II 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2290 

To improve wildfire management operations and the safety of firefighters 

and communities with the best available technology. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 10, 2018 

Ms. CANTWELL (for herself and Mr. GARDNER) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To improve wildfire management operations and the safety 

of firefighters and communities with the best available 

technology. 

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 ‘‘Wildfire Management Technology Advancement Act of 

6 2018’’. 

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

8 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Purpose. 


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Sec. 3. Definitions. 

Sec. 4. Unmanned aircraft systems. 

Sec. 5. Location systems for wildland firefighters. 

Sec. 6. Fire risk maps. 

Sec. 7. Real-time warnings. 

Sec. 8. Smoke projections from active wildland fires. 

Sec. 9. Reverse-911 telecommunications systems. 

Sec. 10. Firefighter injuries database. 

Sec. 11. Rapid response erosion database. 

Sec. 12. Research for effectiveness and standards. 

Sec. 13. Predicting where wildfires will start. 

Sec. 14. Study on aircraft operating at night. 

Sec. 15. Termination of authority. 

1 SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 

2 The purpose of this Act is to build on the successes 

3 of the Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy and Na4 tional Cohesive Fire Strategy established pursuant to sec5 tion 503 of the FLAME Act of 2009 (43 U.S.C. 1748b) 

6 (as in effect on the day before the date of enactment of 

7 this Act), as necessary to protect the safety of firefighters 

8 and communities from wildfires on public land and Na9 tional Forest System land created from the public domain, 

10 by— 

11 (1) reducing the damages, particularly to 

12 houses, from wildfires; 

13 (2) preparing forests and communities for 

14 wildfires; 

15 (3) increasing the safety of firefighters; and 

16 (4) containing costs and increasing the account17 ability of decisions relating to wildland fires. 

18 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

19 In this Act: 


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1 (1) BURN SEVERITY MAP.—The term ‘‘burn se2 verity map’’ means a map created by the Secretary 

3 concerned that depicts the changes in land-cover and 

4 soil properties caused by a wildland fire. 

5 (2) SECRETARIES.—The term ‘‘Secretaries’’ 

6 means— 

7 (A) the Secretary of the Interior; and 

8 (B) the Secretary of Agriculture. 

9 (3) SECRETARY CONCERNED.—The term ‘‘Sec10 retary concerned’’ means— 

11 (A) the Secretary of the Interior, with re12 spect to activities under the Department of the 

13 Interior; and 

14 (B) the Secretary of Agriculture, with re15 spect to activities under the Department of Ag16 riculture. 

17 (4) WILDFIRE.—The term ‘‘wildfire’’ means 

18 any nonstructure fire, other than a prescribed fire, 

19 occurring in vegetation or natural fuels on— 

20 (A) public land; or 

21 (B) National Forest System land created 

22 from the public domain. 

23 (5) WILDLAND-URBAN INTERFACE.— 

24 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘wildland25 urban interface’’ has the meaning given the 


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1 term in section 101 of the Healthy Forests Res2 toration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6511). 

3 (B) EXCLUSION.—The term ‘‘wildland4 urban interface’’ does not include— 

5 (i) any forest reserve not created from 

6 the public domain; or 

7 (ii) any national grassland or land uti8 lization project administered under title III 

9 of the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act 

10 (7 U.S.C. 1010 et seq.). 

11 SEC. 4. UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS. 

12 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

13 (1) RESTRICTED AIRSPACE.—The term ‘‘re14 stricted airspace’’ means an area for which the Ad15 ministrator of the Federal Aviation Administration 

16 has established a temporary flight restriction for a 

17 wildland fire. 

18 (2) UNMANNED AIRCRAFT; UNMANNED AIR19 CRAFT SYSTEM.—The terms ‘‘unmanned aircraft’’ 

20 and ‘‘unmanned aircraft system’’ have the meaning 

21 given those terms in section 331 of the FAA Mod22 ernization and Reform Act of 2012 (Public Law 

23 112–95; 49 U.S.C. 40101 note). 

24 (b) OFFICIAL USE.— 


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1 (1) AUTHORIZATION.—Subject to paragraph 

2 (4), Federal and State wildland firefighting agencies 

3 (including designees of the agencies) may operate 

4 unmanned aircraft systems in managing wildland 

5 fires. 

