I 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4866 
To direct the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin-
istration to establish a program to improve fire weather and fire environ-
ment forecasting, detection, and local collaboration, and for other pur-
poses. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 25, 2023 
Mr. MIKE GARCIA of California (for himself, Ms. CARAVEO, and Mrs. KIM of 
California) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Science, Space, and Technology 
A BILL 
To direct the Administrator of the National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration to establish a program to 
improve fire weather and fire environment forecasting, 
detection, and local collaboration, 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 ‘‘Fire Weather Develop-
ment Act of 2023’’. 
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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. 
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(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 
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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. 
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(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. 
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