H. R. 178

(a) In general - With respect to covered National Forest System lands, the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Chief of the Forest Service—

(1) - shall—

(A) - use all available resources to carry out wildfire suppression with the purpose of extinguishing wildfires detected on such lands not later than 24 hours after such a wildfire is detected; and

(B) - immediately suppress any prescribed fire that exceeds prescription;

(2) - shall not inhibit the suppression efforts of State or local firefighting agencies that are authorized to respond to wildfire on such lands;

(3) - may only use fire as a resource management tool if the fire is a prescribed fire that complies with applicable law and regulations;

(4) - may only initiate a backfire or burnout during a wildfire—

(A) - by order of the responsible incident commander; or

(B) - in instances that are necessary to protect the health and safety of firefighting personnel; and

(5) - shall use all available resources to control any such initiated backfire or burnout until extinguished.

(b) Covered national forest system lands defined - In this section, the term covered National Forest System lands means any area—

(1) - located within National Forest System lands; and

(2) - that—

(A) - the U.S. Drought Monitor has rated as having a D2 (severe drought) intensity, D3 (extreme drought) intensity, or D4 (exceptional drought) intensity;

(B) - the National Interagency Fire Center declares has a National Wildland Fire Preparedness level of 5; or

(C) - the Forest Service has identified as being located in a fireshed ranked in the top 10 percent of wildfire exposure (as determined using the most recently published models of fireshed risk exposure published by the Forest Service).

119-HR178

To require the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out activities to suppress wildfires, and for other purposes.

119th CONGRESS

1st Session

H. R. 178

1. Suppression of wildfires