Jeff Crank

06/17/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 06/17/2025 10:36

Rep. Crank Introduces Wildfire Bill to Improve Weather and Fire Management

WASHINGTON - Today, Rep. Jeff Crank (CO-05), alongside Rep. Luz Rivas (CA-29), Rep. Nick Begich (AK-AL), and Rep. Jeff Hurd (CO-03) introduced the Fire Weather Development Act.

The Fire Weather Development Act directs the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to establish a program to improve fire weather and fire environment forecasting, detection, and delivery of products or services through collaboration with other Federal and State agencies or departments, local emergency managers, and relevant entities.

"The Fire Weather Development Act will ensure that government entities are receiving the resources they need to accurately forecast and respond to the fire environment," said Rep. Crank. "Unfortunately, Colorado Springs is no stranger to fires, and neither are other parts of the country. Just this year, we have seen how fires can damage our communities, which is why we must improve fire forecasting and our response once these natural disasters occur."

"As we saw during the wildfires in Los Angeles earlier this year, keeping communities safe requires a strong coordinated effort between federal, state, and local agencies," said Rep. Rivas. "Our Fire Weather Development Act plays a critical role in making sure agencies across all levels of government have the support and resources necessary to protect lives, protect property and businesses, and be better prepared to respond to wildfires."

"The Fire Weather Development Act takes a proactive step forward in fire management by improving our ability to forecast and respond to wildfire threats through cutting-edge technology and stronger interagency coordination," said Rep. Begich. "I'm proud to co-sponsor this legislation and thank Congressman Crank for his leadership in bringing this forward. This bill ensures that Alaska and communities across the country have the tools they need to prepare for and respond to the increasing threat of wildfires."

"I'm proud to co-sponsor Congressman Crank's Fire Weather Development Act, that ensures communities in Colorado's Third District have a voice in how we prepare and respond to wildfires," said Rep. Hurd. "By strengthening local engagement and improving fire weather forecasting, we are safeguarding lives and protecting homes."

Background:

  • The Fire Weather Development Act directs NOAA to develop and improve accurate fire weather and fire environment forecasts and warnings in order to reduce loss of life, reduce injuries, protect property, and reduce damage to the economy from wildfires.
    • This will improve forecasting, detection, and delivery of products or services available to communities and localized efforts to predict and fight fires.
  • Places an emphasis on developing and using novel technologies, such as advanced satellite detection coupled with atmosphere and fire weather modeling systems and active sensors suitable for potential deployment on spacecraft, aircraft, and unmanned aircraft systems.
    • These technologies improve the monitoring and forecasting of fire fuel and active wildfires, wildfire behavior models and forecasts, mapping efforts, and the prediction of wildfires and their impacts, while also reducing the need to send firefighters and operators into potential danger.
  • The Fire Weather Development Act also recognizes the critical need for interagency collaboration.
    • The legislation establishes an Interagency Coordinating Committee on Wildfires, whose purpose is to coordinate at the Federal level the development of accurate and timely wildfire forecasting, detection, monitoring, and delivery of related products or services that best assist State and local emergency officials while avoiding duplication of activities.
  • In addition to the creation of the committee, the bill also establishes an independent National Advisory Council on Wildfires.
    • This advisory committee will comprise of members independent of the federal government to provide advice to the Committee regarding wildfire forecasting, detection, monitoring, and delivery of products and services.
      • This ensures that the local officials, communities, and people who are directly affected by wildfires have a seat at the table and can provide input on what tools or services are most needed.
Jeff Crank published this content on June 17, 2025, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on June 17, 2025 at 16:36 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at support@pubt.io