6 (2) DEVELOPMENT OF PROTOCOLS AND

7 PLANS.—Subject to the availability of appropria8 tions, not later than March 1, 2019, Federal 

9 wildland firefighting agencies, in coordination with 

10 State wildland firefighting agencies, shall develop 

11 protocols and plans for the use of unmanned aircraft 

12 systems for surveillance, initial and extended attack, 

13 and incident management team use, as appropriate, 

14 including for the development of real-time maps of 

15 the location of wildland fires. 

16 (3) DEADLINE.—Subject to the availability of 

17 appropriations, not later than May 1, 2020, and in 

18 accordance with the protocols and plans developed 

19 under paragraph (2), the Secretaries shall begin to 

20 equip firefighting personnel with unmanned aircraft 

21 systems to develop real-time maps, detect spot fires, 

22 assess fire behavior, develop tactical and strategic 

23 firefighting plans, position fire resources, and en24 hance firefighter safety. 


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1 (4) LIMITATION ON OPERATION.—Unmanned 

2 aircraft may only be operated under this section in 

3 accordance with regulations and other authorities of 

4 the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Adminis5 tration. 

6 (c) UNOFFICIAL USE.—Not later than May 1, 2018, 

7 the Secretaries, in consultation with other appropriate 

8 Federal agencies, shall seek to reduce the number of con9 flicts between personal-use unmanned aircraft and 

10 wildland fire operations by— 

11 (1) enhancing public awareness of the potential 

12 for those conflicts; 

13 (2) establishing a protocol to notify a user of an 

14 unmanned aircraft system operating within or adja15 cent to restricted airspace; 

16 (3) employing a system to ground an unmanned 

17 aircraft that is operating within restricted airspace; 

18 and 

19 (4) encouraging the Administrator of the Fed20 eral Aviation Administration to enforce penalties 

21 available under section 46320 of title 49, United 

22 States Code, when a user operates an unmanned air23 craft system in a restricted airspace. 


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1 SEC. 5. LOCATION SYSTEMS FOR WILDLAND FIRE2 FIGHTERS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the availability of ap4 propriations, not later than March 1, 2019, the Secre5 taries shall jointly develop and operate a tracking system 

6 (referred to in this section as the ‘‘system’’) to remotely 

7 locate the positions of fire resources assigned to Federal 

8 Type 1 Wildland Fire Incident Management Teams. 

9 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—The system shall— 

10 (1) use technology available to the Secretaries 

11 to remotely track the location of an active resource, 

12 such as a Global Positioning System; 

13 (2) depict the location of each fire resource on 

14 the maps developed under section 4(b)(2); and 

15 (3) operate continuously during the period any 

16 firefighting personnel are assigned to the applicable 

17 Federal wildland fire. 

18 (c) OPERATION.—The Secretary concerned shall— 

19 (1) operate the system during a wildland fire to 

20 increase— 

21 (A) the safety of employees, officers, and 

22 contractors; and 

23 (B) the effectiveness of the management of 

24 the wildland fire; and 


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1 (2) conduct training and maintain a culture 

2 such that an employee, officer, or contractor shall 

3 not rely on the system for safety. 

4 SEC. 6. FIRE RISK MAPS. 

5 Subject to the availability of appropriations, the Sec6 retaries, in consultation with other appropriate Federal 

7 agencies, may assist a State, unit of local government, or 

8 nongovernmental organization that is seeking technical or 

9 financial support to develop or refine maps, at a scale and 

10 resolution to be useful for local governments, that depict 

11 the relative risk of wildfires for land in the wildland-urban 

12 interface. 

13 SEC. 7. REAL-TIME WARNINGS. 

14 (a) WILDLAND FIRE PROTOCOL.—The Secretaries 

15 shall ensure that the activities conducted by the Secre16 taries relating to wildland fire safely achieve reasonable 

17 objectives while minimizing firefighter exposure to the low18 est level necessary to accomplish those objectives. 

19 (b) WILDFIRE DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretaries shall estab21 lish a system to track and monitor decisions made 

22 when managing a wildfire. 

23 (2) COMPONENTS OF THE SYSTEM.—The sys24 tem established under paragraph (1) shall be able to 

25 alert the Secretaries if— 


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1 (A) unusual costs are incurred; 

2 (B) an action is undertaken that would 

3 likely endanger the safety of a firefighter; or 

4 (C) a decision regarding the management 

5 of a wildfire deviates from— 

6 (i) a protocol established by the Secre7 taries, including the requirement under 

8 subsection (a); or 

9 (ii) a spatial fire management plan or 

10 fire management plan of the Secretary 

11 concerned. 

