Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Wildfire Intelligence Collaboration and Coordination Act of 2024”.
Wildfire Intelligence Collaboration and Coordination Act of 2024
A BILL
To establish a Wildfire Intelligence Center, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Sense of Congress
It is the sense of Congress that—
wildfire management is a complex, multijurisdictional issue that requires an integration of efforts at all levels of society, including the Federal Government, State, Tribal, and local governments, and the private sector; and
the report of the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission entitled “On FIRE: The Report of the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission” and dated September 2023 represents a consensus set of recommendations from 50 diverse experts to improve the outcomes from wildfire in the United States, finding that—
climate change and rapidly changing ecosystems represent fundamental shifts in conditions that existing fire behavior models and existing fire management system are not designed to meet;
research, applied science programs, data management, and technology procurement and application relating to wildfire are housed within a wide array of Federal entities and academia, leading to a limited ability to set priorities and general inefficiencies;
various predictive services and decision-support functions exist to aid Federal managers and decisionmakers in the wildland fire community that, due to the different missions and jurisdictions of the Federal agencies involved and the fact that the services reside in several different Federal agencies, would benefit from improved interoperability and more coordinated priority setting and purchasing power; and
an interagency joint office should be established—
with membership from entities conducting research and addressing wildland fire management;
with dedicated and separate funding to fulfill the mission of comprehensive assessment and prediction of fire in the wildland and built environment interface through data aggregation and science-based decision-support services; and
in close collaboration with the existing wildland fire management system in the United States.
Sec. 3 Definitions
Sec. 4 Wildfire Intelligence Center
Establishment— There is established in the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Commerce, and the Department of the Interior a joint office, to be known as the “Wildfire Intelligence Center”, the duties of which are to study, plan, coordinate, and implement issues of joint concern among the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Commerce, and the Department of the Interior, including—
serving as the development and operational center for the comprehensive assessment and prediction of fires that occur in the wildland and fires that move into the built environment to provide decision support services to inform land and fuels management, community outreach and risk reduction, post-wildfire recovery and rehabilitation, and fire management and response activities carried out by entities, including—
the Federal Government;
State, Tribal, and local governments;
land managers;
incident management teams;
the National Interagency Coordination Center;
geographic coordination centers;
land, air, and water managers;
burned area rehabilitation teams;
public health entities; and
other entities identified by the Board;
facilitating collaboration and information sharing across Federal and State departments and agencies, Tribal entities, academia, and the private sector on matters relating to wildland fires; and
addressing any other issues the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Commerce, and the Secretary of the Interior identify as issues of joint interest in support of the Center.
Headquarters— Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Board shall select a permanent location for a physical headquarters of the Center within the United States.
Functions— The functions of the Center shall include the following:
Providing real-time, science-based, and data-rich scientific and technical analytical services, decision support, and predictive services across all phases of fire to inform pre-fire land and fuels management, pre-fire community and built environment risk reduction, active fire management and emergency response, and post-fire recovery in the built and natural environment.
Assessing and monitoring wildland fires and wildland fire conditions across all phases of fire, including ignition, behavior, and spread, climate, weather, drought, soil moisture, fuel conditions, smoke, aerosols, fire severity, debris flows, and erosion.
Comprehensive modeling of wildland fire behavior and risks, including ignitions, wildland fire intensity and spread, structure-to-structure ignition, community and structure vulnerability, air quality, and dependence on burn history, vegetation conditions, climate, and weather.
Providing and combining existing data, mapping, technological, and consultation services to support pre-, active, and post-fire activities, including—
creating and maintaining a real-time nationwide wildland fire risk catalog by leveraging existing risk mapping at land management agencies;
assisting with the creation of evacuation plans for at-risk communities;
assisting with the creation of public safety power shutoff plans;
assisting with the creation of wildland fire response strategies, plans, and treatment and mitigation measures;
providing gridded and point data forecast and assessment products in support of operational and planning activities; and
providing a testbed framework for testing and evaluation of new tools and products intended for decision support.
Consolidating air quality monitoring and forecasting data to support health risk information to help inform risks to public health and protect the public from smoke impacts associated with wildland fires, including providing planning guidance for safe and effective beneficial fire opportunities to prevent the risk of wildland fires.
Providing accessible tools and products that support emergency and land management decisions relating to wildland fire prevention, preparedness, and response, including risk assessment and contingency planning, which shall include the development of a data interface to assist and inform, in real-time, firefighters, first responders, and approved contractors in responding to wildland fires, including the use of any observations by the civil, military, and intelligence communities of the Federal Government and commercial Earth observations.
Establishing an interoperable information technology infrastructure accessible by Federal agencies, State government offices, units of local government, and Tribal governments.
To the extent feasible, establishing data interoperability through—
the development of common data standards;
the provision of comprehensive searchable data inventories;
working with Tribal governments in nation-to-nation partnership;
the integration and sharing of information and resources of the Federal Government and State and local governments to support the essential functions of the Center;
the development of data standards to protect confidential information that may be essential to the core functions of the Center;
regular updates and maintenance of research and technology essential to achieving the core functions of the Center; and
the development and maintenance of a big-data architecture to compile, maintain, standardize, and evaluate data associated with the core functions of the Center.
In coordination with relevant Federal agencies and coordinating bodies as determined by the Board, and in consultation with State government offices, units of local government, territories of the United States, and federally recognized Indian Tribes, developing and disseminating tools to support wildland fire planning, risk reduction and response guidance, guidelines, maps, and training materials to help inform State, territorial, local, and Tribal governments and decisionmakers with respect to—
the use and implementations of wildland fire risk assessments;
the applied use of the database and information developed under paragraphs (7) and (8);
reducing losses from wildland fires;
increasing benefits from wildland fires;
resources available for communities and responders working to improve wildland fire preparedness; and
enhancing communication management in emergency wildfire situations, land and resource management, and scientific studies.
Working with Federal, State, and Tribal agencies to develop and improve National Wildland Coordinating Group wildland fire preparedness curricula and training modules for—
State, territorial, local, and Tribal officials; and
Federal, State, territorial, local, and Tribal emergency managers and responders.
Administration—
In general— The Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Commerce, and the Secretary of the Interior shall cooperatively administer the Center.
Transfer of funds—
In general— Subject to subparagraph (B), the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Commerce, and the Secretary of the Interior may transfer funds between the Forest Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the United States Geological Survey from funds provided to establish the Center and to carry out the duties of the Center.
Notice required— Not less than 15 days prior to transferring funds under subparagraph (A), the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Commerce, or the Secretary of the Interior, as applicable, shall notify the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives of the proposed transfer.
Board—
Number and appointment— The Center shall be governed by a Board, composed of 14 members, as follows:
1 member who is a career employee of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, to be appointed by the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
1 member who is a career employee of the United States Fire Administration, to be appointed by the Administrator of the United States Fire Administration.
1 member who is a career employee of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to be appointed by the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
1 member who is a career employee of the National Weather Service, to be appointed by the Director of the National Weather Service.
1 member who is a career employee in fire and aviation management of the Forest Service, to be appointed by the Chief of the Forest Service.
1 member who is a career employee of the Department of the Interior, to be appointed by the Secretary of the Interior.
1 member who is a career employee of the Bureau of Land Management, to be appointed by the Director of the Bureau of Land Management.
1 member who is a career employee of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, to be appointed by the Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
1 member who is a career employee of the National Park Service, to be appointed by the Director of the National Park Service.
1 member who is a career employee of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, to be appointed by the Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.
1 member who is a career employee of the United States Geological Survey, to be appointed by the Director of the United States Geological Survey.
1 member who is a career employee of the Department of Agriculture, to be appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture.
1 member who is a career employee of the Department of Defense, to be appointed by the Secretary of Defense.
1 member who is a career employee of the research and development areas of the Forest Service, to be appointed by the Chief of the Forest Service.
Terms— A member of the Board—
shall be appointed for a term of 3 years; and
may be reappointed for not more than 3 additional terms.
Chairperson; vice chairperson— The Chairperson and Vice Chairperson of the Board shall—
be selected by the members of the Board, on a rotating basis, from among the members appointed under subparagraphs (A), (K), and (N) of paragraph (1); and
serve for a term of 1 year.
Majority vote— Voting consensus by the Board shall be not less than 2/3 majority vote.
Nonvoting status— At the discretion of the Board, the Board may include nonvoting observers to the Board.
Executive Director—
In general— The Center shall have an Executive Director, who shall be appointed by, and serve at the direction of, the Board.
Private sector drought monitoring— The Executive Director of the Center shall engage with entities in the private sector to improve drought monitoring, forecasting, communication, and response that may be essential to the core functions of the Center if the Executive Director of the Center determines that the engagement is appropriate, beneficial, and cost effective.
Contracting authority—
In general— The Executive Director of the Center may enter into and perform contracts, leases, cooperative agreements, or other similar transactions that the Executive Director of the Center determines to be appropriate to carry out the functions of the Center.
Report— Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Board and the Executive Director of the Center shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report that provides—
an assessment of existing contracting authorities of the Executive Director of the Center; and
recommendations on whether new contracting authorities or modifications of existing contracting authorities are needed.
Direct hire authority— The Chairperson of the Board and the Executive Director of the Center may hire qualified candidates to any positions determined to be necessary to carry out the duties of the Center, as directed by a consensus vote of the Board in accordance with subsection (e)(4).
Interagency financing— Notwithstanding section 708 of the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2023 (Public Law 117–328; 136 Stat. 4706) or any other similar provision of law, interagency financing may be used to fund the Center.
Coordination with other agencies and entities— The Board shall coordinate with agencies represented on the Board and other relevant entities to achieve the core functions of the Center, including with—
the National Wildfire Coordinating Group;
State and Tribal governments;
any other agency—
that is responsible for the management of Federal or State land; or
that has data, science, and technology expertise relevant to the Center; and
any other relevant Federal, State, Tribal, or nongovernmental entity that is representative of an element of the wildland fire community.