IIB 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5541 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 10 (legislative day, JULY 9), 2008 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural 

Resources 

AN ACT 

To provide a supplemental funding source for catastrophic 

emergency wildland fire suppression activities on Department of the Interior and National Forest System lands, 

to require the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary 

of Agriculture to develop a cohesive wildland fire management strategy, and for other purposes. 


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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 ‘‘Federal Land Assistance, Management and Enhance6 ment Act’’ or ‘‘FLAME Act’’. 

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

8 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Flame Fund for catastrophic emergency wildland fire suppression activities. 

Sec. 3. Cohesive wildland fire management strategy. 

Sec. 4. Review of certain wildfires to evaluate cost containment in wildland fire 

suppression activities. 

Sec. 5. Reducing risk of wildfires in fire-ready communities. 

9 SEC. 2. FLAME FUND FOR CATASTROPHIC EMERGENCY 

10 WILDLAND FIRE SUPPRESSION ACTIVITIES. 

11 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

12 (1) FEDERAL LAND.—The term ‘‘Federal land’’ 

13 means the following: 

14 (A) Public lands, as defined in section 103 

15 of the Federal Land Policy and Management 

16 Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1702). 

17 (B) Units of the National Park System. 

18 (C) Refuges of the National Wildlife Ref19 uge System. 

20 (D) Lands held in trust by the United 

21 States for the benefit of Indian tribes or indi22 vidual Indians. 


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1 (E) Lands in the National Forest System, 

2 as defined in section 11(a) of the Forest and 

3 Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act 

4 of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1609(a)). 

5 (2) FLAME FUND.—The term ‘‘Flame Fund’’ 

6 means the Federal Land Assistance, Management, 

7 and Enhancement Fund established by this section. 

8 (3) SECRETARY CONCERNED.—The term ‘‘Sec9 retary concerned’’ means— 

10 (A) the Secretary of the Interior, with re11 spect to Federal land described in subpara12 graphs (A), (B), (C), and (D) of paragraph (1); 

13 and 

14 (B) the Secretary of Agriculture, with re15 spect to National Forest System land. 

16 (4) SECRETARIES.—The term ‘‘Secretaries’’ 

17 means the Secretary of the Interior and the Sec18 retary of Agriculture, acting jointly. 

19 (b) ESTABLISHMENT AND AVAILABILITY OF FLAME

20 FUND.— 

21 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in 

22 the Treasury of the United States a fund to be 

23 known as the Federal Land Assistance, Manage24 ment, and Enhancement Fund. 


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1 (2) CONTENTS.—The Flame Fund shall consist 

2 of the following amounts: 

3 (A) Amounts appropriated to the Flame 

4 Fund pursuant to the authorization of appro5 priations in subsection (c). 

6 (B) Amounts transferred to the Flame 

7 Fund pursuant to subsection (d). 

8 (3) AVAILABILITY.—Subject to subsection (e), 

9 amounts in the Flame Fund shall be available to the 

10 Secretaries to pay the costs of catastrophic emer11 gency wildland fire suppression activities that are 

12 separate from amounts annually appropriated to the 

13 Secretaries for the predicted annual workload for 

14 wildland fire suppression activities, based on anal15 yses of historical workloads and anticipated in16 creased workloads due to changing environmental or 

17 demographic conditions. 

18 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

19 (1) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

20 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Flame 

21 Fund such funds as may be necessary to carry out 

22 this section. It is the intent of Congress that the 

23 amount appropriated to the Flame Fund for fiscal 

24 year 2009 and each subsequent fiscal year equal the 

25 average amount expended by the Secretaries for 


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1 emergency wildland fire suppression activities over 

2 the five fiscal years preceding that fiscal year. 

3 (2) SENSE OF CONGRESS ON DESIGNATION OF

4 CERTAIN APPROPRIATIONS AS EMERGENCY REQUIRE5 MENT.—It is the sense of Congress that the 

6 amounts appropriated to the Flame Fund that are 

7 above the average of the obligations of the preceding 

8 10 years for wildland fire suppression in the Forest 

9 Service and the Department of the Interior, adjusted 

10 for inflation, should be designated as amounts nec11 essary to meet emergency needs, and the new budget 

12 authority and outlays resulting therefrom should not 

13 count for the purposes of titles III and IV of the 

14 Congressional Budget Act of 1974. 

15 (3) NOTICE OF INSUFFICIENT FUNDS.—The 

16 Secretaries shall notify the congressional committees 

17 specified in subsection (h)(2) whenever only an esti18 mated two months worth of funding remains in the 

19 Flame Fund. 

20 (d) TRANSFER OF EXCESS WILDLAND FIRE SUP21 PRESSION AMOUNTS INTO FLAME FUND.—At the end of 

22 each fiscal year, the Secretary concerned shall transfer to 

23 the Flame Fund amounts appropriated to the Secretary 

24 concerned for wildland fire suppression activities for the 


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1 fiscal year, but not obligated for wildland fire suppression 

2 activities before the end of the fiscal year. 

