SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fire Weather Develop-
ment Act of 2024’’. 
SEC. 2. FIRE WEATHER FORECASTING AND DETECTION. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Administrator of the Na-
tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, shall es-
tablish a program (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Pro-
gram’’) to improve fire weather and fire environment fore-
casting, detection, and delivery of products or services 
through collaboration with Federal and State agencies or 
departments, local emergency mangers, and relevant enti-
ties. 
(b) GOALS.—The goals of the Program shall be to 
develop and improve accurate fire weather and fire envi-
ronment forecasts and warnings in order to reduce loss 
of life, reduce injuries, protect property, and reduce dam-
age to the economy from wildfires. The Program shall seek 
to improve the assessment of fire weather and fire environ-
ments, the understanding and prediction of wildfires, and 
the communications regarding such assessments with 
State and local emergency officials in a timely and stream-
lined fashion, with a focus on improving the following: 
(1) The prediction of ignition, intensification 
and spread of wildfires. 
(2) The observation and monitoring of fire 
weather and fire environments.
(3) The forecast and communication of smoke 
dispersion from wildfires. 
(4) Information dissemination and risk commu-
nication to develop more effective watch and warning 
products relating to wildfires. 
(5) The early detection of wildfires, including 
pre-ignition analysis and ground condition character-
izations. 
(6) The development, testing, and deployment 
of novel tools and techniques related to under-
standing, monitoring, and predicting fire weather 
and fire environments. 
(7) The understanding and association of cli-
mate change and its impacts on fire weather and 
fire environments. 
(8) The unique characteristics, including obser-
vation or modeling requirements, related to fires at 
the wildland-urban interface. 
(9) The forecasting and understanding of the 
impacts of prescribed burns (as such term is defined 
in section 2 of the Prescribed Burn Approval Act of 
2016 (16 U.S.C. 551c–1 note)). 
(c) COLLABORATION WITH STAKEHOLDERS.—In de-
veloping the Program required under this section, the Ad-
ministrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad-
ministration shall solicit and take into consideration input 
from the weather industry, such academic entities as the 
Administrator considers appropriate, and other relevant 
stakeholders. 
(d) ACTIVITIES.—To achieve the goals specified in 
subsection (b), the Administrator of the National Oceanic 
and Atmospheric Administration may conduct research, 
development, testing, demonstration, and operational 
transition activities related to fire weather and fire envi-
ronments, including regarding the following: 
(1) Tools and services to inform, support, and 
complement active land management, local emer-
gency personnel, the United States Forest Service, 
and State, local, and Tribal entities during their re-
sponse and mitigation efforts. 
(2) Sensing technologies, such as infrared, 
microwave, and active sensors suitable for potential 
deployment on spacecraft, aircraft, and unmanned 
aircraft systems, to improve the monitoring and 
forecasting of fire fuel and active wildfires, wildfire 
behavior models and forecasts, mapping efforts, and 
the prediction of wildfires and the impacts of such. 
(3) Grid-based assessments and outlooks of fuel 
moisture and danger levels.
(4) Social and behavior sciences related to fire 
weather and fire environment warning products. 
(5) Advanced satellite detection products cou-
pled with atmosphere and fire weather modeling sys-
tems. 
(6) Education and training to expand the num-
ber of students and researchers in areas of study 
and research related to wildfires, fire weather, and 
fire environments. 
(7) Modeling systems to link long-term climate 
predictions to localized or general land management 
decisions. 
(8) Communication and outreach to commu-
nities, energy utilities, owners and operators of crit-
ical infrastructure, and other relevant stakeholders 
regarding fire weather and fire environment risk. 
(9) Stewardship and dissemination, to the ex-
tent practicable, of National Oceanic and Atmos-
pheric Administration scientific data and related 
products and services in formats meeting shared 
standards to enhance the interoperability, usability, 
and accessibility of such data in order to better meet 
the needs of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration, other Federal agencies, and relevant 
stakeholders.
(10) Improvement of spatial and temporal reso-
lution observations. 
(11) Any other topic or activity the Adminis-
trator determines relevant. 
(e) NOVEL TOOLS
FOR MONITORING
AND PRE-
DICTION.—The Administrator of the National Oceanic 
and Atmospheric Administration, in consultation with the 
heads of the agencies specified in section 3, or other ap-
propriate stakeholders, including commercial partners, 
shall develop novel tools and technologies to support the 
activities of the Program and which may be applied to 
broader wildland fire research, monitoring, and mitigation 
activities, as practicable and appropriate. 
(f) EXTRAMURAL RESEARCH.—The Administrator of 
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 
shall collaborate with and support the non-Federal 
wildland fire research community, which includes institu-
tions of higher education, private sector entities, non-
governmental organizations, and other relevant stake-
holders, by making funds available through competitive 
grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements. 
(g) COMMERCIAL DATA.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Not later than one year 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Ad-
ministrator of the National Oceanic and Atmos-
pheric Administration, in consultation with the 
heads of other Federal agencies and relevant stake-
holders, may enter into contracts with one or more 
private sector entities to obtain additional airborne 
and space-based data and observations that may en-
hance or supplement the understanding, monitoring, 
and prediction, of fire weather and fire environ-
ments, and the relevant Program activities under 
this section. 
(2) CONSULTATION.—In carrying out activities 
under paragraph (1), the Administrator of the Na-
tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shall 
consult with private sector entities through the Na-
tional Advisory Committee on Wildfires under sec-
tion 4 to identify needed tools and data that can be 
best provided by National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration satellites and are most beneficial to 
wildfire and smoke detection and monitoring. 
