Wildfire management bill advances through committee

The U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee recently advanced the Wildfire Management Technology Advancement Act, which would better reduce the risks from wildfires, increase the effectiveness of wildfire response and increase the use of technology to keep firefighters and communities safe.

“We owe it to the brave men and women who risk their lives to fight wildfires to equip them with the best available technology, to keep them safe, and to ensure their efforts are effective,” Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), the bill’s co-sponsor, said before the committee’s vote.

The bill authorizes disaster agencies to make use of NASA’s tools to increase the speed of post-fire installation of erosion-prevention measures. These measures can prevent landslides that can occur after wildfires.

The bill also directs the Department of the Interior and the Forest Service to work with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab and U.S. National Labs to predict areas likely to experience large wildfires during fire season. This information will be used to make enhanced plans.

Other provisions in the bill include assisting communities with smoke forecasting and planning for the impact of smoke and providing firefighting crews with GPS locators and Unmanned Aircraft Systems to find and map wildfires.

The bill is co-sponsored by Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO).