S. 91

Western Wildfire Support Act of 2026

Sponsor: Catherine Cortez Masto

1 cosponsor
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Official summary

Written by the Congressional Research Service.

Western Wildfire Support Act of 2025 

This bill addresses wildfires by authorizing post-fire recovery activities, supporting adoption of technology, and requiring additional federal coordination.

The bill authorizes federal wildfire response and recovery activities by

  • providing statutory authority for Burned Area Emergency Response Teams to coordinate emergency stabilization and erosion planning, and
  • establishing an account to fund federal rehabilitation projects in areas impacted by a wildfire (e.g., ecosystem restoration, replacing infrastructure critical for land management).

Additionally, for all hazard types, the bill includes post-disaster assistance in the federal disaster preparedness program and authorizes assistance to states for operating websites to provide information on post-disaster recovery resources.

The bill requires federal agencies to develop and utilize technologies for managing wildfires by

  • expediting the permitting and use of wildfire detection equipment (e.g., sensors, cameras);
  • providing funding to Indian tribes for slip-on tanker units that convert vehicles into fire engines;
  • performing research and development on wildfire response applications of unmanned aircraft systems (e.g., drones);
  • studying radio communications systems, situational awareness tools, and wildland fire predictive modeling; and
  • administering a prize competition for technological innovation for managing wildfire-related invasive species.

The bill directs federal agencies to plan and coordinate on wildfire management by

  • incorporating the best available science and planning tools into spatial fire management policies for federal lands,  
  • collaborating with state agencies for mutual aid in fire suppression (including reimbursing states for suppressing fires caused by military operations), and 
  • studying training gaps for integrating structural (e.g., local) firefighters into wildfire response.

Text of the bill

Expand all

I Preparation

II Wildfire detection and suppression support

III Post-fire recovery support

I Preparation

II Wildfire detection and suppression support

Sec. 205. Study on modernizing wildfire response technologies Changed · Sep 17

Where this section came from

  1. Jan 14, 2025 · Introduced in Senate Referred to Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Jan 14, 2025
  2. Sep 17, 2026 · Reported to Senate Marked up by Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Feb 4 Reported by Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Sep 17 Committee members' individual votes aren't in our records.
What changed in the text

… 10 unchanged passages …

(3) wildland fire and smoke predictive modeling, including—

… 2 unchanged passages …

(C) the feasibility of using artificial intelligence for wildland fire and smoke modeling; and (D) existing or developing wildland fire predictive models that could assist with establishing safe preferred conditions for igniting a prescribed fire and predicting smoke impacts . (b) Submission and public availability. Not later than 1 2 year years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretaries shall submit to the congressional committees and make publicly available the results of the study conducted under subsection (a).

What is a markup?

A markup is a committee meeting where members go through a bill and vote on changes before sending it to the full chamber.

(a) In general. The Secretaries shall conduct a study on—

(1) necessary improvements to radio communications systems and infrastructure during wildland fire or prescribed fire operations, including—

(A) an assessment of the quality and reliability of existing radio infrastructure;

(B) for any instance in which existing radio communications infrastructure has failed, an assessment of the impacts on forest management or wildfire response activities;

(C) a comparison of existing options to improve on-the-ground communications; and

(D) a cost analysis and estimated timeline to install the most feasible option identified under subparagraph (C);

(2) real-time or near-real-time situational awareness tools for operational firefighters, including—

(A) standards and requirements for such tools to ensure interoperability between Federal firefighting entities and applicable State, local, Tribal, or other partners;

(B) any requirements for additional remote sensing and mapping capabilities to fully leverage such situational awareness tools; and

(C) a cost comparison between commercially available systems and internally developed systems; and

(3) wildland fire and smoke predictive modeling, including—

(A) an analysis of the data required to reduce predictive error for existing or developing models;

(B) an analysis of computing needs to more swiftly or accurately model wildland fire using existing or developing models;

(C) the feasibility of using artificial intelligence for wildland fire and smoke modeling; and

(D) existing or developing wildland fire predictive models that could assist with establishing preferred conditions for igniting a prescribed fire and predicting smoke impacts.

(b) Submission and public availability. Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretaries shall submit to the congressional committees and make publicly available the results of the study conducted under subsection (a).

III Post-fire recovery support