II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4343 

To establish and maintain a coordinated program within the National Oceanic 

and Atmospheric Administration that improves wildfire, fire weather, 

fire risk, and smoke related forecasting, detection, modeling, observations, 

and service delivery, and to address growing needs in the wildlandurban interface, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 15, 2024 

Ms. CANTWELL (for herself, Mr. CRUZ, Mr. LUJA ́N, Mr. SULLIVAN, Ms. 

ROSEN, Ms. MURKOWSKI, Mr. SCHATZ, and Mr. PADILLA) introduced the 

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To establish and maintain a coordinated program within 

the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

that improves wildfire, fire weather, fire risk, and smoke 

related forecasting, detection, modeling, observations, 

and service delivery, and to address growing needs in 

the wildland-urban interface, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Fire Ready Nation Act of 2024’’. 


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1 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

2 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Definitions. 

Sec. 3. Establishment of fire weather services program. 

Sec. 4. Fire weather testbed. 

Sec. 5. Data management and technology modernization. 

Sec. 6. Surveys and assessments. 

Sec. 7. Incident Meteorologist Service. 

Sec. 8. Emergency response activities. 

Sec. 9. Submissions to Congress regarding the fire weather services program, 

incident meteorologist workforce needs, and National Weather 

Service workforce support. 

Sec. 10. Fire Science and Technology Working Group; strategic plan. 

Sec. 11. Fire weather rating system. 

Sec. 12. Government Accountability Office reports. 

Sec. 13. Cooperation and coordination. 

Sec. 14. General provisions. 

Sec. 15. Authorization of appropriations. 

3 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

4 In this Act: 

5 (1) ADMINISTRATION.—The term ‘‘Administra6 tion’’ means the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

7 Administration. 

8 (2) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON9 GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con10 gress’’ means— 

11 (A) the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

12 and Transportation of the Senate; and 

13 (B) the Committee on Science, Space, and 

14 Technology of the House of Representatives. 

15 (3) EARTH SYSTEM MODEL.—The term ‘‘Earth 

16 system model’’ means a mathematical model con17 taining all relevant components of the Earth, namely 


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1 the atmosphere, oceans, land, cryosphere, and bio2 sphere. 

3 (4) FIRE ENVIRONMENT.—The term ‘‘fire envi4 ronment’’ means— 

5 (A) the environmental conditions, such as 

6 soil moisture, vegetation, topography, snowpack, 

7 atmospheric temperature, moisture, and wind, 

8 that influence— 

9 (i) fuel and fire behavior; and 

10 (ii) the emission, chemical evolution, 

11 and transport of smoke from wildfires; and 

12 (B) the associated environmental impacts 

13 occurring during and after fire events. 

14 (5) FIRE WEATHER.—The term ‘‘fire weather’’ 

15 means the weather conditions that influence the 

16 start, spread, character, or behavior of wildfires or 

17 fires at the wildland-urban interface and relevant 

18 meteorological and chemical phenomena, including 

19 air quality, smoke, and meteorological parameters 

20 such as relative humidity, air temperature, wind 

21 speed and direction, and atmospheric composition 

22 and chemistry, including emissions and mixing 

23 heights. 

24 (6) IMPACT-BASED DECISION SUPPORT SERV25 ICES.—The term ‘‘impact-based decision support 


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1 services’’ means scientific advice and interpretative 

2 services the Administration provides to help core 

3 partners, such as emergency personnel and public 

4 safety officials, make decisions when the information 

5 impacts the lives and livelihoods of the people of the 

6 United States. 

7 (7) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian tribe’’ 

8 has the meaning given that term in section 4 of the 

9 Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 

10 Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 

11 (8) NATIVE HAWAIIAN COMMUNITY.—The term 

12 ‘‘Native Hawaiian Community’’ means the distinct 

13 Native Hawaiian indigenous political community 

14 that Congress, exercising its plenary power over Na15 tive American affairs, has recognized and with which 

16 Congress has implemented a special political and 

17 trust relationship pursuant to the Constitution of 

18 the United States. 

19 (9) NATIVE HAWAIIAN ORGANIZATION.—The 

20 term ‘‘Native Hawaiian organization’’ has the mean21 ing given that term in section 6207 of the Elemen22 tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

23 U.S.C. 7517), including the Department of Hawai24 ian Home Lands and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. 


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1 (10) SEASONAL.—The term ‘‘seasonal’’ has the 

2 meaning given that term in section 2 of the Weather 

3 Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 

4 (15 U.S.C. 8501). 

5 (11) SMOKE.—The term ‘‘smoke’’ means emis6 sions, including the gases and particles released into 

7 the air as a result of wildfire. 

8 (12) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means a State, 

9 the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of 

10 Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the Common11 wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the United 

12 State Virgin Islands, the Federated States of Micro13 nesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, or the 

14 Republic of Palau. 

15 (13) TRIBAL ORGANIZATION.—The term ‘‘Trib16 al organization’’ has the meaning given that term in 

17 section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Edu18 cation Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 

19 (14) UNDER SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Under 

20 Secretary’’ means the Under Secretary of Commerce 

21 for Oceans and Atmosphere. 

22 (15) WILDFIRE.—The term ‘‘wildfire’’ means 

23 any non-structure fire that occurs in vegetation or 

24 natural fuels, originating from an unplanned igni25 tion. 


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1 (16) WILDLAND-URBAN INTERFACE.—The term 

2 ‘‘wildland-urban interface’’ means the area, zone, or 

3 region of transition between unoccupied or undevel4 oped land and human development where structures 

5 and other human development meet or intermingle 

6 with undeveloped wildland or vegetative fuels. 

7 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF FIRE WEATHER SERVICES 

8 PROGRAM. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall estab10 lish and maintain a coordinated fire weather services pro11 gram among the offices of the Administration in existence 

12 as of the date of the enactment of this Act. 

13 (b) PROGRAM FUNCTIONS.—The functions of the 

14 program established under subsection (a), consistent with 

15 the priorities described in section 101 of the Weather Re16 search and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 

17 8511), shall be— 

18 (1) to support readiness, responsiveness, under19 standing, and resilience of the United States to 

20 wildfires, fire weather, smoke from wildfires, post21 fire flooding and debris flows, and associated haz22 ards and impacts in built and natural environments 

23 and at the wildland-urban interface; 

24 (2) to collaboratively develop and disseminate 

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1 nications, forecasts, watches, and warnings relating 

2 to wildfires, fire weather, smoke, post-fire flooding 

3 and debris flows, and other associated conditions, 

4 hazards, and impacts, as applicable, with Federal 

5 land management agencies; 

6 (3) to partner with and support the public, 

7 Federal and State government entities, Indian 

8 tribes, the Native Hawaiian Community, and aca9 demic and local partners through the development of 

10 capabilities, impact-based decision support services, 

11 and overall service delivery and utility related to fire 

12 weather; 

13 (4) to conduct and support research and devel14 opment of new and innovative models, technologies, 

15 techniques, products, systems, processes, and proce16 dures to predict and improve understanding of 

17 wildfires, fire weather, related air quality, post-fire 

18 flooding and debris flows, and the fire environment; 

19 (5) to develop strong research-to-operations and 

20 operations-to-research transitions, in order to facili21 tate delivery of products, services, and tools to oper22 ational users and platforms related to fire weather; 

23 and 

24 (6) to develop, in coordination with Federal 

25 land management agencies, impact-based decision 


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1 support services that operationalize and integrate 

2 the functions described in paragraphs (1) through 

3 (5) in order to provide comprehensive impact-based 

4 decision support services that encompass the fire en5 vironment. 

