HR 4075
Fire Weather Development Act of 2025
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Bill overview
The Fire Weather Development Act of 2025 aims to improve wildfire forecasting, detection, and management through increased collaboration among federal, state, and local agencies. It establishes programs within NOAA to enhance fire weather prediction, creates interagency and advisory committees to coordinate efforts, and supports research into unmanned aircraft systems for data collection. The bill also addresses communication challenges among first responders and establishes a fire weather testbed to accelerate technology implementation.
Key provisions
- Establishes a NOAA program to improve fire weather and environment forecasting through collaboration.
- Creates an interagency committee to coordinate wildfire forecasting and related services.
- Establishes a national advisory committee to provide recommendations on wildfire forecasting and management.
- Authorizes a fire weather testbed for evaluating new technologies and approaches.
- Permits NOAA to contract with private entities for airborne and space-based data collection.
- Exempts emergency wildfire suppression work performed by incident meteorologists from certain premium pay limitations.
- Requires the National Institute of Standards and Technology to publish recommendations for improving communication coordination among first responders.
- Authorizes appropriations for the program and testbed.
Who is affected
- Federal agencies (NOAA, FEMA, USFS, NASA, DOI, USDA, USGS, OSTP)
- State and local governments
- Wildland firefighters and fire management officials
Sponsors
Official sponsors from legislative records.
Primary sponsor
Cosponsors
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119th CONGRESS — 1st Session
H. R. 4075
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
A BILL
To direct the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrator to improve fire weather and fire environment forecasting, detection, and local collaboration, and for other purposes.
This Act may be cited as the Fire Weather Development Act of 2025
.
Program) to improve fire weather and fire environment forecasting, detection, and delivery of products or services through collaboration with Federal and State agencies or departments, local emergency mangers, and relevant entities.
The prediction of ignition, intensification and spread of wildfires.
The observation and monitoring of fire weather and fire environments.
The forecast and communication of smoke dispersion from wildfires.
Information dissemination and risk communication to develop more effective watch and warning products relating to wildfires.
The early detection of wildfires, including pre-ignition analysis and ground condition characterizations.
The development, testing, and deployment of novel tools and techniques related to understanding, monitoring, and predicting fire weather and fire environments.
Tools and services to inform, support, and complement active land management, local emergency personnel, the United States Forest Service, and State, local, and Tribal entities during their response and mitigation efforts.
Sensing technologies, such as infrared, microwave, and active sensors suitable for potential deployment on spacecraft, aircraft, and unmanned aircraft systems, to improve the monitoring and forecasting of fire fuel and active wildfires, wildfire behavior models and forecasts, mapping efforts, and the prediction of wildfires and the impacts of such.
Advanced satellite detection products coupled with atmosphere and fire weather modeling systems.
Education and training to expand the number of students and researchers in areas of study and research related to wildfires, fire weather, and fire environments.
Modeling systems to link long-term climate predictions to localized or general land management decisions.
Communication and outreach to communities, energy utilities, owners and operators of critical infrastructure, and other relevant stakeholders regarding fire weather and fire environment risk.
Improvement of spatial and temporal resolution observations.
The Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in consultation with the heads of the agencies specified in section 3, or other appropriate stakeholders, including commercial partners, shall develop novel tools and technologies to support the activities of the Program and which may be applied to broader wildland fire research, monitoring, and mitigation activities, as practicable and appropriate.
Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in consultation with the heads of other Federal agencies and relevant stakeholders, may enter into contracts with one or more private sector entities to obtain additional airborne and space-based data and observations that may enhance or supplement the understanding, monitoring, and prediction, of fire weather and fire environments, and the relevant Program activities under this section.
assess the role and potential benefits of unmanned aircraft systems to improve data collection in support of fire weather and fire environment modeling, meteorological observations, predictions, and forecasts;
transition unmanned aircraft systems technologies from research to operations as the Administrator considers appropriate.
Testing of unmanned aircraft systems in approximations of real-world scenarios.
Assessment of the utility of meteorological data collected from fire response and assessment aircraft.
Input into appropriate models of collected data to predict fire behavior, including coupled atmosphere and fire models.
Collection of best management practices for deployment of unmanned aircraft systems for fire weather and fire environment observations.
The Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in cooperation with the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, shall utilize the capabilities of unmanned aircraft systems as appropriate for fire weather and fire environment observations, and may use a wildfire airspace operations system that accounts for piloted aircraft, unmanned aircraft systems, and other new and emerging capabilities after such airspace operations system is developed and determined ready for operational use by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
In this section:
appropriate committees of Congressmeans the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology and the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate.
critical infrastructurehas the meaning given such term in section 1016(e) of Public Law 107–56 (42 U.S.C. 5195c(e)).
foreign country of concernhas the meaning given such term in section 9901 of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (15 U.S.C. 4651).
institution of higher educationhas the meaning given such term in section 101 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001).
