Virginia emergency-ejection bill framed as small corridor, big safety payoff
Get AI-powered insights, summaries, and transcripts
Subscribe
Summary
Chief Curtis Sheets and Rep. McGuire urged action on HR 6,365 to authorize a short emergency-only roadway across ~430 feet of National Park Service land to connect Wintergreen, Va., to the Blue Ridge Parkway and reduce wildfire evacuation risk.
Representative McGuire and Wintergreen Fire & Rescue Chief Curtis Sheets testified that HR 6,365, the Wintergreen Emergency Egress Act, would authorize an emergency-only gravel connector across a narrow strip of National Park Service land to provide a second evacuation route for the Wintergreen community.
Chief Sheets described Wintergreen as a large planned community with "only 1 way in and out" and said the remaining unbuilt connector involves roughly the area of a single football end zone. "We simply need a gravel road connecting our road network to the parkway so our residents and guests can run away from an approaching wildfire," he said, asking the committee to advance the bill to save lives.
Members pressed on environmental study work and whether impacts are minimal. Sheets said the community has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars studying bats, wetlands, plants and other resources and believes impacts are close to zero.
Outcome: The committee heard testimony and questions but did not vote; the record is open for additional questions and written responses.