6 (c) PROGRAM PRIORITIES.—In developing and imple7 menting the program established under subsection (a), the 

8 Under Secretary shall prioritize— 

9 (1) development of a fire weather-enabled Earth 

10 system model and data assimilation systems that— 

11 (A) are capable of prediction and fore12 casting across relevant spatial and temporal 

13 scales; 

14 (B) include variables associated with fire 

15 weather and the fire environment; 

16 (C) improve understanding of the connec17 tions between fire weather and modes of climate 

18 variability; 

19 (D) incorporate emerging techniques such 

20 as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and 

21 cloud computing; and 

22 (E) use a rapidly deployable network of 

23 rain gauges for post-fire hazard monitoring; 

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1 , and ground-based systems and technologies, and 

2 social networking and other public information-gath3 ering applications that— 

4 (A) identify— 

5 (i) high-risk pre-ignition conditions; 

6 (ii) conditions that influence fire be7 havior and spread including those condi8 tions that suppress active fire events; and 

9 (iii) fire risk values; 

10 (B) support real-time notification and 

11 monitoring of ignitions; 

12 (C) support observations and data collec13 tion of fire weather and fire environment vari14 ables, including vegetation state and profiles of 

15 smoke, winds, temperature, and humidity, for 

16 development of the model and systems under 

17 paragraph (1); and 

18 (D) support forecasts and research that 

19 mitigate the impacts of wildfires on human life, 

20 health, and the economy; and 

21 (3) development and implementation of ad22 vanced and user-oriented impact-based decision 

23 tools, science, and technologies that— 

24 (A) ensure real-time and retrospective 

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1 sible, interoperable, usable, inform further re2 search, and are analysis- and decision-ready; 

3 (B) provide targeted information through4 out the fire lifecycle including pre-ignition, de5 tection, forecasting, post-fire, and monitoring 

6 phases; and 

7 (C) support early assessment of post-fire 

8 hazards, such as air quality, debris flows, 

9 mudslides, and flooding. 

10 (d) PROGRAM ACTIVITIES.—In developing and imple11 menting the program established under subsection (a), the 

12 Under Secretary may— 

13 (1) conduct relevant physical and social science 

14 research activities in support of the functions de15 scribed in subsection (b) and the priorities described 

16 in subsection (c); 

17 (2) conduct relevant activities, in coordination 

18 with Federal land management agencies and Federal 

19 science agencies, to assess fuel characteristics, in20 cluding moisture, loading, and other parameters 

21 used to determine fire risk levels and outlooks; 

22 (3) support and conduct research that assesses 

23 impacts to marine, riverine, watershed, and other 

24 relevant ecosystems, which may include forest and 


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1 rangeland ecosystems, resulting from activities asso2 ciated with mitigation of and response to wildfires; 

3 (4) support and conduct attribution science re4 search relating to wildfires, fire weather, fire risk, 

5 smoke, and associated conditions, risks, and im6 pacts; 

7 (5) develop smoke and air quality forecasts, 

8 forecast guidance, and prescribed burn weather fore9 casts, and conduct research on the impact of such 

10 forecasts on response behavior that minimizes 

11 health-related impacts from smoke exposure; 

12 (6) use, in coordination with Federal land man13 agement agencies, wildland fuels information and 

14 fire resource intelligence to inform fire environment 

15 impact-based decision support services and products 

16 for safety; 

17 (7) work with Federal agencies to provide data, 

18 tools, and services to support determinations by such 

19 agencies for the implementation of mitigation meas20 ures; 

21 (8) provide training and support to ensure ef22 fective media utilization of impact-based decision 

23 support services and products to the public regard24 ing actions needing to be taken; 


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1 (9) provide comprehensive training to ensure 

2 staff of the program established under subsection 

3 (a) is properly equipped to deliver the impact-based 

4 decision support services and products described in 

5 paragraphs (1) through (6); and 

6 (10) acquire, through contracted purchase, pri7 vate sector-produced observational data to fill identi8 fied gaps, as needed. 

9 (e) COLLABORATION.—The Under Secretary shall, as 

10 the Under Secretary considers appropriate, collaborate 

11 with partners in the weather and climate enterprises, aca12 demic institutions, States, Indian tribes, Tribal organiza13 tions, the Native Hawaiian Community, Native Hawaiian 

14 organizations, local partners, and Federal agencies, in15 cluding land and fire management agencies, in the devel16 opment and implementation of the program established 

17 under subsection (a). 

18 (f) AGREEMENTS.—In carrying out the activities 

19 under this Act and the amendments made by this Act, 

20 the Under Secretary may provide support to non-Federal 

21 entities by making funds and resources available 

22 through— 

23 (1) competitive grants; 

24 (2) contracts under the mobility program under 

25 subchapter VI of chapter 33 of title 5, United States 


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1 Code (commonly referred to as the ‘‘Intergovern2 mental Personnel Act Mobility Program’’); 

3 (3) cooperative agreements; and 

4 (4) co-location agreements as described in sec5 tion 502 of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

6 Administration Commissioned Officer Corps Amend7 ments Act of 2020 (33 U.S.C. 851 note prec.). 

8 (g) PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION PLAN.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

10 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

11 Under Secretary shall submit to the appropriate 

12 committees of Congress a plan that details how the 

13 program established under subsection (a) will be ad14 ministered and governed within the Administration. 

15 (2) ELEMENTS.—The plan required by para16 graph (1) should include a description of— 

17 (A) how the functions described in sub18 section (b), the priorities described in sub19 section (c), and the activities described in sub20 section (d) will be distributed among the line of21 fices of the Administration; and 

22 (B) the mechanisms in place to ensure 

23 seamless coordination among those offices. 


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1 SEC. 4. FIRE WEATHER TESTBED. 

2 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF FIRE WEATHER

3 TESTBED.—The Under Secretary shall establish a fire 

4 weather testbed that enables engagement across the Fed5 eral Government, State and local governments, academia, 

6 private and federally funded research laboratories, the pri7 vate sector, and end-users in order to evaluate the accu8 racy and usability of technology, models, fire weather 

9 products and services, and other research to accelerate the 

10 implementation, transition to operations, and use of new 

11 capabilities by the Administration, Federal and land man12 agement agencies, and other relevant stakeholders. 

13 (b) UNCREWED SYSTEMS.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall— 

15 (A) establish and carry out a research and 

16 development program to support the application 

17 of uncrewed systems technologies to improve 

18 data collection in support of modeling, observa19 tions, predictions, forecasts, and impact-based 

20 decision support services, and for other pur21 poses of the Administration; 

22 (B) transition uncrewed systems tech23 nologies from research to operations as the 

24 Under Secretary considers appropriate; and 

25 (C) coordinate with other Federal agencies 

26 that may be developing uncrewed systems and 


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1 related technologies to meet the challenges of 

2 wildland fire management. 

