Bipartisan bill would add fire weather program at NOAA
By Jordan Hansen DAILY MONTANAN
Federal legislation introduced jointly by U.S. Sens. Tim Sheehy, R-Montana, and Maria Cantwell, D-Washington, seeks to establish a fire weather program at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The legislation passed the Senate unanimously on Sept. 10.
“As a former aerial firefighter, one of my top priorities since taking office has been to reform our federal wildland firefighting apparatus to better protect our communities,” Sheehy said in a press release. “The Fire Ready Nation Act ensures we can better predict these disasters and respond quickly to prevent the devastation to families, homes, and businesses that is caused by catastrophic wildfire.”
Fire weather describes certain conditions that lead to an elevated level of alert. Wind and humidity, for example, are two factors taken into account. Wildfire smoke is also tracked by federal agencies, and that information is then disseminated to the public. Many state agencies, including Montana’s Department of Environmental Quality, also track smoke impacts.
Earlier this year, Cantwell said more than 300,000 acres burned in Washington last year, and wildfires in California in January demonstrated the nation was facing “costly, unpredictable wildfires year-round.
“The Fire Ready Nation Act can help save homes and lives by giving scientists and weather forecasters on the front lines of wildfires innovative tools to better predict wildfire and smoke conditions,” Cantwell said in a Jan. 30 press release.
The legislation is seeking to address a gap, a Cantwell release said.
“(NOAA) has no defined authority in law for its wildfire services. And while NOAA is a world leader in wildfire forecasting, better coordination and funding for new high-tech initiatives would help improve forecasting and preparedness,” the release stated.
The Department of Government Efficiency cut employees at the National Weather Service earlier this year, though the Trump administration has since sought to rehire them.
According to the bill text, program priorities include creating an improved fire-weather model that includes variables important for firefighters to know. It also asks the agency to implement artificial intelligence and cloud computing when creating the program. There’s also an ask for “a rapidly deployable network of rain gauges for post-fire hazard monitoring,” the bill states.
The hope is to update and upgrade weather models and make that information easily available to those that depend on it.
In addition, the bill would also “establish and maintain” an Incident Meteorologist Service within the National Weather Service. It appears they would be providing on-site support services during weather incidents that includes fires.
The bill also asks for various working groups to address issues, including communication between different agencies. It’s asking for an appropriation of $118 million over the next five years, according to the bill text.
Statistics from the National Interagency Fire Center say that more than 48,000 wildfire incidents have been reported year-to-date. Those fires have burned 4,320,279 acres across the country this year.
Fires have been a focus for Sheehy, with the Fire Ready Nation Act his second piece of fire legislation that’s passed the body unanimously. Prior to his Senate term, Sheehy co-founded Bridger Aerospace, an aerial firefighting company that operates a fleet of water-scooping aircraft.
