Last month Rep Whitesides (D,CA) introduced HR 9534, the Wildfire Response Modernization Act. The bill would require (subject to appropriations) the DOD’s Northern Command, in coordination with the Fire Guard program [link added] to “shall procure space-based commercial data and end products to support the efforts of the Department of Defense and the wildfire mission of the United States Northern Command by delivering timely, effective military support to the Federal Government and State, local, and Tribal governments to protect military readiness and installations, provide emergency military support to civil authorities, and conduct proactive wildland fire management.”
Subsection 2(b) would specifically allow the Air Force to share space-based commercial data and end products with State, local, and Tribal governments to assist with firefighting efforts.
Moving Forward
Whiteside, and each of his four cosponsors, are members of the House Armed Services Committee to which this bill was assigned for consideration. This certainly means that there may be sufficient influence to see the bill considered by the Committee. Nearly identical language has been included in HR 8800, the FY 2027 National Defense Authorization Act as §1605. No action should be expected from the HASC on HR 9534 until final action has been taken on the NDAA.
Commentary
This looks like a classic case of a person with a hammer seeing all problems as nails to be struck with that hammer. NASA has a somewhat similar program supporting wildfire fighting efforts, the Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS). Perhaps a better effort would be to require the Government Accountability Office to prepare a report comparing the two programs and suggesting ways to combine the two operations into a less expensive and more effective program, maybe under the supervision of the National Fire Administration (USNFA).
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