[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 8]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 11184-11185]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTE TO SUMMIT FIRE VICTIMS

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. MICHAEL M. HONDA

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 3, 2008

  Mr. HONDA. Madam Speaker, I rise today to express my condolences to 
those affected by the Summit Fire in the Santa Cruz Mountains on the 
Santa Clara/Santa Cruz County line, which thankfully has not claimed 
lives, but destroyed 36 residences and 18 outbuildings. Over 3,000 
personnel from across the State were summoned to fight the fire which 
burned more than 4000 acres. My heart goes out to the 12 firefighters 
who were injured during the response and their families. I want to 
commend Governor Schwarzenegger, the California Office of Emergency 
Services, Cal Fire, the Santa Clara and Santa Cruz County Sheriff's 
Departments, the Air National Guard, the National Oceanic and 
Atmosphere Administration and the countless first responders for their 
swift response to the fire. I especially want to thank Cal Fire 
Division Chief Joe Waterman and Tom Maruyama, Deputy Director of 
Response and Recovery for Office of

[[Page 11185]]

Emergency Services for briefing me on the fire containment plan and the 
State's response and recovery efforts. The seamless communication 
between ground and air crews from various local agencies and 
departments further exemplifies California as a model State for 
disaster response and interoperability.
  I and my esteemed colleague Rep. Anna Eshoo are closely monitoring 
the recovery effort and remain in close contact with State authorities. 
We are hopeful that the rebuilding process can begin and that the 
residents of the affected areas will be able to resume their normal 
activities.

                          ____________________