3 (2) PILOTS REQUIRED.—In carrying out para4 graph (1), the Under Secretary shall conduct pilots 

5 of uncrewed systems for fire weather and fire envi6 ronment observations, including— 

7 (A) testing of uncrewed systems in ap8 proximations of real-world scenarios; 

9 (B) assessment of the utility of meteoro10 logical data collected from fire response and as11 sessment aircraft; 

12 (C) input of the collected data into appro13 priate models to predict fire behavior, including 

14 coupled atmosphere and fire models; and 

15 (D) collection of best management prac16 tices for deployment of uncrewed systems and 

17 other remote data technology, including for 

18 communication and coordination between the 

19 stakeholders described in subsection (a). 

20 (3) SAVINGS CLAUSE.— 

21 (A) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out activi22 ties under this subsection, the Under Secretary 

23 shall ensure that any testing or deployment of 

24 uncrewed systems follow procedures, restric25 tions, and protocols established by the heads of 


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1 the Federal agencies with statutory or regu2 latory jurisdiction over any airspace in which 

3 wildfire response activities are conducted during 

4 an active wildfire event. 

5 (B) CONSULTATION AND COORDINA6 TION.—The Under Secretary shall consult and 

7 coordinate with relevant Federal land manage8 ment agencies, Federal science agencies, and 

9 the Federal Aviation Administration to develop 

10 processes for the appropriate deployment of the 

11 systems described in subparagraph (A). 

12 (c) ADDITIONAL PILOT PROJECTS.—The Under Sec13 retary shall establish additional pilot projects relating to 

14 the fire weather testbed that may include the following ele15 ments: 

16 (1) Advanced products to detect fire from sat17 ellites. 

18 (2) Procurement and use of commercial data. 

19 (3) Investigation and evaluation of information 

20 needs of users and decision makers. 

21 (d) REPORT.—Section 108(a)(5) of the National Oce22 anic and Atmospheric Administration Authorization Act 

23 of 1992 (15 U.S.C. 8520(a)(5)) is amended— 

24 (1) in subparagraph (C), by adding ‘‘and’’ at 

25 the end; and 


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1 (2) in subparagraph (D)— 

2 (A) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘and’’; 

3 (B) in clause (iii), by adding ‘‘and’’ at the 

4 end; and 

5 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(iv) a description of the research 

7 that has been transitioned into operations, 

8 including research at the fire weather 

9 testbed established under section 4(a) of 

10 the Fire Ready Nation Act of 2024;’’. 

11 SEC. 5. DATA MANAGEMENT AND TECHNOLOGY MOD12 ERNIZATION. 

13 (a) DATA AVAILABILITY AND MANAGEMENT.—Sec14 tion 301 of the Weather Research and Forecasting Inno15 vation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8531) is amended— 

16 (1) by redesignating subsections (f) and (g) as 

17 subsections (g) and (h), respectively; and 

18 (2) by inserting after subsection (e) the fol19 lowing: 

20 ‘‘(f) DATA AVAILABILITY AND MANAGEMENT.— 

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary 

22 shall— 

23 ‘‘(A) make data and metadata generated 

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1 retary has the legal right to redistribute fully 

2 and openly available, in accordance with chap3 ter 35 of title 44, United States Code, and the 

4 Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking 

5 Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–435; 132 Stat. 

6 5529) and the amendments made by that Act, 

7 and preserve and curate such data and 

8 metadata, in accordance with chapter 31 of title 

9 44, United States Code (commonly known as 

10 the ‘Federal Records Act of 1950’), in order to 

11 maximize use of such data and metadata; and 

12 ‘‘(B) manage and steward the access, ar13 chival, and retrieval activities for the data and 

14 metadata described in subparagraph (A) by— 

15 ‘‘(i) using— 

16 ‘‘(I) enterprise-wide infrastruc17 ture, emerging technologies, commer18 cial partnerships, and the skilled 

19 workforce needed to provide appro20 priate data management from collec21 tion to broad access; and 

22 ‘‘(II) associated information serv23 ices; and 

24 ‘‘(ii) pursuing the maximum inter25 operability of data and information by— 


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1 ‘‘(I) leveraging data, information, 

2 knowledge, and tools from across the 

3 Federal Government to support equi4 table access, cross-sectoral collabora5 tion and innovation, and local plan6 ning and decision-making; and 

7 ‘‘(II) developing standards and 

8 practices for the adoption and citation 

9 of digital object identifiers for 

10 datasets, models, and analytical tools. 

11 ‘‘(2) COLLABORATION.—In carrying out this 

12 subsection, the Under Secretary shall collaborate 

13 with such Federal partners and stakeholders as the 

14 Under Secretary considers relevant— 

15 ‘‘(A) to develop standards to pursue max16 imum interoperability of data, information, 

17 knowledge, and tools across the Federal Gov18 ernment, convert historical records into com19 mon digital formats, and improve access and 

20 usability of data by partners and stakeholders; 

21 ‘‘(B) to identify and solicit relevant data 

22 from Federal and international partners and 

23 other relevant stakeholders, as the Under Sec24 retary considers appropriate; and 


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1 ‘‘(C) to develop standards and practices for 

2 the adoption and citation of digital object iden3 tifiers for datasets, models, and analytical 

4 tools.’’. 

5 (b) WILDLAND FIRE COMMISSION.—The Infrastruc6 ture Investment and Jobs Act (Public Law 117–58; 135 

7 Stat. 429) is amended— 

8 (1) in section 70202— 

9 (A) in paragraph (1)— 

10 (i) in subparagraph (J), by striking ‘‘; 

11 and’’ and inserting a semicolon; 

12 (ii) in subparagraph (K), by striking 

13 the period at the end and inserting a semi14 colon; and 

15 (iii) by adding at the end the fol16 lowing: 

17 ‘‘(L) the Committee on Commerce, 

18 Science, and Transportation of the Senate; and 

19 ‘‘(M) the Committee on Science, Space, 

20 and Technology of the House of Representa21 tives.’’; and 

22 (B) in paragraph (6)— 

23 (i) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘; 

24 and’’ and inserting a semicolon; 


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1 (ii) in subparagraph (C), by striking 

2 the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; 

3 and’’; and 

4 (iii) by adding at the end the fol5 lowing: 

6 ‘‘(D) The Secretary of Commerce, acting 

7 through the Under Secretary of Commerce for 

8 Oceans and Atmosphere.’’; and 

9 (2) in section 70203(b)(1)(B)— 

10 (A) in the matter preceding clause (i), by 

11 striking ‘‘9’’ and inserting ‘‘not fewer than 10’’; 

12 (B) in clause (i)— 

13 (i) in subclause (IV), by striking ‘‘; 

14 and’’ and inserting a semicolon; 

15 (ii) in subclause (V), by adding ‘‘and’’ 

16 at the end; and 

17 (iii) by adding at the end the fol18 lowing: 

19 ‘‘(VI) the National Oceanic and 

20 Atmospheric Administration;’’; 

21 (C) in clause (iv), by striking ‘‘; and’’ and 

22 inserting a semicolon; and 

23 (D) by adding at the end the following: 

24 ‘‘(vi) if the Secretaries determine it to 

25 be appropriate, 1 or more representatives 


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1 from the relevant line offices of the Na2 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis3 tration; and’’. 