The term unmanned aircraft system
has the meaning given such term in section 44801 of title 49, United States Code.
weather industryhas the meaning given such term in section 2 of the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8501).
Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy shall establish an interagency coordinating committee to be known as the Interagency Coordinating Committee on Wildfires
(in this section referred to as the Committee
). The chair of the Committee shall be the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
In addition to the chair, the Committee shall be composed of the heads or appropriate designees of the following program agencies:
The Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The United States Fire Administration.
The United States Forest Service.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
The Department of the Interior.
The Department of Agriculture.
The United States Geological Survey.
The Office of Science and Technology Policy.
Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Committee shall submit to Congress a strategic plan for the Program that includes the following:
A description of short-term, mid-term, and long-term objectives to achieve the purpose specified in subsection (b).
A description of how agencies specified in subsection (c) will collaborate with stakeholders and take into account stakeholder needs and recommendations in developing such objectives.
A description of the role of each such agency in achieving such objectives.
Guidance regarding how the Committee’s recommendations are best used in planning for Federal, State, local, Tribal, and territorial entities.
The head of each agency specified in subsection (c) shall, to the extent practicable, increase engagement and cooperation with international, academic, State, and local communities regarding the infrastructure, data, and scientific research necessary to best advance the forecasting, detection, and monitoring of and preparation for wildfires.
National Advisory Committee on Wildfires(in this section referred to as the
Advisory Committee). The Advisory Committee shall consist of not fewer than seven and not more than 15 members who are qualified to provide advice regarding wildfire forecasting, detection, monitoring, and delivery of related products or services, including from the following entities:
Research and academic institutions.
Emergency management agencies.
State, local, or Tribal governments.
The National Association of State Foresters.
Business communities.
Members of the Advisory Committee may not be employees of the Federal Government.
The Advisory Committee shall offer assessments and recommendations relating to the following:
Tailored forecasting, detection, and monitoring products and tools.
Members of the Advisory Committee shall serve without compensation.
Notwithstanding section 1013(b)(2) of title 5, United States Code, the Advisory Committee shall not be required to file a charter subsequent to its initial charter, filed under section 1008(c) of such title, before the termination date specified in subsection (f) of this section.
The Advisory Committee shall terminate on September 30, 2029.
An Advisory Committee member shall recuse himself or herself from any Advisory Committee activity in which he or she has an actual pecuniary interest.
The expected number of Incident Meteorologists needed over the next five years.
Potential hiring authorities necessary to overcome any identified workforce and training challenges.
Alternative services or assistance options the National Weather Service could provide to meet operational needs.
, the National Weather Service,after
Interior.
Public safety communication coordination standards among Federal, State, Tribal, and local wildland firefighters, fire management response officials, and member agencies.
Improving and integrating existing communications systems to transmit secure real-time data, alerts, and advisories to and from fire management response officials and wildland firefighters.
The Public Safety and Communications Research Division, in consultation with the Fire Research Division and member agencies, shall conduct both live and virtual field testing of equipment, software, and other technologies to determine current times of information dissemination and develop standards for the delivery of useful and secure real-time data among member agencies, fire management response officials, and wildland firefighters, based on findings from research under paragraph (1).
The Director shall develop and publish recommendations to improve public safety communication coordination standards among wildland first responders and fire management response officials.
In this section:
The term Director means the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
The term member agency means a member agency of the National Interagency Fire Center, including the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Forest Service, United States Fire Administration, and the Department of Defense.
The term wildland firefighter means any person who participates in wildland firefighting activities.
The term fire management response officials means regional fire directors, deputy regional fire directors, agency officials who directly oversee fire operations, fire management officers, and individuals serving on incident management teams.
The term technology manufacturers means private sector entities that manufacture communications technologies used by Federal, State, Tribal, or local wildland fire authorities.
In this Act:
The term fire environment
means—
the environmental conditions, such as soil moisture, vegetation, topography, snowpack, atmospheric temperature, moisture, and wind, that influence—
fuel and fire behavior; and
smoke dispersion and transport; and
the associated environmental impacts occurring during and after fire events.
The term fire weather
means the weather conditions that influence the start, spread, character, or behavior of wildfires or fires at the wildland-urban interface and relevant meteorological and chemical phenomena, including air quality, smoke, and meteorological parameters such as relative humidity, air temperature, wind speed and direction, and atmospheric composition and chemistry, including emissions and mixing heights.