[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4038 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 4038
To require the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the
Interior to establish a standard for the response time to wildfire
incidents, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 17, 2025
Mrs. Kim (for herself and Mr. Gray) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in
addition to the Committees on Agriculture, Transportation and
Infrastructure, and Science, Space, and Technology, for a period to be
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration
of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee
concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the
Interior to establish a standard for the response time to wildfire
incidents, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Wildfire Response and Preparedness
Act of 2025''.
SEC. 2. STANDARDS FOR RESPONSE TIME TO WILDFIRE INCIDENTS.
(a) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Relevant congressional committees.--The term ``relevant
congressional committees'' means--
(A) the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
of the Senate;
(B) the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and
Forestry of the Senate;
(C) the Committee on Natural Resources of the House
of Representatives; and
(D) the Committee on Agriculture of the House of
Representatives.
(2) Response time.--The term ``response time'', with
respect to a wildland fire incident, means the period of time
between ignition of the wildland fire and evaluation for
purposes of suppression of that wildland fire, on the ground or
in an aircraft, by--
(A) a Federal, State, or local public safety
officer; or
(B) a public safety volunteer.
(3) Secretary concerned.--The term ``Secretary concerned''
means--
(A) the Secretary of Agriculture, with respect to
Federal land administered by the Forest Service;
(B) the Secretary of the Interior, with respect to
Federal land administered by the Bureau of Land
Management, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the National
Park Service, or the United States Fish and Wildlife
Service; and
(C) the Administrator of the Federal Emergency
Management Agency, with respect to consultation with
the United States Fire Administration relating to
wildland fires in the wildland-urban interface.
(b) Standards.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 90 days after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Secretary concerned shall establish
a standard for the response time to any wildland fire incident
occurring on Federal land administered by the Secretary
concerned.
(2) Goal.--To the extent practicable, the response time
established by the Secretary concerned for a wildland fire
incident under paragraph (1) shall--
(A) be not more than 30 minutes; and
(B) include the deployment of fire suppression
assets in a response time of not more than 3 hours.
(c) Report to Congress.--Not later than 1 year after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Secretaries concerned shall jointly submit
to the relevant congressional committees a report that includes--
(1) identification of a single point of contact for Federal
wildland fire response at the Department of the Interior;
(2) a unified budget request that covers all wildland fire
activities of the Secretaries concerned;
(3) a description of key performance indicators for
wildland fire response for each of--
(A) the Forest Service;
(B) the Bureau of Land Management;
(C) the Bureau of Indian Affairs;
(D) the National Park Service; and
(E) the United States Fish and Wildlife Service;
(4)(A) a description of the composition of the aviation and
ground wildland firefighting fleet as of the date on which the
report is submitted; and
(B) an estimation of the size of that fleet required to
provide a response time of not more than 30 minutes for
wildland fires occurring in the United States, including the
deployment of fire suppression assets in a response time of not
more than 3 hours;
(5) a description of necessary changes to the Federal
ordering and dispatch system to enable Federal wildland
firefighting assets to be dispatched faster;
(6) a description of Federal contracting mechanisms
relating to wildland firefighting assets that may be
streamlined to ensure that contract activation and awards may
be provided within a 1-year period; and
(7) a description of all resources and authorities needed
to ensure that wildland firefighting assets under Federal
contracts are available year-round and nationwide.
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