4 (c) WILDFIRE TECHNOLOGY MODERNIZATION.—Sec5 tion 1114 of the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Man6 agement, and Recreation Act (43 U.S.C. 1748b–1) is 

7 amended— 

8 (1) in subsection (c)(3), by inserting ‘‘the Na9 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,’’ 

10 after ‘‘Federal Aviation Administration,’’; 

11 (2) in subsection (e)(2)— 

12 (A) by redesignating subparagraph (B) as 

13 subparagraph (C); and 

14 (B) by inserting after subparagraph (A) 

15 the following: 

16 ‘‘(B) CONSULTATION.— 

17 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out 

18 subparagraph (A), the Secretaries shall 

19 consult with the Under Secretary of Com20 merce for Oceans and Atmosphere regard21 ing any development of impact-based deci22 sion support services that relate to wildlife23 related activities of the National Oceanic 

24 and Atmospheric Administration. 


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1 ‘‘(ii) DEFINITION OF IMPACT-BASED

2 DECISION SUPPORT SERVICES.—In this 

3 subparagraph, the term ‘impact-based deci4 sion support services’ means scientific ad5 vice and interpretative services the Na6 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis7 tration provides to help core partners, such 

8 as emergency personnel and public safety 

9 officials, make decisions when the informa10 tion impacts the lives and livelihoods of the 

11 people of the United States.’’; and 

12 (3) in subsection (f)— 

13 (A) by redesignating paragraphs (1) and 

14 (2) as subparagraphs (A) and (B), respectively, 

15 and moving such subparagraphs, as so redesig16 nated, 2 ems to the right; 

17 (B) by striking ‘‘The Secretaries’’ and in18 serting the following: 

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretaries’’; and 

20 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

21 ‘‘(2) COLLABORATION.—In carrying out para22 graph (1), the Secretaries shall collaborate with the 

23 Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and At24 mosphere to improve coordination, utility of systems 


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1 and assets, and interoperability of data for smoke 

2 prediction, forecasting, and modeling.’’. 

3 (d) DIGITAL PRESENCE.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall 

5 develop and maintain a comprehensive, centralized, 

6 and publicly accessible digital presence designed to 

7 promote findability, accessibility, interoperability, 

8 usability, and utility of the services, tools, data, and 

9 information produced by the program established 

10 under section 3(a). 

11 (2) DIGITAL PLATFORM AND TOOLS.—In car12 rying out paragraph (1), the Under Secretary shall 

13 seek to ensure the digital platform and tools of the 

14 Administration integrate geospatial data, decision 

15 support tools, training, and best practices to provide 

16 real-time fire weather forecasts and address fire-re17 lated issues and needs. 

18 (e) HIGH-PERFORMANCE COMPUTING.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall 

20 seek to acquire sufficient high-performance com21 puting resources and capacity for research, oper22 ations, and data storage in support of the program 

23 established under section 3(a). 

24 (2) CONSIDERATIONS.—In acquiring high-per25 formance computing capacity under paragraph (1), 


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1 the Under Secretary shall consider requirements 

2 needed for— 

3 (A) conducting research, development, and 

4 testbed experiments; 

5 (B) the transition of research and testbed 

6 developments into operations; 

7 (C) sustaining capabilities in operations; 

8 (D) capabilities existing in other Federal 

9 agencies and the commercial sector; and 

10 (E) skilled workforce development. 

11 SEC. 6. SURVEYS AND ASSESSMENTS. 

12 (a) POST-FIRE SURVEYS AND ASSESSMENTS .— 

13 (1) ANNUAL POST-FIRE-WEATHER-SEASON SUR14 VEY AND ASSESSMENT.— 

15 (A) IN GENERAL.—During the second win16 ter following the enactment of this Act, and 

17 each year thereafter, the Under Secretary shall 

18 conduct a post-fire-weather-season survey and 

19 assessment. 

20 (B) ELEMENTS.—After conducting a post21 fire-weather-season survey and assessment 

22 under subparagraph (A), the Under Secretary 

23 shall— 

24 (i) investigate any gaps in data col25 lected during the assessment; 


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1 (ii) identify and implement strategies 

2 and procedures to improve program serv3 ices and information dissemination; 

4 (iii) update systems, processes, strate5 gies, and procedures to enhance the effi6 ciency and reliability of data obtained from 

7 the assessment; 

8 (iv) evaluate the accuracy and efficacy 

9 of physical fire weather forecasting infor10 mation for each incident included in the 

11 survey and assessment; and 

12 (v) assess and refine performance 

13 measures, as needed. 

14 (2) SURVEYS AND ASSESSMENTS FOLLOWING

15 INDIVIDUAL WILDFIRE EVENTS.—The Under Sec16 retary may conduct surveys and assessments fol17 lowing individual wildfire events as the Under Sec18 retary determines necessary. 

19 (3) GOAL.—In carrying out activities under this 

20 subsection, the Under Secretary shall seek to in21 crease the number of post-wildfire community im22 pact studies, including by surveying individual and 

23 collective responses and incorporating other applica24 ble topics of social science research. 


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1 (4) ANNUAL BRIEFING.—Not less frequently 

2 than once each year, the Under Secretary shall pro3 vide a briefing to the appropriate committees of 

4 Congress that provides— 

5 (A) an overview of the fire season; and 

6 (B) an outlook for the fire season for the 

7 coming year. 

8 (5) COORDINATION.—In conducting any survey 

9 or assessment under this subsection, the Under Sec10 retary shall coordinate with Federal, State, and local 

11 partners, Indian tribes, the Native Hawaiian Com12 munity, private entities, and such institutions of 

13 higher education as the Under Secretary considers 

14 relevant in order to— 

15 (A) improve operations and collaboration; 

16 and 

17 (B) optimize data collection, sharing, inte18 gration, assimilation, and dissemination. 

19 (6) DATA AVAILABILITY.—The Under Secretary 

20 shall make the data and findings obtained from each 

21 assessment conducted under this subsection available 

22 to the public in an accessible digital format as soon 

23 as practicable after conducting the assessment. 

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1 sults and recommendations of each assessment con2 ducted under this subsection into the research and 

3 development plan and operations of the Administra4 tion. 

5 (b) JOINT ASSESSMENT AND PLAN FOR AUTOMATED

6 SURFACE OBSERVING SYSTEM.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary, in col8 laboration with the Administrator of the Federal 

9 Aviation Administration and the Secretary of De10 fense, shall— 

11 (A) conduct an assessment of resources, 

12 personnel, procedures, and activities necessary 

13 to maximize the functionality and utility of the 

14 automated surface observing system of the 

15 United States that identifies— 

16 (i) key system upgrades needed to im17 prove observation quality and utility for 

18 weather forecasting, aviation safety, and 

19 other users; 

20 (ii) improvements needed in observa21 tions within the planetary boundary layer, 

22 including mixing height; 

23 (iii) improvements needed in public 

24 accessibility of observational data; 


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1 (iv) improvements needed to reduce 

2 latency in reporting of observational data; 

3 (v) relevant data to be collected for 

4 the production of forecasts or forecast 

5 guidance relating to atmospheric composi6 tion, including particulate and air quality 

7 data related to wildfires, and aviation safe8 ty; 

9 (vi) areas of concern regarding oper10 ational continuity and reliability of the sys11 tem, which may include needs for on-night 

12 staff, particularly in remote and rural 

13 areas and areas where system failure 

14 would have the greatest negative impact to 

15 the community; 

16 (vii) stewardship, data handling, data 

17 distribution, and product generation needs 

18 arising from upgrading and changing the 

19 automated surface observation systems; 

20 (viii) possible solutions for areas of 

21 concern identified under clause (vi), includ22 ing with respect to the potential use of 

23 backup systems, power and communication 

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1 ical component backups and proper storage 

2 location to ensure rapid system repair nec3 essary to ensure system operational con4 tinuity; and 

5 (ix) research, development, and transi6 tion to operations needed to develop ad7 vanced data collection, quality control, and 

8 distribution so that the data are provided 

9 to models, users, and decision support sys10 tems in a timely manner; and 

11 (B) develop and implement a plan that ad12 dresses the findings of the assessment con13 ducted under subparagraph (A), including by 

14 seeking and allocating resources necessary to 

15 ensure that system upgrades are standardized 

16 across the Administration, the Federal Aviation 

17 Administration, and the Department of Defense 

18 to the extent practicable. 

