119-hr4038

[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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