Representatives and local fire officials urged the House subcommittee to advance H.R. 6,365, the Wintergreen Emergency Egress Act, arguing the Wintergreen community in Virginia currently has a single road in and out and would face high loss of life in the event of a fast-moving wildfire.

Representative Bob Good (Representative Maguire in transcript) said the town "has only one road in and the same road out," and framed the bill as a narrowly tailored, emergency-only measure to connect the community to the Blue Ridge Parkway by a short gravel corridor across approximately 430 feet of parkland. He described the bill as a "common sense solution that is vital to prevent a tragedy."

Chief Curtis Sheets described the community's long effort to secure an egress and summarized environmental and species studies paid for by the town. He used a visual analogy to emphasize small scale—comparing the necessary corridor to the size of a football end zone—and said the local studies find the environmental impact "so close to 0 that statistically speaking, it is 0." He urged members not to wait for a tragedy to act.

Members asked about Department of Interior objections and environmental tradeoffs; witnesses said the corridor has been vetted in studies but that Interior has been steadfast in preserving park resources. No formal action was taken at the hearing.