Bill would change wildfire reporting, planning, firefighting technology, and recovery efforts on federal land

The Interior and Agriculture Secretaries must report each year on money spent from wildfire accounts, and analyze each catastrophic wildfire with a cost breakdown. A catastrophic wildfire uses federal firefighting resources, burns at least 100,000 acres or 50,000 acres mostly at high severity, and costs $50 million or more, destroys a home, or causes a death.

The Secretary of Defense shall seek agreements with state agencies to pay them back for fire suppression after fires caused by military training or other planned military actions. Only services directly tied to the fire count, and a state must send an itemized request. Payments come from money authorized for Defense Department operation and maintenance.

Land managers must review and update fire management policies for each fireshed by September 30, 2027, to flag risks to responders and communities. The Homeland Security Secretary must study training gaps for local firefighters. A fireshed is a landscape where a fire could threaten homes, communities, or critical infrastructure. The study covers training for structural firefighters in high wildfire risk areas. The firefighter training study and report are due within 1 year after the bill becomes law.

Land managers must try to speed up wildfire detection equipment and satellite use, and the law would let Indian Tribes get federal help to buy slip-on tanker units, which are portable water tanks for trucks. Agencies must also research drones and study drone interference and new response technology. The Agriculture Secretary studies how unauthorized drones interfere with firefighting, including ways to stop them. The agencies also study radio systems, situational awareness tools, and fire and smoke modeling. Detection duties apply to the extent practicable. The drone and technology reports are due within 2 years after the bill becomes law.

Land managers must set up permanent Burned Area Emergency Response Teams to stabilize burned land, and carry out long-term rehabilitation projects funded through a new Long-Term Burned Area Rehabilitation account. FEMA may fund state websites on post-wildfire recovery help. Rehabilitation covers restoring ecosystems, replanting, watershed work, invasive species control, and repairing key facilities, mainly on federal land. Projects are prioritized by landscape and watershed benefits. Agreements with non-federal partners can have a non-federal share of no more than 20 percent, which may include in-kind contributions. Emergency teams are due within 180 days after the bill becomes law. Rehabilitation projects start after containment and finish within 5 years if practicable.