This bill would create a coordinated fire weather services program inside the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The program would improve forecasting, detection, modeling, observations, and services for wildfires, fire weather, wildfire smoke, and post-fire hazards like flooding and debris flows. It would set up a fire weather testbed to evaluate new tools and models, run pilots for uncrewed (drone) systems, and buy commercial data when needed. The bill would require better data management, a public digital platform, and more high-performance computing. It would establish an Incident Meteorologist Service in the National Weather Service to give on-site meteorological support during major fire events. The bill directs annual and event-based surveys and assessments, a joint review of the automated surface observing system, interagency coordination through a temporary working group and a strategic plan, and multiple reports to Congress and the Government Accountability Office.
If enacted, NOAA would be asked to make fire forecasts, smoke forecasts, and related data more available and easier to use. The bill requires plans and tools meant to help emergency managers, first responders, and communities — including rural and remote areas — get better information about fire risk and smoke. It would fund pilots of drones and other observation methods and ask NOAA to build a central public digital site for fire-weather data and decision tools. The bill also creates a focused team of incident meteorologists to support on-site fire response.
The bill authorizes NOAA funding for the program as follows: $15,000,000 for fiscal year 2026; $20,000,000 for fiscal year 2027; $27,000,000 for fiscal year 2028; $36,000,000 for fiscal year 2029; and $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2030. It also bars using those amounts to unnecessarily duplicate activities already funded under title VIII of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The bill includes several required reports and assessments with specific deadlines (for example, plans and reports due within 90 days, 180 days, 18 months, 2 years, 3 years, and up to 4 years in different sections) that could affect how funds are allocated and tracked. The bill says a workforce plan to address staffing needs must be developed by March 30, 2026, and that one year (calendar year 2025) is covered by a temporary premium-pay waiver rule for certain emergency response employees.
The bill's text says the program should support readiness, forecasting, risk communication, and resilience for wildfires and related hazards. It directs NOAA to partner with Federal, State, Tribal, local, academic, and private partners; develop an Earth system model with fire-related variables; expand observations (satellite, airborne, ground, and social data); create impact-based decision tools; ensure parity of services for remote and rural communities; and move research into operational use. Those are the goals the bill sets out to achieve.
No publicly available information.