(h) NONDUPLICATION.—To the maximum extent 
practicable, the Administrator of the National Oceanic 
and Atmospheric Administration shall consult with the 
National Interagency Fire Center, including the Joint Fire 
Science Program, to avoid duplication of activities under 
this section and ensure the Administration’s focus on
unique research activities best suited for transition to op-
erations. 
(i) UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Administrator of the 
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 
shall— 
(A) assess the role and potential benefits 
of unmanned aircraft systems to improve data 
collection in support of fire weather and fire en-
vironment modeling, meteorological observa-
tions, predictions, and forecasts; 
(B) identify objectives for testing such sys-
tems’ use for obtaining fire weather and fire en-
vironment observations, and other relevant ac-
tivities; and 
(C) transition unmanned aircraft systems 
technologies from research to operations as the 
Administrator considers appropriate. 
(2) BRIEFING.—Not later than 270 days after 
the date of enactment of the Act, the Administrator 
of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis-
tration shall brief the appropriate committees of 
Congress on the activities under paragraph (1). 
(3) PILOT
PROGRAMS.—Not later than 18 
months after the date of the enactment of this Act,
the Administrator of the National Oceanic and At-
mospheric Administration may conduct pilot pro-
grams of unmanned aircraft systems for fire weather 
and fire environment observations, including relating 
to the following: 
(A) Testing of unmanned aircraft systems 
in approximations of real-world scenarios. 
(B) Assessment of the utility of meteoro-
logical data collected from fire response and as-
sessment aircraft. 
(C) Input into appropriate models of col-
lected data to predict fire behavior, including 
coupled atmosphere and fire models. 
(D) Collection of best management prac-
tices for deployment of unmanned aircraft sys-
tems for fire weather and fire environment ob-
servations. 
(4) PROHIBITION.— 
(A) IN
GENERAL.—Except as provided 
under subparagraphs (B) and (C), the Adminis-
trator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration may not procure any unmanned 
aircraft system that is manufactured or assem-
bled by an entity in a foreign country of con-
cern.
(B) EXEMPTION.—The prohibition under 
subparagraph (A) shall not apply to the Admin-
istrator of the National Oceanic and Atmos-
pheric Administration if the Administrator de-
termines, in consultation with the Secretary of 
Homeland Security, that the procurement of an 
unmanned aircraft system is necessary for the 
sole purpose of marine or atmospheric science 
or management. 
(C) WAIVER.—The Administrator of the 
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra-
tion may waive the prohibition under subpara-
graph (A) on a case-by-case basis— 
(i) with the approval of the Secretary 
of Homeland Security; and 
(ii) upon written or electronic notifica-
tion to appropriate committees of Congress 
not later than 30 days after any such waiv-
er. 
(5) AIRSPACE OPERATIONS SYSTEM.—The Ad-
ministrator of the National Oceanic and Atmos-
pheric Administration, in cooperation with the Ad-
ministrator of the National Aeronautics and Space 
Administration, shall utilize the capabilities of un-
manned aircraft systems as appropriate for fire
weather and fire environment observations, and may 
use a wildfire airspace operations system that ac-
counts for piloted aircraft, unmanned aircraft sys-
tems, and other new and emerging capabilities after 
such airspace operations system is developed and de-
termined ready for operational use by the Adminis-
trator of the National Aeronautics and Space Ad-
ministration. 
(6) AUTHORIZATION
OF
APPROPRIATIONS.— 
There is authorized to be appropriated $5,000,000 
for fiscal year 2025 to carry out this subsection. 
(j) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) 
APPROPRIATE
COMMITTEES
OF
CON-
GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con-
gress’’ means the Committee on Science, Space, and 
Technology and the Committee on Homeland Secu-
rity of the House of Representatives and the Com-
mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 
and the Committee on Homeland Security and Gov-
ernmental Affairs of the Senate. 
(2) CRITICAL
INFRASTRUCTURE.—The term 
‘‘critical infrastructure’’ has the meaning given such 
term in section 1016(e) of Public Law 107–56 (42 
U.S.C. 5195c(e)).
(3) FOREIGN
COUNTRY
OF
CONCERN.—The 
term ‘‘foreign country of concern’’ has the meaning 
given such term in section 9901 of the William M. 
(Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization 
Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (15 U.S.C. 4651). 
(4) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 
term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 
meaning given such term in section 101 of the High-
er Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001). 
(5) UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEM.—The term 
‘‘unmanned aircraft system’’ has the meaning given 
such term in section 44801 of title 49, United 
States Code. 
(6) WEATHER INDUSTRY.—The term ‘‘weather 
industry’’ has the meaning given such term in sec-
tion 2 of the Weather Research and Forecasting In-
novation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8501). 
SEC. 3. INTERAGENCY COORDINATING COMMITTEE ON 
WILDFIRES. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 90 days after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the 
Office of Science and Technology Policy shall establish an 
interagency coordinating committee to be known as the 
‘‘Interagency Coordinating Committee on Wildfires’’ (in 
this section referred to as the ‘‘Committee’’). The chair
of the Committee shall be the Administrator of the Na-
tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 
(b) PURPOSE.—The Committee shall coordinate the 
development of accurate and timely wildfire forecasting, 
detection, monitoring, and delivery of related products or 
services that best assist State and local emergency officials 
while avoiding duplication of activities. 
(c) MEMBERSHIP.—In addition to the chair, the 
Committee shall be composed of the heads or appropriate 
designees of the following program agencies: 
(1) The Federal Emergency Management Agen-
cy. 
(2) The United States Fire Administration. 
(3) The United States Forest Service. 
(4) The National Aeronautics and Space Ad-
ministration. 
(5) The Department of the Interior. 
(6) The Department of Agriculture. 
(7) The United States Geological Survey. 
(8) The Office of Science and Technology Pol-
icy. 
(9) Any other Federal department or agency 
the Director of the Office of Science and Technology 
Policy considers appropriate.