Military Support for Fighting Wildfires Act of 2023

To make improvements to the role of the Department of Defense in responding to domestic emergencies, including wildfires. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Military Support for Fighting Wildfires Act of 2023 2. Requirement of Secretary of Defense to reimburse State costs of fighting certain wildland fires Section 2691(d) of title 10, United States Code, is amended by striking may shall 3. Authorization for FireGuard Program (a) Authority Chapter 5 510. Authorization for FireGuard Program (a) Authorization The Secretary of Defense may use members of the National Guard to carry out a program to aggregate, analyze, and assess multi-source remote sensing information for interagency partnerships in the detection and monitoring of wildfires, and to support any emergency response to such wildfires. Such a program shall be known as the FireGuard Program (b) Resources; limitation If the Secretary carries out a program under this section, the Secretary— (1) shall transfer the functions, personnel, assets, and capabilities of the FireGuard Program, in existence on the day before the date of enactment of the Military Support for Fighting Wildfires Act of 2023 (2) may direct the Director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency to provide such assistance as the Secretary determines necessary to carry out the FireGuard Program; and (3) may not reduce support, or transfer responsibility for support to an interagency partner, for the FireGuard Program authorized under this section. . (b) Clerical amendment The table of sections at the beginning of such chapter is amended by adding at the end the following new item: 510. Authorization for FireGuard Program. . (c) Conforming amendment The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 ( Public Law 117–81 4. Transfer of aircraft to other departments for wildfire suppression and other purposes Section 1098 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014 ( Public Law 113–66 (1) in subsection (a)(1)(A)(i) by striking the seven demilitarized HC–130H aircraft specified in subparagraph (C) not fewer than seven demilitarized HC–130H aircraft (2) by striking subparagraph (C) of subsection (a)(1); (3) in subsection (b)(1)(A) by striking not more not fewer (4) in subsection (c)— (A) in paragraph (1), by striking purposes; purposes, search and rescue, or emergency operations pertaining to wildfires; and (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ; and (C) by striking paragraph (3). 5. No reimbursement for use of National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency resources during a major disaster The Director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency may not require the Federal Emergency Management Agency or a Federal land management agency to reimburse the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency for use of resources for any request approved by the Director pertaining to— (1) a request made by such a Federal agency through the National Interagency Fire Center; or (2) an area of Federal land affected by extreme weather, as that term is defined in section 328(c) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 ( Public Law 116–92 10 U.S.C. 221 6. Exemption from Economy Act for certain requests made through the National Interagency Fire Center Section 1535(b) of title 31, United States Code (commonly known as the Economy Act (1) made through the National Interagency Fire Center; and (2) pertaining to an area covered by a declaration of a major disaster or emergency under section 401 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act ( 42 U.S.C. 5170 7. Guidance for use of unmanned aircraft systems by the National Guard (a) New guidance Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall issue new guidance that treats the use of unmanned aircraft systems by the National Guard for covered activities in a manner no more restrictive than the use of other aircraft for covered activities. (b) Covered activities defined In this section, covered activities (1) Emergency operations. (2) Search and rescue operations. (3) Defense support to civil authorities. (4) Support under section 502(f) of title 32, United States Code. 8. Study on use of CH–47 Chinooks to respond to wildfires Not later one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of the Interior, and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall jointly submit to Congress a report— (1) on the feasibility and effectiveness of using CH–47 Chinooks with firefighting modifications to— (A) respond to wildfires; and (B) perform search and rescue activities; and (2) that identifies the governmental organizations (including Federal, State, and local government organizations) that would be most effective with respect to using the aircraft described in paragraph (1) to carry out the activities specified in that paragraph.

Summary: Military Support for Fighting Wildfires Act of 2023 This bill addresses the role of the Department of Defense (DOD) in wildfire emergency response. Specifically, the bill requires DOD to reimburse a state for the costs of fighting wildfires caused by DOD activities on state lands. The bill also makes permanent the Fireguard Program, under which DOD may use members of the National Guard to help detect and monitor wildfires and support emergency response to such fires. The bill updates provisions related to the transfer of certain aircraft from DOD and the Department of Homeland Security to other agencies for wildfire suppression and other related purposes. Under the bill, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) within DOD may not require the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) or a federal land management agency to reimburse NGA for the use of resources for any request approved in relation to (1) a request made by the federal agency through the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), or (2) an area of federal land affected by extreme weather. Further, reimbursement requirements under the Economy Act do not apply to DOD assistance provided to FEMA or a federal land management agency for requests made through the NIFC or those pertaining to an area covered by a declaration of a major disaster or emergency. DOD must issue guidance for the use of unmanned aircraft systems by the National Guard for specified activities (e.g., emergency operations) in a manner no more restrictive than the use of other aircraft for such activities.