Fire Weather Development Act of 2024

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4866) to direct the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to establish a program to improve fire weather and fire environment forecasting, detection, and local collaboration, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 4866, the bill now under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4866, the Fire Weather Development Act of 2024, offered by the gentleman from California (Mr. Mike Garcia), my friend and colleague on the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.

This bill directs the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to improve the forecasting and detection of fire weather as well as increase collaboration with State and local partners to predict and fight fires.

Just over a month ago, the largest wildfire in U.S. history burned over a million acres in the Texas Panhandle and parts of my district in western Oklahoma.

The Smokehouse Creek fire, as it is now known, was the result of extremely dry and windy conditions that saw a half million acres burn within 24 hours of the fire's start.

With two fatalities, along with hundreds of homes and thousands of cattle lost, the effects of this fire will be felt in this region of our country for many years.

If it wasn't for a shift in wind direction at just the right time, my property would have been a part of that destruction.

At home, I had to take the precaution of moving cattle into fields that were less likely to burn, if the fire kept coming our way.

Looking back on this event today, there is one good thing we can take from it: We know with certainty that the National Weather Service has the tools and capability for fire weather forecasting and prediction that can protect lives and property.

The National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center began mentioning the potential for fire weather conditions in their extended forecast 6 days before the Smokehouse Creek fire started.

In my case, I closely monitored this weather outlook and made critical decisions based on the weather data, models, and forecasts that were available.

While two lives were lost, and that is two too many, it is likely there would have been more, if not for the work of the National Weather Service.

With an increased innovative focus provided by direction from Congress and the necessary resources, NOAA and the NWS can expand these capabilities and ensure every region of our country is prepared for the extreme weather events of the future.

Every citizen can and should have the most accurate tools readily available, just like I did. The bill we are considering today, the Fire Weather Development Act, is a critical step in that direction.

H.R. 4866 directs NOAA to develop and improve accurate fire weather and fire environment forecasts and warnings.

It places an emphasis on developing and using novel technologies such as advanced weather, advanced satellite detection paired with AI modeling systems, or active sensors for potential deployment on unmanned aircraft systems.

These technologies will improve wildfire behavior models, mapping efforts, and the monitoring of fire fuel and active fires, while also eliminating the risk of sending firefighters and operators into potential danger.

The Fire Weather Development Act also recognizes the critical need for Federal collaboration by establishing an Interagency Coordinating Committee on Wildfires.

With all the relevant bodies working together, this committee will coordinate the development of accurate and timely wildfire forecasting, detection, monitoring, and delivery of products or services that best assist State and local emergency officials.

Lastly, this bill establishes an independent National Advisory Council on Wildfires to ensure that 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.

I thank Representative Mike Garcia for introducing this bill along with his cosponsors, Representatives Caraveo and Kim.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all my colleagues to join us in supporting this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from California (Mr. Mike Garcia) to speak on this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Over the last 5 years, the average annual cost of Federal firefighting suppression has been $2.8 billion. While forest and land management can help prevent wildfires, long- and short-term weather observations, or modeling, play a critical role in limiting their spread and damage.

The Fire Weather Development Act takes immediate action to address this by increasing NOAA and the National Weather Service's activities to best protect lives and property at risk of wildfires.

I again thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Mike Garcia) for working tirelessly to get this bill across the finish line and increasing the lifesaving services available to his constituents.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all my colleagues to support this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for his leadership on this bill.

In my district, it is all about security. It is about economic security. It is about national security. It is about school security, neighborhood security, and yes, border security, as well as protecting Social Security.

If you live in my district, you will recognize that this bill, H.R. 4866, is truly about security. My district in north L.A. County has the most dense and largest interface of wildlands with human beings and housing developments.

They are all too familiar, my constituents, with the dangers that wildfires pose to our homes and to our livelihoods.

For my constituents, wildfire mitigation isn't a red or blue issue. It is not a Republican or Democratic issue. It is a life-or-death issue. That is why I have made it a top priority since coming to Washington to improve our ability to predict and to fight these disasters in order to keep our firefighters,

our homes, and our families safe from harm.

