Wildfire Fixes Need Your Support

Wildfires are becoming more severe and more frequent, not just in the West but across the country. Over the past few decades, wildfires and wildfire smoke have had profound effects on people’s lives, neighborhoods and communities, the environment, and outdoor recreation. Fires are also costly, with federal fire suppression alone totaling more than $2.5 billion each year (source).

In the last decade, wildfires like the Camp Fire in California, the Smokehouse Creek fire in Texas and Oklahoma, Hawaii’s wildfires including in Lahaina, and the Dixie Fire have set records. This summer’s fire season is well underway, following intense heatwaves across the country.

Last year, Outdoor Alliance published its policy report, “Wildfire and Outdoor Recreation in the West: How Recreationists Can Support a Fire-Resilient Future.” This report explores wildfire’s ecological and cultural role on our landscapes, why many modern fires have gotten so severe, the effects of megafires on outdoor recreation and the outdoors, and strategies for better addressing and mitigating the risk of severe fire.

Since that time, lawmakers, land managers, and the administration have advanced some really important efforts to address severe wildfire. Notably, in September, the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission—a panel of dozens of experts on fire and leadership of land management agencies established through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in 2021—completed a first-of-its-kind report on reforming U.S. wildfire policy.

The commission’s final report is excellent and is one of the best tools we have in front of us to address the wildfire crisis. The report offers 148 actionable recommendations, many of which have already been turned into legislation that lawmakers are working to pass.

Click above to read our letter to Congress on wildfire legislation.

While Outdoor Alliance’s policy report focused primarily on the causes of catastrophic fire in our forests and how to address it, the commission’s report explores more expansive recommendations for how to address fire. It includes guidance around making communities safer from fire, helping people recover after a fire, improvements for the wildland fire and restoration workforce, and more. The commission examined not just how to reduce the risk of severe fires, but how to plan for, address, and recover when fires happen, and how to increase the pace and scale of beneficial fires that are needed to make our landscapes fire-resilient over time.

Since the release of the wildfire commission report last year, lawmakers have been working to turn many of the report’s recommendations into legislation. Though not a comprehensive list, Outdoor Alliance strongly supports the following bills, which would implement key recommendations of the commission:

National Prescribed Fire Act (S. 4424/H.R. 8557)

This bill would increase the use of prescribed fire to help prevent catastrophic fires. Among other things, it creates targets and incentives for prescribed fire use, and improves work benefits and liability protections for prescribed burners.

Modernizing Wildfire Safety and Prevention Act of 2024 (H.R. 8656)

This bill would improve training and job benefits for wildland firefighters, an essential workforce for wildfire suppression and mitigation. It would also improve science and technology around wildland firefighting. It would also create a national smoke monitoring and alert system to help forecast air quality impacts from fire, which would directly benefit recreationists seeking safe conditions for outdoor activities during fire season.

Enhancing Mitigation and Building Effective Resilience (EMBER) Act (S. 4628)

This bill addresses many of the wildfire commission’s recommendations, focused especially on post-fire recovery and mitigation, including co-stewardship with Tribes. Importantly, the EMBER Act would require agencies to adopt performance metrics for wildfire mitigation that go beyond acres treated to include protection of cultural, ecological, and social values.

Wildland Firefighter Paycheck Protection Act of 2023 (H.R.5169/S.2272)

This bill would make permanent the firefighter pay raise from the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Currently, the federal government is struggling to retain wildland firefighters, a dangerous and highly skilled job. This bill is needed to ensure that federal firefighters will continue to receive fair pay for their work.

Fire Ready Nation Act (S. 4237/H.R. 8449)

This bill would formalize and enhance the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s role in wildfire preparedness, which includes fire weather forecasting, ignition detection, and other science-based decision support tools.

Outdoor Alliance has sent a letter to the members of the Bipartisan Wildfire Caucus in Congress in support of these bills and other efforts to improve how we prevent, address, and recover from catastrophic fire.

As wildfires become more severe and more frequent, it is imperative that Congress takes tangible steps to keep communities and people safe from fire, help people recover after fires, ensure that we train and retain wildland firefighters, and help prevent catastrophic fires.