19 (2) STANDARDIZATION.—Any system standard20 ization implemented under paragraph (1)(B) shall 

21 not impede activities to upgrade or improve indi22 vidual units of the system. 

23 (3) REMOTE AUTOMATIC WEATHER STATION

24 COORDINATION.—The Under Secretary, in collabora25 tion with relevant Federal agencies and the National 


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1 Interagency Fire Center, shall assess and develop co2 operative agreements to improve coordination, inter3 operability standards, operations, and placement of 

4 remote automatic weather stations for the purpose 

5 of improving utility and coverage of remote auto6 matic weather stations, automated surface observa7 tion systems, smoke monitoring platforms, and other 

8 similar stations and systems for weather and climate 

9 operations. 

10 (4) REPORT TO CONGRESS.— 

11 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years 

12 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

13 Under Secretary, in collaboration with the Ad14 ministrator of the Federal Aviation Administra15 tion and the Secretary of Defense, shall submit 

16 to the appropriate committees of Congress a re17 port that— 

18 (i) details the findings of the assess19 ment required by subparagraph (A) of 

20 paragraph (1); and 

21 (ii) the plan required by subparagraph 

22 (B) of such paragraph. 

23 (B) ELEMENTS.—The report required by 

24 subparagraph (A) shall include a detailed as25 sessment of appropriations required— 


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1 (i) to address the findings of the as2 sessment required by subparagraph (A) of 

3 paragraph (1); and 

4 (ii) to implement the plan required by 

5 subparagraph (B) of such paragraph. 

6 SEC. 7. INCIDENT METEOROLOGIST SERVICE. 

7 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Under Secretary shall es8 tablish and maintain an Incident Meteorologist Service 

9 within the National Weather Service (in this section re10 ferred to as the ‘‘Service’’). 

11 (b) INCLUSION OF EXISTING INCIDENT METEOROLO12 GISTS.—The Service shall include— 

13 (1) the incident meteorologists of the Adminis14 tration as of the date of the enactment of this Act; 

15 and 

16 (2) such incident meteorologists of the Adminis17 tration as may be appointed after such date. 

18 (c) FUNCTIONS.—The Service shall provide— 

19 (1) on-site impact-based decision support serv20 ices to Federal, State, and local government emer21 gency response agencies, Indian tribes, and the Na22 tive Hawaiian Community preceding, during, and 

23 following significant weather-related events, such as 

24 wildland fires, that threaten human life, property, or 

25 the economy; and 


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1 (2) support to Federal, State, and local govern2 ment decision makers, partners, and stakeholders, 

3 Indian tribes, Tribal organizations, the Native Ha4 waiian Community, and Native Hawaiian organiza5 tions for seasonal planning and pre-fire mitigation 

6 activities. 

7 (d) DEPLOYMENT.—The Service shall be deployed— 

8 (1) as determined by the Under Secretary; or 

9 (2) at the request of the head of another Fed10 eral agency and with the approval of the Under Sec11 retary. 

12 (e) STAFFING AND RESOURCES.—In establishing and 

13 maintaining the Service, the Under Secretary shall iden14 tify, acquire, and maintain adequate levels of staffing and 

15 resources to meet user needs. 

16 (f) SUPPORT FOR INCIDENT METEOROLOGISTS.— 

17 The Under Secretary shall provide resources, access to 

18 real-time fire weather forecasts, training, administrative 

19 and logistical support, and access to professional coun20 seling or other forms of support as the Under Secretary 

21 considers appropriate for the betterment of the emotional 

22 and mental health and well-being of incident meteorolo23 gists and other employees of the Administration so long 

24 as the need for such resources, training, access, or support 


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1 is due to the response of such employees to high-impact 

2 and extreme fire weather events. 

3 SEC. 8. EMERGENCY RESPONSE ACTIVITIES. 

4 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

5 (1) BASIC PAY.—The term ‘‘basic pay’’ includes 

6 any applicable locality-based comparability payment 

7 under section 5304 of title 5, United States Code, 

8 any applicable special rate supplement under section 

9 5305 of such title, or any equivalent payment under 

10 a similar provision of law. 

11 (2) COVERED EMPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘covered 

12 employee’’ means an employee of the Department of 

13 Commerce, the Department of Agriculture, or the 

14 Department of the Interior. 

15 (3) COVERED SERVICES.—The term ‘‘covered 

16 services’’ means services that are performed by a 

17 covered employee while serving— 

18 (A) as a wildland firefighter or a fire man19 agement response official, including a regional 

20 fire director, a deputy regional fire director, 

21 and a fire management officer; 

22 (B) as an incident meteorologist accom23 panying a wildland firefighter crew; or 

24 (C) on an incident management team, at 

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1 graphic Area Coordinating Center, or at an op2 erations center. 

3 (4) PREMIUM PAY.—The term ‘‘premium pay’’ 

4 means premium pay paid under a provision of law 

5 described in the matter preceding paragraph (1) of 

6 section 5547(a) of title 5, United States Code. 

7 (5) RELEVANT CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT8 TEES.—The term ‘‘relevant congressional commit9 tees’’ means— 

10 (A) the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

11 and Transportation of the Senate; 

12 (B) the Committee on Homeland Security 

13 and Governmental Affairs of the Senate; 

14 (C) the Committee on Agriculture, Nutri15 tion, and Forestry of the Senate; 

16 (D) the Committee on Appropriations of 

17 the Senate; 

18 (E) the Committee on Energy and Natural 

19 Resources of the Senate; 

20 (F) the Committee on Oversight and Re21 form of the House of Representatives; 

22 (G) the Committee on Natural Resources 

23 of the House of Representatives; 

24 (H) the Committee on Science, Space, and 

25 Technology of the House of Representatives; 


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1 (I) the Committee on Agriculture of the 

2 House of Representative; and 

3 (J) the Committee on Appropriations of 

4 the House of Representatives. 

5 (6) SECRETARY CONCERNED.—The term ‘‘Sec6 retary concerned’’ means— 

7 (A) the Secretary of Commerce, with re8 spect to an employee of the Department of 

9 Commerce; 

10 (B) the Secretary of Agriculture, with re11 spect to an employee of the Department of Ag12 riculture; and 

13 (C) the Secretary of the Interior, with re14 spect to an employee of the Department of the 

15 Interior. 

16 (b) WAIVER.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—Any premium pay received 

18 by a covered employee for covered services shall be 

19 disregarded in calculating the aggregate of the basic 

20 pay and premium pay for the covered employee for 

21 purposes of applying the limitation on premium pay 

22 under section 5547(a) of title 5, United States Code. 

