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Legislative bills

Senate Unanimously Passes Fire Ready Nation Act to Improve Wildfire Forecasting and Response

Strategic Insights

— 1 min read

The US Senate has unanimously passed the Fire Ready Nation Act, bipartisan legislation that aims to strengthen the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) ability to forecast, prevent, and fight wildfires. Introduced by Senators Ben Ray Lujan and Maria Cantwell, the legislation establishes a permanent Fire Weather Services program within NOAA and authorizes funding for new technologies to forecast weather conditions that cause and impact wildfires. The bill is now one step closer to becoming law, with Senators Lujan and Cantwell expressing pride in its passage and highlighting the need for better wildfire forecasting and response.

Key Takeaways:

  • The Fire Ready Nation Act establishes a permanent Fire Weather Services program within NOAA, authorizing a formal authority for wildfire response services.
  • The legislation funds research and acquisition of new technology to improve wildfire forecasts, including a pilot program for unmanned aircraft to gather data on chemical information and survey damage.
  • The bill creates a Fire Weather Testbed to deploy new tools to fight fires, including sharing NOAA data across multiple federal agencies to improve fire weather data collection and coordination.
  • The Incident Meteorologist Service is codified into law, ensuring fair compensation for longer-term deployments of IMET forecasters, who will continue to assist emergency responders.
  • The Fire Ready Nation Act is cosponsored by a bipartisan group of Senators, including Tim Sheehy, Ted Cruz, Dan Sullivan, Jacky Rosen, Lisa Murkowski, Alex Padilla, and Brian Schatz.

Statistics:

  • The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is a world leader in wildfire forecasting, but currently lacks defined authority in law for its wildfire services.
  • The Fire Ready Nation Act would authorize funding for new technologies to improve wildfire forecasts, including a pilot program for unmanned aircraft to gather data on chemical information and survey damage.
  • The Incident Meteorologist Service would be deckified into law, with 6 IMETs currently deployed to support emergency responders.

Sources:

  • "Fire Ready Nation Act Passes Senate Unanimously," Senator Ben Ray Lujan, No date provided.
  • "Fire Ready Nation Act," [website not provided].

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