I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4038 
To require the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior 
to establish a standard for the response time to wildfire incidents, and 
for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 17, 2025 
Mrs. KIM (for herself and Mr. GRAY) introduced the following bill; which was 
referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the 
Committees on Agriculture, Transportation and Infrastructure, and 
Science, Space, and Technology, for a period to be subsequently deter-
mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To require the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary 
of the Interior to establish a standard for the response 
time to wildfire incidents, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Wildfire Response and 
Preparedness Act of 2025’’. 
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SEC. 2. STANDARDS FOR RESPONSE TIME TO WILDFIRE IN-
CIDENTS. 
(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) 
RELEVANT
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMIT-
TEES.—The term ‘‘relevant congressional commit-
tees’’ means— 
(A) the Committee on Energy and Natural 
Resources of the Senate; 
(B) the Committee on Agriculture, Nutri-
tion, and Forestry of the Senate; 
(C) the Committee on Natural Resources 
of the House of Representatives; and 
(D) the Committee on Agriculture of the 
House of Representatives. 
(2) RESPONSE
TIME.—The term ‘‘response 
time’’, with respect to a wildland fire incident, 
means the period of time between ignition of the 
wildland fire and evaluation for purposes of suppres-
sion of that wildland fire, on the ground or in an 
aircraft, by— 
(A) a Federal, State, or local public safety 
officer; or 
(B) a public safety volunteer. 
(3) SECRETARY CONCERNED.—The term ‘‘Sec-
retary concerned’’ means— 
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(A) the Secretary of Agriculture, with re-
spect to Federal land administered by the For-
est Service; 
(B) the Secretary of the Interior, with re-
spect to Federal land administered by the Bu-
reau of Land Management, the Bureau of In-
dian Affairs, the National Park Service, or the 
United States Fish and Wildlife Service; and 
(C) the Administrator of the Federal 
Emergency Management Agency, with respect 
to consultation with the United States Fire Ad-
ministration relating to wildland fires in the 
wildland-urban interface. 
(b) STANDARDS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 
the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary con-
cerned shall establish a standard for the response 
time to any wildland fire incident occurring on Fed-
eral land administered by the Secretary concerned. 
(2) GOAL.—To the extent practicable, the re-
sponse time established by the Secretary concerned 
for a wildland fire incident under paragraph (1) 
shall— 
(A) be not more than 30 minutes; and 
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(B) include the deployment of fire suppres-
sion assets in a response time of not more than 
3 hours. 
(c) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 1 year 
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretaries 
concerned shall jointly submit to the relevant congres-
sional committees a report that includes— 
(1) identification of a single point of contact for 
Federal wildland fire response at the Department of 
the Interior; 
(2) a unified budget request that covers all 
wildland fire activities of the Secretaries concerned; 
(3) a description of key performance indicators 
for wildland fire response for each of— 
(A) the Forest Service; 
(B) the Bureau of Land Management; 
(C) the Bureau of Indian Affairs; 
(D) the National Park Service; and 
(E) the United States Fish and Wildlife 
Service; 
(4)(A) a description of the composition of the 
aviation and ground wildland firefighting fleet as of 
the date on which the report is submitted; and 
(B) an estimation of the size of that fleet re-
quired to provide a response time of not more than 
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30 minutes for wildland fires occurring in the 
United States, including the deployment of fire sup-
pression assets in a response time of not more than 
3 hours; 
(5) a description of necessary changes to the 
Federal ordering and dispatch system to enable Fed-
eral wildland firefighting assets to be dispatched 
faster; 
(6) a description of Federal contracting mecha-
nisms relating to wildland firefighting assets that 
may be streamlined to ensure that contract activa-
tion and awards may be provided within a 1-year pe-
riod; and 
(7) a description of all resources and authorities 
needed to ensure that wildland firefighting assets 
under Federal contracts are available year-round 
and nationwide. 
Æ 
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