12 SEC. 8. SMOKE PROJECTIONS FROM ACTIVE WILDLAND 

13 FIRES. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretaries shall establish a 

15 program, to be known as the ‘‘Interagency Wildland Fire 

16 Air Quality Response Program’’, under which the Sec17 retary concerned— 

18 (1) to the maximum extent practicable, shall as19 sign a team of air resource advisors to a type 1 inci20 dent management team managing a wildland fire; 

21 and 

22 (2) may assign a team of air resource advisors 

23 to a type 2 incident management team managing a 

24 wildland fire. 


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1 (b) DUTY.—An air resource advisor assigned under 

2 subsection (a) shall use a model to project— 

3 (1) how much smoke will be generated from the 

4 wildland fire; and 

5 (2) where the impacts of the smoke will occur. 

6 (c) PUBLIC DISSEMINATION.—At least once each 

7 day, the Secretaries shall make available to the public the 

8 projections generated under subsection (b). 

9 SEC. 9. REVERSE-911 TELECOMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of the Federal 

11 Emergency Management Agency (referred to in this sec12 tion as the ‘‘Administrator’’) may use funds appropriated 

13 for the emergency management performance grant pro14 gram under section 662 of the Post-Katrina Emergency 

15 Management Reform Act of 2006 (6 U.S.C. 762) to make 

16 grants to States to provide funding to communities on the 

17 list of at-risk communities developed pursuant to title IV 

18 of the Department of the Interior and Related Appropria19 tions Act, 2001 (Public Law 106–291; 114 Stat. 1006) 

20 (referred to in this section as ‘‘at-risk communities’’) for 

21 the cost-shared installation of a reverse-911 system. 

22 (b) NON-FEDERAL SHARE.—The non-Federal share 

23 of the cost of installing a reverse-911 system using a grant 

24 under this section shall be 50 percent. 


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1 (c) OUTCOME-BASED PERFORMANCE MEASURE.— 

2 Beginning in fiscal year 2019, as part of the budget sub3 mission of the President, the Administrator shall report 

4 the percentage of at-risk communities that possess a re5 verse-911 system. 

6 SEC. 10. FIREFIGHTER INJURIES DATABASE. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 9(a) of the Federal Fire 

8 Prevention and Control Act of 1974 (15 U.S.C. 2208(a)) 

9 is amended— 

10 (1) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘, categorized 

11 by the type of fire’’ after ‘‘such injuries and deaths’’; 

12 (2) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘activities;’’ 

13 and inserting ‘‘activities, including— 

14 ‘‘(A) all injuries sustained by a firefighter 

15 and treated by a doctor, categorized by the type 

16 of firefighter; 

17 ‘‘(B) all deaths sustained while undergoing 

18 a pack test or while preparing for a work capac19 ity; 

20 ‘‘(C) all injuries or deaths resulting from 

21 vehicle accidents; and 

22 ‘‘(D) all injuries or deaths resulting from 

23 aircraft crashes;’’; 

24 (3) in paragraph (7), by striking ‘‘and’’ after 

25 the semicolon at the end; 


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1 (4) by redesignating paragraph (8) as para2 graph (10); and 

3 (5) by inserting after paragraph (7) the fol4 lowing: 

5 ‘‘(8) the total costs incurred in the management 

6 of each wildland fire managed by a Type 1 or 2 Inci7 dent Management Team; 

8 ‘‘(9) the total number of structures lost during 

9 wildfires; and’’. 

10 (b) USE OF EXISTING DATA GATHERING AND ANAL11 YSIS ORGANIZATIONS.—Section 9(b)(3) of the Federal 

12 Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 (15 U.S.C. 

13 2208(b)(3)) is amended by inserting ‘‘, including the Cen14 ter for Firefighter Injury Research and Safety Trends’’ 

15 after ‘‘public and private’’. 

16 (c) MEDICAL PRIVACY OF FIREFIGHTERS.—Section 

17 9 of the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 

18 (15 U.S.C. 2208) is amended by adding at the end the 

19 following: 

20 ‘‘(e) MEDICAL PRIVACY OF FIREFIGHTERS.—The 

21 collection, storage, and transfer of any medical data col22 lected under this section shall be conducted in accordance 

23 with— 

24 ‘‘(1) the privacy regulations promulgated under 

25 section 264(c) of the Health Insurance Portability 


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1 and Accountability Act of 1996 (42 U.S.C. 1320d– 

2 2 note; Public Law 104–191); and 

3 ‘‘(2) other applicable regulations, including 

4 parts 160, 162, and 164 of title 45, Code of Federal 

5 Regulations (as in effect on the date of enactment 

6 of this subsection).’’. 

