe how easy it was,” a Dallas County Jail escapee said after his recapture. [The Dallas Morning News]

• Norman, Oklahoma: The new president of the University of Oklahoma spent his first day on the job announcing a massive restructuring of his executive staff, including cutting the number of executives reporting to him by nearly one third. [The Oklahoman / NewsOK.com]

• North Providence, Rhode Island: A new mural commissioned by a doctor with an ax to grind with City Hall depicts North Providence Mayor Charles Lombardi as a king on the porcelain throne. [WJAR]

• Boston, Massachusetts: The forthcoming renovation of City Hall Plaza will force the cancelation of the Boston Winter festival. [Boston.com]