This Act establishes a mandatory, recurring review process for federal agencies to assess long-term wildfire challenges and coordinate national management strategies across all levels of government.
Joe Neguse
Representative
CO-2
The Wildfire Risk Evaluation Act establishes a mandatory, quadrennial review process to assess national wildfire challenges and strategic progress. This review requires federal agencies to collaborate across jurisdictional lines to address evolving risks to communities and natural resources over the next 20 years. The resulting report will inform Congress on necessary legislative or administrative changes to improve wildfire management.
Federal Agencies Must Now Review Wildfire Risk Every Four Years, Focusing on 20-Year Preparedness
The new Wildfire Risk Evaluation Act isn't about funding fire trucks or hiring more smokejumpers—it’s about forcing the federal government to get serious about long-term planning. Specifically, this bill mandates that the Secretaries of Agriculture, Interior, and Homeland Security conduct a massive, comprehensive review of the nation’s wildfire situation every four years. The goal is to look 20 years down the road to figure out what the biggest challenges will be and how to handle them.
The Long Game: Planning for the Next Two Decades
Think of this as a mandatory, detailed check-up on the nation's fire preparedness. Section 3 requires this “quadrennial fire review” to look at how much the landscape has changed since the last review—both the natural environment (forests, grasslands) and the “built environment” (your neighborhood, power lines, roads). For someone living in a high-risk area, this is huge. It means federal planning won't just focus on the current fire season, but on how development and climate shifts are making the problem worse over time, which theoretically leads to better, more proactive risk mitigation in your community.
Breaking Down the Bureaucratic Walls
One of the biggest takeaways from this Act is the focus on coordination. Congress explicitly states in Section 2 that current wildfire management is a mess because it crosses so many lines—Federal, State, Tribal, and local. The Act requires the Secretaries to work through multiple agencies, including the Forest Service, Interior, FEMA, and the U.S. Fire Administration. This is the policy equivalent of making sure the left hand knows what the right hand is doing. It aims to stop the frustrating situation where a fire stops at a jurisdictional line, but the response plan doesn't follow because the agencies aren't talking.
Why Your Health Is Now Part of Fire Planning
This bill makes a crucial connection that often gets overlooked: public health. The review requires the Secretaries to work with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to analyze how wildfires connect with public health issues (Section 3). For the average person, this means that future fire strategies must consider the impact of smoke inhalation, air quality, and mental health strain caused by these disasters. This integration ensures that the costs of wildfires aren't just calculated in acres burned, but in medical bills and long-term health outcomes.
Holding Agencies Accountable to the Roadmap
Every four years, the Secretaries must send a detailed report to Congress. This report isn't just a summary of findings; it’s a progress report card. They must detail how much progress they’ve made toward the goals set in existing national strategies, like the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy and the ON FIRE report. They also have to suggest new laws or administrative changes needed to tackle the problems they find. This reporting requirement provides a clear mechanism for accountability, ensuring that the agencies actually follow through on the long-term plans rather than letting them gather dust on a shelf. For busy citizens, this translates into a clear metric for holding elected officials and agency heads responsible for fire preparedness.