3 (e) USE OF FLAME FUND.— 

4 (1) DECLARATION REQUIRED.—Amounts in the 

5 Flame Fund shall be made available to the Secretary 

6 concerned only after the Secretaries issue a declara7 tion that a wildland fire suppression activity is eligi8 ble for funding through the Flame Fund. 

9 (2) DECLARATION CRITERIA.—A declaration by 

10 the Secretaries under paragraph (1) shall be based 

11 on the following criteria: 

12 (A) In the case of an individual wildland 

13 fire incident— 

14 (i) the fire covers 300 or more acres; 

15 (ii) the severity of the fire, which may 

16 be based on incident complexity or the po17 tential for increased complexity; and 

18 (iii) the threat posed by the fire, in19 cluding the potential for loss of lives, prop20 erty, or critical resources. 

21 (B) Consistent with subsection (f), in the 

22 case of a firefighting season, cumulative 

23 wildland fire suppression activities, when the 

24 costs of those activities for the Secretary conVerDate Aug 31 2005 05:00 Jul 11, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5541.RFS H5541

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1 cerned are projected to exceed amounts annu2 ally appropriated. 

3 (3) TRANSFER OF AMOUNTS TO SECRETARY

4 CONCERNED.—After issuance of a declaration under 

5 paragraph (1) and upon the request of the Secretary 

6 concerned, the Secretary of the Treasury shall trans7 fer from the Flame Fund to the Secretary concerned 

8 such amounts as the Secretaries determine are nec9 essary for wildland fire suppression activities associ10 ated with the declared suppression emergency. 

11 (4) STATE, PRIVATE, AND TRIBAL LAND.—Use 

12 of the Flame Fund for catastrophic emergency 

13 wildland fire suppression activities on State and pri14 vate land and, where applicable, tribal land shall be 

15 consistent with existing agreements where the Secre16 taries have agreed to assume responsibility for 

17 wildland fire suppression activities on the land. 

18 (f) TREATMENT OF ANTICIPATED AND PREDICTED

19 ACTIVITIES.—The Secretary concerned shall continue to 

20 fund anticipated and predicted wildland fire suppression 

21 activities within the appropriate agency budget for each 

22 fiscal year. Use of the additional funding made available 

23 through the Flame Fund is intended to supplement the 

24 budgeted and appropriated agency funding and is to be 


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1 used only for purposes and in instances consistent with 

2 this section. 

3 (g) PROHIBITION ON OTHER TRANSFERS.—All 

4 amounts in the Flame Fund, as well as all funds appro5 priated for the purpose of wildland fire suppression on 

6 Federal land, must be obligated before the Secretary con7 cerned may transfer funds from non-fire accounts for 

8 wildland fire suppression. 

9 (h) ACCOUNTING AND REPORTS.— 

10 (1) ACCOUNTING AND REPORTING SYSTEM.— 

11 The Secretaries shall establish an accounting and re12 porting system for the Flame Fund compatible with 

13 existing National Fire Plan reporting procedures. 

14 (2) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Secretaries shall 

15 submit to the Committee on Natural Resources, the 

16 Committee on Agriculture, and the Committee on 

17 Appropriations of the House of Representatives and 

18 the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, 

19 the Committee on Indian Affairs, and the Committee 

20 on Appropriations of the Senate an annual report on 

21 the use of the funds from the Flame Fund, together 

22 with any recommendations that the Secretaries may 

23 have to improve the administrative control and over24 sight of the Flame Fund. 


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1 (3) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The annual report 

2 required by paragraph (2) shall be made available to 

3 the public. 

4 SEC. 3. COHESIVE WILDLAND FIRE MANAGEMENT STRAT5 EGY. 

6 (a) STRATEGY REQUIRED.—Not later than one year 

7 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

8 of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture shall sub9 mit to Congress a report that contains a cohesive wildland 

10 fire management strategy, consistent with the rec11 ommendations contained in recent Comptroller General re12 ports regarding this issue. 

13 (b) ELEMENTS OF STRATEGY.—The strategy re14 quired by subsection (a) shall address the findings of the 

15 Comptroller General in the reports referred to in such sub16 section and include the following elements: 

17 (1) A system to identify the most cost effective 

18 means for allocating fire management budget re19 sources. 

