Supes back evacuation bill

On Tuesday (Sept. 24), the Butte County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a letter of support for a bill that would establish a grant program to strengthen or construct evacuation routes.

The federal bill, H.R. 2838, or the Enhancing the Strength and Capacity of America’s Primary Evacuation Routes (ESCAPE) Act, was introduced by Rep. John Garamendi and would authorize $1 billion to help communities improve evacuation routes in the wake of disasters across the country, including the Oroville Dam spillway crisis in 2017 and last year’s Camp Fire.

“The lack of adequate evacuation routes in our nation—particularly for small rural communities—is costing us lives every year,” Garamendi said in a press release.