HR 1923119th CongressIn Committee

Modernizing Wildfire Safety and Prevention Act of 2025

Introduced: Mar 6, 2025

Standard Summary

Comprehensive overview in 1-2 paragraphs

Modernizing Wildfire Safety and Prevention Act of 2025 is a comprehensive package designed to implement key recommendations from the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission’s 2023 report. The bill creates and funds workforce development programs for the wildfire response community, enhances support and retirement considerations for wildland firefighters, strengthens wildfire smoke monitoring and public health protections, and promotes advanced fire mitigation, technology, and interagency data collaboration. It also makes targeted changes to disaster relief programs (notably FEMA) to improve how funds are managed, disseminated, and used for wildfire-related recovery and resilience. Overall, the act aims to modernize federal capabilities across training, health and safety, data, mapping, and funding to reduce wildfire risk and improve response, recovery, and public health outcomes. If enacted, the bill would authorize several multi-year funding streams (e.g., positions, grants, and monitoring systems), create new interagency structures (including a Joint Office of the Fire Environment Center), and expand existing programs to address both immediate wildfire incidents and longer-term risk reduction, prevention, and recovery.

Key Points

1Workforce development and training investments (Title I)
2- Establishes a Middle Fire Leaders Academy within 1 year of enactment to rapidly train and certify emerging wildfire leaders; open to federal and non-federal personnel; authorizes $10 million annually (FY2026–2035).
3- Creates a Wildfire Workforce Grant Program to fund education and credentialed training in wildfire emergency management and related fields; authorizes $10 million annually (FY2026–2035) and defines eligible entities (colleges, schools, accredited training programs, or nonprofits).
4Wildland firefighter support and casualty assistance (Title II)
5- Renames and expands retirement/benefits provisions for “firefighters” to cover wildland firefighters and related personnel, with pathways for continued retirement benefits and portability if moving between federal roles, and rules governing service credit and contributions for pre-enactment periods.
6- Establishes a Wildland Fire Management Casualty Assistance Program to support next of kin of line-of-duty deaths or serious injuries, including notifications, travel reimbursements, case management, and information access; appropriates $1 million annually (FY2026–2035).
7Wildfire smoke and public health enhancements (Title III)
8- Creates a National Smoke Monitoring and Alert System led by NOAA/NWS (with EPA, Forest Service/Interior, and CDC involvement) to deliver real-time air-quality information and forecasts for wildfire smoke, including built-environment exposure.
9- Expands air monitoring capacity (speciation and nonregulatory monitors) and explores satellite use; requires a public county-resolution smoke alert system based on particulate matter levels (in addition to existing Dense Smoke Advisories); directs dissemination of forecasts and alerts via Weather Service networks and compatible alert systems; strengthens data sharing across federal, state, local, Tribal, and territorial agencies.
10- Funds the program with $32 million annually (FY2026–2035) and supports related enhancements to EPA’s AirNow framework and public health communications; also mandates a health risk assessment for wildfire smoke exposure to be conducted by NIOSH (FY2026–2028 funding for that section).
11Fire mitigation, technology, and data integration (Title IV)
12- Forage loss programs: expands eligibility to include prescribed and beneficial fires and wildfires managed for resource objectives.
13- FEMA program improvements: revises how excess funds for management costs may be used, adds flexibility for disaster management and mitigation activities, and includes a GAO study on management costs and disaster declarations; expands to cover wildland fire-relatedhazardous materials considerations and updates to mitigation cost-effectiveness criteria.
14- The Wildland Dynamic Risk Mapping Program: requires NOAA to work with NASA, USGS, USFA, universities, and national labs to create dynamic risk maps for wildland and built environments, with regular updates; authorizes $15 million annually (FY2026–2030).
15- Grant program improvements for community wildfire risk reduction and post-fire recovery: directs agencies to simplify grants, reduce administrative burden, improve outreach and technical assistance, and streamline applications, with better cross-program alignment.
16- Joint Office of the Fire Environment Center: creates a cross-agency office within NOAA to coordinate technology, data services, analysis/prediction, education/consultation, and incident management for wildfire risk and response; aims to provide real-time, science-based decision support to land managers, incident management, and public health entities.
17- Interagency Data Collaboration Environment: strengthens data sharing and use of advanced analytics (including AI/ML) to support risk assessment and decision making.
18- Payment timing and other administrative provisions: addresses timing for payments related to wildfire program funding.
19- Overall funding for these provisions is spread across multiple sections (no single sum; multiple authorizations for FY2026–2030/2035, as noted in the respective sections).
20Definitions and reporting
21- Defines “Report” as the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission’s September 2023 report, guiding all provisions.
22- Establishes the long-term framework for interagency coordination and oversight of wildfire safety, prevention, and recovery.

Impact Areas

Primary Affected Groups/Areas- Federal and non-federal wildland firefighting workforce and support staff (training, retention, portability of retirement benefits, job-sharing provisions with tribal governments, and casualty assistance).- Federal agencies (especially Forest Service, Department of the Interior, FEMA, EPA, NIOSH, NOAA, CDC, USFA) and tribal nations; and state/local/territorial/Tribal governments that participate in wildfire programs and data sharing.- Communities at risk from wildfires (through improved risk mapping, grant programs, and post-fire recovery support).Secondary Groups/Areas Affected- Higher education, junior/community colleges, accredited training programs, and nonprofits involved in wildfire education and training (via the workforce grant program).- Public health and air quality agencies, workers exposed to wildfire smoke, and workers in built environments affected by smoke (via health risk assessment and monitoring systems).- Emergency management and disaster response actors (via FEMA program changes, hazard assessment, and enhanced funding flexibility).Additional Impacts- Enhanced interagency data sharing, AI/ML tooling, and dynamic risk mapping could affect policy decisions, land management, and evacuation planning.- Increased funding and new offices/structures may influence how wildfire risk is managed across federal and non-federal entities, potentially changing timelines for grants, trainings, and response activities.- Businesses and education providers involved in fire training and mitigation may experience new requirements, opportunities for grants, and potential shifts in practice due to updated standards and systems.

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