Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) – I just got off the phone with Montana’s newest Senator Tim Sheehy.

The Senator had just completed his committee questioning of Department of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth and explained his pointed military questions to the nominee.

Sheehy Peppered Pete Hegseth With Pointed Questions about Firearms

“The DoD (Department of Defense) is the largest bureaucracy in the world,” began Sheehy. “We haven’t had a lot of success out of the DoD, and it hasn’t passed an audit in almost a decade. We’ve lost our last two wars. Recruiting is down. Ship readiness is down. Our aircraft are far below optimal readiness levels, and we can’t continue to send the same bureaucrats there to try to save the problems that they created. So we need a disruptor. We need a smart disruptor that’s willing to come in and shake up the status quo.”

Regarding the devastating wildfires in southern California, Sheehy drew on his years of experience at his former company, Bridger Aerospace.

Sheehy Had Much to Say About the Firefighting Efforts in Southern California

“The public reaction understanding about how bad our wildfire issue is that it is unprecedented,” he said. “People are finally realizing that we are not structurally prepared to fight fire effectively in America. As you probably are aware, in the last year and a half, we’ve seen Lahaina and Maui (in Hawaii) burned to the ground, with 100 people dead. We’ve seen New Jersey have massive fires like they’ve never seen before. Last year, the worst fire in Canadian history; the biggest forest fire in Texas history last year, and now, of course, we’re seeing our largest city burned to the ground in front of us. So it’s an all 50 state issue.”

Sheehy said the California wildfires differ completely from a single home fire.

“If you’re in a city and you dial 9-1-1, the NFPA code requires that a big red fire engine shows up in your house within five minutes to fight that fire,” he said. “There is no such standard in wildland fire. And when we don’t have fires in a few weeks, we shut down the fire stations, we lay off the firefighters, and we sell off the trucks and planes for the winter time. And then when these fires happen in January, like we’re seeing now, we’re not prepared.”

Sheehy Said Policies Must Change to Prevent More Catastrophic Wildfires

Sheehy had more to say about why the devastating California fires are unprecedented, and how existing policies failed in southern California.

“These policies have consequences,” he said. “We’re not pointing fingers, we’re not getting political. We’re just stating a fact, which is, if you don’t allow fire departments to use water additives that increase the effectiveness of water by five times, they’re not going to be effective in fighting that fire. If you don’t have reservoirs full to fill fire hydrants, you’re not going to be able to fight the fire with the water you need. If you don’t let firefighters draw water from reservoirs needed near the fire that’s going to impact your ability to fight fires, as well.”

Sheehy will serve on the Armed Services, Veterans Affairs, Commerce, and Science and Transportation Committees in the U.S. Senate.

He has committed to appearing on KGVO on a regular basis to answer questions from listeners.