By Blair Miller
Independent Record, Helena, Mont.
WASHINGTON — Montana’s new U.S. Sen. Tim Sheehy this week introduced a bill that aims to consolidate federal wildland firefighting resources, currently spread across several agencies, into one national wildland firefighting service.
The “Fit for Purpose Wildfire Readiness Act” is the fifth bill so far sponsored by Sheehy, a Republican who is an aerial firefighter and resigned during his Senate run as CEO of aerial firefighting company Bridger Aerospace, which he founded with his brother in Bozeman. He introduced the bill alongside Democratic California U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla.
“For too long, layers of senseless bureaucracy and red tape have splintered our wildfire management system, failed our brave firefighters on the ground, and let entire communities be wiped off the map by wildfire,” Sheehy said in a statement. "… The National Wildland Firefighting Service will be fit for purpose to protect our communities and save lives.”
Sheehy’s bill, if passed and signed into law, would require the Departments of Agriculture and the Interior — which house agencies including the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and their respective crews of firefighters — to come up with a plan within 180 days to coordinate federal firefighting as a single body.
According to the bill and news releases from the senators’ offices, the consolidated firefighting agency, housed under the Department of the Interior , would oversee federal wildfire preparedness, suppression and recovery.
The National Wildland Firefighting Service’s plan, which the new agency would have six months to come up with, would have to include a budget, an outline of the qualifications needed for a director — who would be appointed by the president and subject to Senate confirmation — and guidance for how to consolidate fire response that is currently spread across at least five agencies at the federal level.
The senators backing the bipartisan bill say they believe the multi-agency, multi-jurisdiction current setup leaves gaps in firefighting response, communication and collaboration, and that a consolidated agency would streamline those things and provide states, private land managers and firefighting outfits with a central command point.
Sheehy’s office said the proposal is backed by the United Aerial Firefighters Association, a nonprofit lobbying group of which Sheehy was a founding board member when it formed in late 2022.
He and Padilla also introduced a bill together to establish a national wildfire intelligence center this week. Padilla said the recent California wildfires in the Los Angeles area showed why a singular wildfire intelligence center could be crucial as federal, state, local and private firefighting resources need to coordinate quickly when responding to fires, especially in urban areas.
In a release outlining the proposal’s objectives, Padilla’s office said a Wildfire Intelligence Center would be able to model potential wildfire growth and would “inform response, risk reduction, land and fuels management, post-wildfire recovery and rehabilitation.” Padilla’s office compared the information-sharing objectives to what currently occurs with the National Weather Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Water Center.
“We can all agree that the federal government must do a better job protecting our people, property, public lands, and communities from wildfires, and this bill will go a long way in streamlining our wildland firefighting efforts and best leveraging all available resources to accomplish our shared mission,” Sheehy said in a statement.
That proposal is also backed by Montana’s Republican senior U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, as well as U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper, a Colorado Democrat.
“Sharing information and resources between agencies will undoubtedly help Montana communities take preventative measures and better combat fires and coordinate response efforts,” Daines said in a statement.
A third firefighting bill Sheehy introduced alongside Sen. Martin Heinrich, D- N.M. , would reauthorize the ability for the Department of Defense to sell firefighting-capable aircraft and parts from military stock surplus to people or companies that contract with the government to perform aerial firefighting, like Bridger Aerospace.
That proposal’s House version also has support from U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke, the Republican who represents Montana’s western congressional district.
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