23 (2) CALCULATION OF AGGREGATE PAY.—Any 

24 pay that is disregarded under paragraph (1) shall be 

25 disregarded in calculating the aggregate pay of the 


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1 applicable covered employee for purposes of applying 

2 the limitation under section 5307 of title 5, United 

3 States Code, during calendar year 2025. 

4 (3) LIMITATION.—A covered employee may not 

5 be paid premium pay under this subsection if, or to 

6 the extent that, the aggregate of the basic pay and 

7 premium pay (including premium pay for covered 

8 services) of the covered employee for a calendar year 

9 would exceed the rate of basic pay payable for a po10 sition at level II of the Executive Schedule under 

11 section 5313 of title 5, United States Code, as in ef12 fect at the end of that calendar year. 

13 (4) TREATMENT OF ADDITIONAL PREMIUM

14 PAY.—If the application of this subsection results in 

15 the payment of additional premium pay to a covered 

16 employee of a type that is normally creditable as 

17 basic pay for retirement or any other purpose, that 

18 additional premium pay shall not be— 

19 (A) considered to be basic pay of the cov20 ered employee for any purpose; or 

21 (B) used in computing a lump-sum pay22 ment to the covered employee for accumulated 

23 and accrued annual leave under section 5551 or 

24 5552 of title 5, United States Code. 


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1 (5) EFFECTIVE PERIOD.—This subsection shall 

2 be in effect during calendar year 2024 and apply to 

3 premium pay payable during that year. 

4 (c) AMENDMENT.—Section 5542(a)(5) of title 5, 

5 United States Code, is amended by inserting ‘‘, the De6 partment of Commerce,’’ after ‘‘Interior’’. 

7 (d) PLAN TO ADDRESS NEEDS.— 

8 (1) DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION.— 

9 Not later than March 30, 2025, the Secretaries re10 ferred to in subsection (a)(6), in consultation with 

11 the Director of the Office of Management and Budg12 et and the Director of the Office of Personnel Man13 agement, shall jointly develop and implement a plan 

14 that addresses the needs of the Department of Com15 merce, the Department of Agriculture, and the De16 partment of the Interior, as applicable, to hire, ap17 point, promote, or train additional covered employees 

18 who carry out covered services such that sufficient 

19 covered employees are available throughout each fis20 cal year, beginning in fiscal year 2025, without the 

21 need for waivers of premium pay limitations. 

22 (2) SUBMITTAL.—Not later than 30 days before 

23 the date on which the Secretaries implement the 

24 plan developed under paragraph (1), the Secretaries 


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1 shall submit the plan to the relevant congressional 

2 committees. 

3 (3) LIMITATION.—The plan developed under 

4 paragraph (1) shall not be contingent on any Sec5 retary receiving amounts appropriated for fiscal 

6 years beginning in fiscal year 2025 in amounts 

7 greater than amounts appropriated for fiscal year 

8 2023. 

9 (e) POLICIES AND PROCEDURES FOR HEALTH, SAFE10 TY, AND WELL-BEING.—The Secretary concerned shall 

11 maintain policies and procedures to promote the health, 

12 safety, and well-being of covered employees. 

13 SEC. 9. SUBMISSIONS TO CONGRESS REGARDING THE FIRE 

14 WEATHER SERVICES PROGRAM, INCIDENT 

15 METEOROLOGIST WORKFORCE NEEDS, AND 

16 NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WORKFORCE 

17 SUPPORT. 

18 (a) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 18 

19 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

20 Under Secretary shall submit to the appropriate commit21 tees of Congress— 

22 (1) the plan described in subsection (b); 

23 (2) the assessment described in subsection (c); 

24 and 

25 (3) the assessment described in subsection (d). 


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1 (b) FIRE WEATHER SERVICES PROGRAM PLAN.— 

2 (1) ELEMENTS.—The plan submitted under 

3 subsection (a)(1) shall detail— 

4 (A) the observational data, modeling re5 quirements, ongoing computational needs, re6 search, development, and technology transfer 

7 activities, data management, skilled-personnel 

8 requirements, engagement with relevant Federal 

9 emergency and land management agencies and 

10 partners, and corresponding research, develop11 ment, and operational resources and timelines 

12 necessary to achieve the functions described in 

13 subsection (b) of section 3 and the priorities de14 scribed in subsection (c) of such section; and 

15 (B) plans and needs for all other activities 

16 and requirements under this Act and the 

17 amendments made by this Act. 

18 (2) SUBMITTAL OF ANNUAL BUDGET FOR

19 PLAN.—Following completion of the plan submitted 

20 under subsection (a)(1), the Under Secretary shall, 

21 not less frequently than once each year concurrent 

22 with the submission of the budget by the President 

23 to Congress under section 1105 of title 31, United 

24 States Code, submit to Congress a proposed budget 

25 corresponding with the elements detailed in the plan. 


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1 (c) INCIDENT METEOROLOGIST WORKFORCE NEEDS

2 ASSESSMENT.— 

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall 

4 conduct a workforce needs assessment on the cur5 rent and future demand for additional incident me6 teorologists for wildfires and other high-impact fire 

7 weather events. 

8 (2) ELEMENTS.—The assessment required by 

9 paragraph (1) shall include the following: 

10 (A) A description of staffing levels as of 

11 the date on which the assessment is submitted 

12 under subsection (a)(2) and projected future 

13 staffing levels. 

14 (B) An assessment of the state of the re15 search, development, and operational infrastruc16 ture of the National Weather Service as of the 

17 date on which the assessment is submitted and 

18 future needs of such infrastructure in order to 

19 meet current and future demands, including 

20 with respect to information technology support 

21 and logistical and administrative operations. 

22 (3) CONSIDERATIONS.—In conducting the as23 sessment required by paragraph (1), the Under Sec24 retary shall consider user needs and feedback from 

25 relevant stakeholders. 


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1 (d) SUPPORT SERVICES ASSESSMENT.— 

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall 

3 conduct a workforce support services assessment 

4 with respect to employees of the National Weather 

5 Service engaged in emergency response. 

6 (2) ELEMENTS.—The assessment required by 

7 paragraph (1) shall include the following: 

8 (A) An assessment of need for further sup9 port of employees of the National Weather 

10 Service engaged in emergency response through 

11 services provided by the Public Health Service. 

12 (B) A detailed assessment of appropria13 tions required to secure the level of support 

14 services needed as identified in the assessment 

15 described in subparagraph (A). 

16 (3) ADDITIONAL SUPPORT SERVICES.—Fol17 lowing the completion of the assessment required by 

18 paragraph (1), the Under Secretary shall seek to ac19 quire additional support services to meet the needs 

20 identified in the assessment. 

21 SEC. 10. FIRE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY WORKING 

22 GROUP; STRATEGIC PLAN. 

23 (a) FIRE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY WORKING

24 GROUP.— 


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1 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 90 days 

2 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Ex3 ecutive Director of the Interagency Committee for 

4 Advancing Weather Services established under sec5 tion 402 of the Weather Research and Forecasting 

6 Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8542) (in this 

7 section referred to as the ‘‘Interagency Committee’’) 

8 shall establish a working group, to be known as the 

9 ‘‘Fire Science and Technology Working Group’’ (in 

10 this section referred to as the ‘‘Working Group’’). 

