U.S. SENATE – U.S. Senators Tim Sheehy (R – Mont.) and Alex Padilla (D – Calif.) today introduced the Fit for Purpose Wildfire Readiness Act to dramatically reform and streamline the American wildland firefighting apparatus.
Under the current system, wildland fire response is divided across multiple agencies with no clear lines of responsibility or authority. This bill would change that by requiring the Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior to consolidate wildland firefighting services under a new “National Wildland Firefighting Service.”
“For too long, layers of senseless bureaucracy and red tape have splintered our wildfire management system, failed our brave firefighters on the ground, and let entire communities be wiped off the map by wildfire. The time is now to reshape our approach to American wildfire management and start fighting fires better, stronger, and faster. The National Wildland Firefighting Service will be fit for purpose to protect our communities and save lives,” said Senator Sheehy.
“When catastrophic wildfires break out on federal lands, we can’t afford to waste time or resources overcoming communication and coordination barriers. Reorganizing our federal wildland firefighting forces into one centralized firefighting force would streamline our wildfire response. Our bipartisan legislation lays the groundwork to take long overdue actions to establish the unified National Wildland Firefighting Service,” said Senator Padilla.
Background
Under the current system, wildland fire response is divided across multiple agencies with no clear lines of responsibility or authority. This bipartisan bill requires the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior to jointly develop a plan within 180 days of enactment to consolidate the authorities of the Secretaries relating to federal wildland fire preparedness, suppression, and recovery efforts under an agency of the Department of the Interior, to be known as the “National Wildland Firefighting Service.”
The plan is to include: a budget for the National Wildland Firefighting Service; a description of the qualifications for a Senate-confirmable Director; and a description of the resources and authorities necessary to consolidate federal wildland fire response of the Secretaries.
Read more on the bill HERE. Read the full bill text HERE.