20 (2) An illustration of plans by the Secretary of 

21 the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture to rein22 vest in non-fire programs. 

23 (3) A description of how the Secretaries will 

24 employ appropriate management response. 


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1 (4) A system for assessing the level of risk to 

2 communities. 

3 (5) A system to ensure that the highest priority 

4 fuels reduction projects are being funded first. 

5 (c) NOTICE OF PRESCRIBED FIRES.—As part of the 

6 strategy required by subsection (a) for the Forest Service, 

7 the Secretary of Agriculture shall ensure that, before any 

8 prescribed fire is used on National Forest System land, 

9 owners of adjacent private land are notified in writing of 

10 the date and scope of the proposed prescribed fire. 

11 SEC. 4. REVIEW OF CERTAIN WILDFIRES TO EVALUATE 

12 COST CONTAINMENT IN WILDLAND FIRE SUP13 PRESSION ACTIVITIES. 

14 (a) REVIEW REQUIRED.—The Secretary of the Inte15 rior and the Secretary of Agriculture shall conduct a re16 view, using independent panels, of each wildfire incident 

17 for which the Secretary concerned incurs expenses in ex18 cess of $10,000,000. 

19 (b) REPORT.—The Secretary concerned shall submit 

20 to the Committee on Natural Resources, the Committee 

21 on Agriculture, and the Committee on Appropriations of 

22 the House of Representatives and the Committee on En23 ergy and Natural Resources, the Committee on Indian Af24 fairs, and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate 


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1 a report containing the results of each review conducted 

2 under subsection (a). 

3 SEC. 5. REDUCING RISK OF WILDFIRES IN FIRE-READY 

4 COMMUNITIES. 

5 (a) FIRE-READY COMMUNITY DEFINED.—In this 

6 section, the term ‘‘fire-ready community’’ means a com7 munity that— 

8 (1) is located within a priority area identified 

9 pursuant to subsection (b); 

10 (2) has a cooperative fire agreement that ar11 ticulates the roles and responsibilities for Federal, 

12 State and local government entities in local wildfire 

13 suppression and protection; 

14 (3) has local codes that require fire-resistant 

15 home design and building materials; 

16 (4) has a community wildfire protection plan 

17 (as defined in section 101 of the Healthy Forests 

18 Restoration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6502)); and 

19 (5) is engaged in a successful collaborative 

20 process that includes multiple interested persons 

21 representing diverse interests and is transparent and 

22 nonexclusive, such as a resource advisory committee 

23 established under section 205 of the Secure Rural 

24 Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 

25 2000 (Public Law 106–393; 16 U.S.C. 500 note). 


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1 (b) FIRE RISK MAPPING.—As soon as is practicable 

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

3 of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior (in this 

4 section referred to as the ‘‘Secretaries’’) shall develop re5 gional maps of communities most at risk of wildfire and 

6 in need of hazardous fuel treatment and maintenance. The 

7 maps shall identify priority areas for hazardous fuels re8 duction projects, including— 

9 (1) at-risk communities in fire-prone areas of 

10 the wildland-urban interface (as defined in section 

11 101 of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 

12 (16 U.S.C. 6502)); 

13 (2) watersheds and municipal drinking water 

14 sources; 

15 (3) emergency evacuation corridors; 

16 (4) electricity transmission corridors; and 

17 (5) low-capacity or low-income communities. 

18 (c) LOCAL WILDLAND FIREFIGHTING CAPABILITY

19 GRANTS.— 

20 (1) GRANTS AVAILABLE.—The Secretaries may 

21 provide cost-share grants to fire-ready communities 

22 to assist such communities in carrying activities au23 thorized by paragraph (2). 

24 (2) ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES.—Grant funds may 

25 be used for the following: 


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1 (A) Education programs to raise aware2 ness of homeowners and citizens about wildland 

3 fire protection practices, including FireWise or 

4 similar programs. 

5 (B) Training programs for local fire6 fighters on wildland firefighting techniques and 

7 approaches. 

8 (C) Equipment acquisition to facilitate 

9 wildland fire preparedness. 

10 (D) Implementation of a community wild11 fire protection plan. 

12 (d) WILDLAND FIRE COST-SHARE AGREEMENTS.— 

13 In developing any wildland fire cost-share agreement with 

14 a State Forester or equivalent official, the Secretaries 

15 shall, to the greatest extent possible, encourage the State 

16 and local communities involved to become fire-ready com17 munities. 

18 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

19 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretaries to carry 

20 out this section such sums as may be necessary. 

Passed the House of Representatives July 9, 2008. 

Attest: LORRAINE C. MILLER, 

Clerk. 


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