11 (2) CHAIR.—The Working Group shall be 

12 chaired by the Under Secretary, or designee. 

13 (3) GENERAL DUTIES.— 

14 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Working Group 

15 shall seek to build efficiencies among the agen16 cies listed under section 12(c)(1) and coordinate 

17 the planning and management of science, re18 search, technology, and operations related to 

19 science and support services for wildland fire 

20 prediction, detection, forecasting, modeling, re21 silience, response, management, and assess22 ments. 

23 (B) INPUT.—The Working Group shall so24 licit input from non-Federal stakeholders. 

25 (b) STRATEGIC PLAN.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 months 

2 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

3 Interagency Committee shall prepare and submit to 

4 Congress a strategic plan for interagency coordina5 tion, research, and development that will improve 

6 the assessment of fire environments and the under7 standing and prediction of wildland fires, associated 

8 smoke, and the impacts of such fires and smoke, in9 cluding— 

10 (A) at the wildland-urban interface; 

11 (B) on communities, buildings, and other 

12 infrastructure; 

13 (C) on ecosystem services and watersheds; 

14 (D) social and economic impacts; 

15 (E) by developing and encouraging the 

16 adoption of science-based and cost-effective 

17 measures— 

18 (i) to enhance community resilience to 

19 wildland fires; 

20 (ii) to address and mitigate the im21 pacts of wildland fires and associated 

22 smoke; and 

23 (iii) to restore natural fire regimes in 

24 fire-dependent ecosystems; 


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1 (F) by improving the understanding and 

2 mitigation of the effects of weather and long3 term drought on wildland fire risk, frequency, 

4 and severity; 

5 (G) through integrations of social and be6 havioral sciences in public safety fire commu7 nication; 

8 (H) by improving the forecasting and un9 derstanding of prescribed fires and the impacts 

10 of such fires, and how those impacts may differ 

11 from impacts of wildland fires that originate 

12 from an unplanned ignition; and 

13 (I) consideration and adoption of any rec14 ommendations included in the report required 

15 by section 12(c). 

16 (2) PLAN ELEMENTS.—The strategic plan re17 quired by paragraph (1) shall include the following: 

18 (A) A description of the priorities and 

19 needs of vulnerable populations. 

20 (B) A description of high-performance 

21 computing, visualization, and dissemination 

22 needs. 

23 (C) A timeline and guidance for implemen24 tation of— 


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1 (i) an interagency data sharing sys2 tem for data relevant to performing fire 

3 assessments and modeling fire risk and fire 

4 behavior; 

5 (ii) a system for ensuring that the fire 

6 prediction models of relevant agencies can 

7 be interconnected; and 

8 (iii) to the maximum extent prac9 ticable, any recommendations included in 

10 the report required by section 12(c). 

11 (D) A plan for incorporating and coordi12 nating research and operational observations, 

13 including from infrared technologies, micro14 wave, radars, satellites, mobile weather stations, 

15 and uncrewed aerial systems. 

16 (E) A flexible framework to communicate 

17 clear and simple fire event information to the 

18 public. 

19 (F) Integration of social, behavioral, risk, 

20 and communication research to improve the fire 

21 operational environment and societal informa22 tion reception and response. 

23 SEC. 11. FIRE WEATHER RATING SYSTEM. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall, in col25 laboration with the Chief of the United States Forest 


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1 Service, the Director of the United States Geological Sur2 vey, the Director of the National Park Service, the Admin3 istrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, 

4 and such stakeholders as the Under Secretary considers 

5 appropriate— 

6 (1) evaluate the system used as of the date of 

7 the enactment of this Act to rate the risk of wildfire; 

8 and 

9 (2) determine whether updates to that system 

10 are required to ensure that the ratings accurately re11 flect the severity of fire risk. 

12 (b) UPDATE REQUIRED.—If the Under Secretary de13 termines under subsection (a) that updates to the system 

14 described in paragraph (1) of such subsection are nec15 essary, the Under Secretary shall update that system. 

16 SEC. 12. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE RE17 PORTS. 

18 (a) REPORT ON FIRE WEATHER SERVICES PRO19 GRAM.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years after 

21 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comp22 troller General of the United States shall submit to 

23 Congress a report on the program established under 

24 section 3(a). 


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1 (2) ELEMENTS.—The report required by para2 graph (1) shall— 

3 (A) evaluate the performance of the pro4 gram by establishing initial baseline capabilities 

5 and tracking progress made toward fully 

6 operationalizing the functions described in sec7 tion 3(b); and 

8 (B) include such other recommendations as 

9 the Comptroller General determines are appro10 priate to improve the program. 

11 (b) REPORT ON INTERAGENCY BODIES FOR WILD12 FIRE FORECASTING, PREVENTION, PLANNING, AND MAN13 AGEMENT.—Not later than 1 year after the date of the 

14 enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the 

15 United States shall submit to Congress a report that— 

16 (1) identifies all Federal interagency bodies es17 tablished for the purpose of wildfire forecasting, pre18 vention, planning, and management (such as wildfire 

19 councils, commissions, and workgroups), including— 

20 (A) the Wildland Fire Leadership Council; 

21 (B) the White House Wildfire Resilience 

22 Interagency Group; 

23 (C) the Wildland Fire Management Policy 

24 Committee; 


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1 (D) the Wildland Fire Mitigation and 

2 Management Commission; 

3 (E) the Joint Science Fire Program; 

4 (F) the National Interagency Coordination 

5 Center; 

6 (G) the National Predictive Services Over7 sight Group; 

8 (H) the Interagency Council for Advancing 

9 Meteorological Services; 

10 (I) the National Wildfire Coordinating 

11 Group; 

12 (J) the National Multi-Agency Coordi13 nating Group; and 

14 (K) the Mitigation Framework Leadership 

15 Group; 

16 (2) evaluates the roles, functionality, and utility 

17 of such interagency bodies; 

18 (3) evaluates the progress, performance, and 

19 implementation of such interagency bodies; 

20 (4) assesses efficacy and identifies potential 

21 overlap and duplication of such interagency bodies in 

22 carrying out interagency collaboration with respect 

23 to wildfire prevention, planning, and management; 

24 and 


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1 (5) includes such other recommendations as the 

2 Comptroller General determines are appropriate to 

3 streamline and improve wildfire forecasting, preven4 tion, planning, and management, including rec5 ommendations regarding the interagency bodies for 

6 which the addition of the Administration is nec7 essary to improve wildfire forecasting, prevention, 

8 planning, and management. 