7 SEC. 11. RAPID RESPONSE EROSION DATABASE. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretaries, in coordination 

9 with the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and 

10 Space Administration, shall establish and maintain a data11 base, to be known as the ‘‘Rapid Response Erosion Data12 base’’ (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Database’’). 

13 (b) OPEN-SOURCE DATABASE.— 

14 (1) AVAILABILITY.—The Secretaries shall make 

15 the Database (including the original source code)— 

16 (A) web-based; and 

17 (B) available without charge. 

18 (2) COMPONENTS.—The Database shall provide 

19 for— 

20 (A) the automatic incorporation into a 

21 burn severity map of spatial data relating to 

22 vegetation, soils, and elevation; and 

23 (B) the generation of a composite map 

24 that can be used by the Secretary concerned to 

25 model the effectiveness of treatments in the 


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1 burned area to prevent flooding, erosion, and 

2 landslides under a range of weather scenarios. 

3 (c) USE.—The Secretary concerned shall use, to the 

4 maximum extent practicable, the Database in developing 

5 recommendations for emergency stabilization treatments 

6 or modifications to drainage structures to protect values7 at-risk following a large wildland fire. 

8 SEC. 12. RESEARCH FOR EFFECTIVENESS AND STANDARDS. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—To assess the effectiveness of fire 

10 protection strategies, the Secretary of Commerce, acting 

11 through the Director of the National Institute of Stand12 ards and Technology (referred to in this section as the 

13 ‘‘Secretary’’), shall— 

14 (1) establish a national team to collect data fol15 lowing wildfires in the wildland-urban interface; and 

16 (2) implement a research plan to link economic 

17 outcomes with wildfire mitigation actions by— 

18 (A) understanding the relative contribution 

19 of fuels configuration, weather, and terrain; 

20 (B) quantifying the cost of providing the 

21 current level of fire protection; 

22 (C) understanding the losses resulting 

23 from wildfires in the wildland-urban interface; 

24 and 


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1 (D) using performance metrics to assess 

2 the effectiveness of current designs, materials, 

3 and technologies. 

4 (b) RESPONSE-TIME THRESHOLD.—The Secretary 

5 shall develop optimal time-to-response standards for a 

6 firefighting agency to reach a wildfire in the wildland7 urban interface. 

8 (c) COORDINATION; PARTNERSHIPS.—In carrying 

9 out this section, the Secretary shall— 

10 (1) coordinate with the Secretaries; and 

11 (2) partner with administrators of firefighting 

12 agencies that protect communities from wildfires. 

13 SEC. 13. PREDICTING WHERE WILDFIRES WILL START. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretaries, in coordination 

15 with the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and 

16 Space Administration, acting through the Director of the 

17 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the Secretary of Energy, 

18 through the capabilities and assets located at the National 

19 Laboratories, shall establish and maintain a system to pre20 dict the locations of future wildfires for fire-prone areas 

21 of the United States, to be known as the ‘‘Fire Danger 

22 Assessment System’’ (referred to in this section as the 

23 ‘‘System’’). 

24 (b) COMPONENTS.—The System shall use a combina25 tion of soil moisture levels, precipitation patterns, topogVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Jan 16, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00015 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2290.IS S2290

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1 raphy, fuels growth and availability, ignition risks, and 

2 temperatures to calculate probabilities of wildfires igniting 

3 or burning in fire-prone areas of the United States. 

4 (c) USE.—Not later than May 1, 2019, the Secre5 taries shall use the System for purposes of developing any 

6 wildland fire potential forecasts. 

7 SEC. 14. STUDY ON AIRCRAFT OPERATING AT NIGHT. 

8 (a) STUDY.—Not later than September 30, 2019, the 

9 Secretaries shall conduct a study to determine the feasi10 bility of operating aircraft at night when managing 

11 wildland fires. 

12 (b) PARTNERSHIPS.—In carrying out this section, the 

13 Secretary may enter into a cooperative agreement with the 

14 Center of Excellence for Advanced Technology Aerial Fire15 fighting. 

16 SEC. 15. TERMINATION OF AUTHORITY. 

17 The authority provided by this Act terminates on the 

18 date that is 10 years after the date of enactment of this 

19 Act. 

Æ 


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