Skip to main content
S 2290 115th Congress Senate Public Lands and Natural Resources Aviation and airports Disaster relief and insurance Economic performance and conditions Emergency communications systems Emergency planning and evacuation Environmental assessment, monitoring, research Fires First responders and emergency personnel Forests, forestry, trees Government studies and investigations Health information and medical records

Wildfire Management Technology Advancement Act of 2018

Introduced: January 10, 2018 Introduced by: Cantwell, Maria Democratic · Washington See on congress.gov
Sign in to write a letter Sign in to watch
 Everywhere this bill has been 6 steps
Introduced
In committee
Reported out
Passed House
Passed Senate
To President
Became law
Dec 19, 2018
By Senator Murkowski from Committee on Energy and Natural Resources filed written report. Report No. 115-441.
Dec 4, 2018
Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 712.
Dec 4, 2018
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Reported by Senator Murkowski with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. Without written report.
Oct 2, 2018
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably.
Jan 10, 2018
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Jan 10, 2018
Introduced in Senate
 Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Wildfire Management Technology Advancement Act of 2018

This bill authorizes federal and state wildland firefighting agencies to operate unmanned aircraft systems (i.e., drones) in managing wildland fires.

The Departments of Agriculture and of the Interior shall:

  • jointly develop and operate a tracking system to remotely locate the positions of fire resources assigned to federal type 1 wildland fire incident management teams;
  • establish the Interagency Wildland Fire Air Quality Response Program to assign air resource advisors to such a team managing a wildland fire;
  • establish the Rapid Response Erosion Database to provide for the automatic incorporation of spatial data related to vegetation, soils, and elevation into burn severity maps;
  • establish the Fire Danger Assessment System for predicting the locations of future wildfires in fire-prone areas; and
  • study the feasibility of operating aircraft at night to manage wildland fires.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency may make grants to states to provide funding to certain at-risk communities for the cost-shared installation of reverse-911 systems.

The bill amends the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 to require the National Fire Data Center to gather and analyze additional information on fires, including all injuries sustained by firefighters that were treated by a doctor.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology to: (1) establish national teams to collect data following wildfires in the wildland-urban interface, and (2) implement a research plan for linking economic outcomes with wildfire mitigation.

What's happening now December 19, 2018

By Senator Murkowski from Committee on Energy and Natural Resources filed written report. Report No. 115-441.

 Committees of jurisdiction 1