9 (c) REPORT ON INTERAGENCY COORDINATION.—Not 

10 later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this 

11 Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall 

12 submit to Congress a report that identifies— 

13 (1) the authorities, roles, and science and sup14 port services relating to wildland fire prediction, de15 tection, forecasting, modeling, resilience, response, 

16 management, and assessment provided by— 

17 (A) the Department of Commerce, includ18 ing the Administration and the National Insti19 tute of Standards and Technology; 

20 (B) the National Aeronautics and Space 

21 Administration; 

22 (C) the Department of the Interior; 

23 (D) the Department of Agriculture; 

24 (E) the National Science Foundation; 

25 (F) the Department of Energy; 


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1 (G) the Federal Emergency Management 

2 Agency; 

3 (H) the Department of Transportation; 

4 (I) the Environmental Protection Agency; 

5 and 

6 (J) the Department of Defense; and 

7 (2) recommended areas in and mechanisms by 

8 which the agencies listed under paragraph (1) could 

9 support and improve— 

10 (A) coordination between Federal agencies, 

11 State and local governments, Indian tribes, 

12 Tribal organizations, the Native Hawaiian Com13 munity, Native Hawaiian organizations, and 

14 other relevant stakeholders, including through 

15 examination of possible public-private partner16 ships; 

17 (B) research and development, including 

18 interdisciplinary research, related to fire envi19 ronments, wildland fires, associated smoke, and 

20 the impacts of such environments, fires, and 

21 smoke, in furtherance of a coordinated inter22 agency effort to address wildland fire risk re23 duction; 

24 (C) data management and stewardship, the 

25 development and coordination of data systems 


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1 and computational tools, and the creation of a 

2 centralized, integrated data collaboration envi3 ronment for agency data, including historical 

4 data, relating to weather, fire environments, 

5 wildland fires, associated smoke, and the im6 pacts of such environments, fires, and smoke, 

7 and the assessment of wildland fire risk mitiga8 tion measures; 

9 (D) interoperability, usability, and accessi10 bility of the scientific data, data systems, and 

11 computational and information tools of the 

12 agencies listed under paragraph (1); 

13 (E) coordinated public safety communica14 tions relating to fire weather events, fire haz15 ards, and wildland fire and smoke risk reduc16 tion strategies; and 

17 (F) secure and accurate real-time data, 

18 alerts, and advisories to wildland firefighters 

19 and other decision support tools for wildland 

20 fire incident command posts. 

21 (d) REPORT ON AUTOMATED SURFACE OBSERVING

22 SYSTEM.—Not later than 4 years after the date of the 

23 enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the 

24 United States shall submit to Congress a report that— 


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1 (1) evaluates the functionality, utility, reli2 ability, and operational status of the automated sur3 face observing system across the Administration, the 

4 Federal Aviation Administration, and the Depart5 ment of Defense; 

6 (2) evaluates the progress, performance, and 

7 implementation of the plan required by section 

8 6(b)(1)(B); 

9 (3) assesses the efficacy of cross-agency collabo10 ration and stakeholder engagement in carrying out 

11 the plan and provides recommendations to improve 

12 such activities; 

13 (4) evaluates the operational continuity and re14 liability of the system, particularly in remote and 

15 rural areas and areas where system failure would 

16 have the greatest negative impact to the community, 

17 and provides recommendations to improve such con18 tinuity and reliability; 

19 (5) assesses Federal coordination regarding the 

20 remote automatic weather station network, air re21 source advisors, and other Federal observing assets 

22 used for weather and climate modeling and response 

23 activities, and provides recommendations for im24 provements; and 


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1 (6) includes such other recommendations as the 

2 Comptroller General determines are appropriate to 

3 improve the system. 

4 SEC. 13. COOPERATION AND COORDINATION. 

5 (a) COOPERATION.—Each Federal agency shall co6 operate and coordinate with the Under Secretary, as ap7 propriate, in carrying out this Act and the amendments 

8 made by this Act. 

9 (b) COORDINATION.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—In meeting the requirements 

11 under this Act and the amendments made by this 

12 Act, the Under Secretary shall coordinate, and as 

13 appropriate, establish agreements with Federal and 

14 external partners to fully use and leverage existing 

15 assets, systems, networks, technologies, and sources 

16 of data. 

17 (2) INCLUSIONS.—Coordination carried out 

18 under paragraph (1) shall include coordination 

19 with— 

20 (A) the agencies represented at the Na21 tional Interagency Fire Center; 

22 (B) the Predictive Services Program of the 

23 National Interagency Coordination Center; 

24 (C) the National Wildfire Coordinating 

25 Group; and 


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1 (D) relevant interagency bodies identified 

2 in the report required by section 12(b). 

3 (3) CONSULTATION.—In carrying out this sub4 section, the Under Secretary shall consult with Fed5 eral partners including— 

6 (A) the National Aeronautics and Space 

7 Administration; 

8 (B) the Department of the Interior; 

9 (C) the Federal Emergency Management 

10 Agency; 

11 (D) the National Science Foundation; 

12 (E) the United States Geological Survey; 

13 (F) the Department of Agriculture; 

14 (G) the Environmental Protection Agency; 

15 (H) the Department of Energy; 

16 (I) the Department of Defense; 

17 (J) the National Institute of Standards 

18 and Technology; and 

19 (K) such other departments and agencies 

20 as the Under Secretary considers relevant. 

21 (c) PROCESS FOR ANNUAL COORDINATION WITH

22 NON-FEDERAL ENTITIES.—Not later than 18 months 

23 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Under 

24 Secretary shall develop and submit to the appropriate 

25 committees of Congress a process for annual coordination 


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1 with State and local governments, Indian tribes, Tribal or2 ganizations, and the Native Hawaiian Community to as3 sist the development of improved fire weather products 

4 and services. 

5 (d) INTERNATIONAL COORDINATION.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary may 

7 develop collaborative relationships and agreements 

8 with foreign partners and counterparts to address 

9 transboundary issues pertaining to wildfires, fire 

10 weather, smoke, air quality, and associated condi11 tions and hazards or other relevant meteorological 

12 phenomena, as appropriate, to facilitate full and 

13 open exchange of data and information. 

14 (2) CONSULTATION.—In carrying out activities 

15 under this subsection, the Under Secretary shall 

16 consult with the Department of State and such other 

17 Federal partners as the Under Secretary considers 

18 relevant. 

19 SEC. 14. GENERAL PROVISIONS. 

20 (a) AVOIDANCE OF DUPLICATION.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall 

22 ensure, to the greatest extent practicable, that ac23 tivities carried out under this Act and the amend24 ments made by this Act are not duplicative of activiVerDate Sep 11 2014 19:35 Jun 18, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00056 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4343.IS S4343

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1 ties supported by other parts of the Administration 

2 or other relevant Federal agencies. 

3 (2) COORDINATION.—In carrying out activities 

4 under this Act and the amendments made by this 

5 Act, the Under Secretary shall coordinate with the 

6 Administration and heads of other Federal research 

7 agencies— 

8 (A) to ensure those activities enhance and 

9 complement, but do not constitute unnecessary 

10 duplication of, efforts; and 

11 (B) to ensure the responsible stewardship 

12 of funds. 

13 (b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act 

14 may be construed— 

15 (1) to satisfy any requirement for government16 to-government consultation with Indian tribes; or 

17 (2) to affect or modify any treaty or other right 

18 of any Indian tribe. 

19 SEC. 15. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro21 priated to the Administration to carry out this Act and 

22 the amendments made by this Act— 

23 (1) $15,000,000 for fiscal year 2025; 

24 (2) $20,000,000 for fiscal year 2026; 

25 (3) $27,000,000 for fiscal year 2027; 


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1 (4) $36,000,000 for fiscal year 2028; and 

2 (5) $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2029. 

3 (b) PROHIBITION.—None of the amounts authorized 

4 to be appropriated by subsection (a) may be used to un5 necessarily duplicate activities funded under title VIII of 

6 division D of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act 

7 (Public Law 117–58; 135 Stat. 1094). 

Æ 


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