My bill, H.R. 4866, the Fire Weather Development Act, is a strong bipartisan step forward in a constant fight against these catastrophic wildfires.

This bill will dramatically improve NOAA's ability to predict, prevent, and respond to wildfires and to get information down to the local emergency responders.

It would be easy, the last 2 years have been relatively calm fire seasons, to get lulled into a false sense of security in southern California, but the next big fire season is right around the corner.

We have had 2 years of record rain that has spurred an explosion of grass and dense shrubbery across the hills in my district.

As the weather starts to dry out again, so will the forest, transforming greenery into an abundance of fuel and Btus that a stray spark or lightning strike can set ablaze in a moment's notice.

Southern California will be a tinderbox this fall, and the time to prevent wildfires is now. We can't allow ourselves to wait for another wildfire season like we had in 2020 where California lost over 4 million acres and 10,000 buildings due to mismanagement in years prior, like the fires that we saw in Texas just recently and in Hawaii just last year, so horrifically taking the lives of so many Americans.

Half the wildland in my district falls in Federal forests, so this is very important that we, at the Federal level, take care of this issue.

We need to be investing now, not just for our prediction efforts, but to ensure that our firefighters have every possible tool at their disposal to respond.

Firefighters are like frontline combat operators against wildfires, and there is no reason they shouldn't be as well-equipped as they fight fires as our soldiers are when they fight our enemies overseas.

They need the tools this bill provides; advanced imaging to see the fires before they grow out of control, drones to reach the small and remote fires, and improved communications to adjust the forward line of combat operations quickly and safely.

Just like our soldiers, we also need to send the firefighters into dangerous situations only when it is absolutely necessary.

My bill invests in fuel mapping, unmanned vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles, wildfire behavior models and more, and all the steps to make 1 firefighter fight like 10 and to minimize the need to put them in danger. More importantly, to make sure that when they fight, they come home each night.

The side benefit of all of this is there is an ongoing fight against insurance companies in California, and this is going to improve lives outside of just the wildfire events as well.

This is a constant threat, and we haven't done a good job in California managing our wildlands.

As a result of that, we have seen a disastrous effect on livelihoods and the economy, especially in southern California. The threat has gotten so bad that insurance companies are jacking up rates on current customers and have stopped offering policies to any new homeowners in my district.

I have heard countless stories from constituents about their house fire policies going up anywhere from 5 to 10 times what they were just in one year. I had a church pastor reach out this last weekend, Mr. Speaker, who said his premiums went from $3,000 a year for his fire insurance to $30,000 a year for a very small church.

To be clear, this bill is not a silver bullet that is going to solve the insurance problem. That is a problem made in Sacramento that this will hopefully mitigate, but there is still a whole lot of bad policies coming out of Sacramento that need to be addressed.

If we can drastically improve our ability to protect people's homes, it will hopefully be a massive step in the right direction and allow the insurance companies to come back to California.

I thank Chairman Lucas for his leadership on this bill and allowing this to come to the floor. I thank Ms. Caraveo for her cosponsorship of this bill. I urge my colleagues to support the Fire Weather Development Act to ensure the security of our constituents in all districts, not just mine, but throughout the Nation that face the daily threat of catastrophic wildfires.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, in Hawaii, California, Colorado, and Michigan, wildfires are posing an increasing threat to the lives and livelihoods of so many Americans.

Over the last 30 years, the wildfire season in the West alone has lengthened by several months, and the total number of acres burned per year has nearly doubled.

Climate change has contributed to warmer temperatures and drier conditions, causing more frequent and intense wildland fires.

Understanding the fundamental science behind wildfires, including the impacts of climate change, is absolutely essential to our ability to improve the prediction and forecasting of increasingly severe wildfires.

Another essential element to our response to wildfires is the effective communication of information and risks to land managers and to those living in wildfire-vulnerable areas.

To accomplish that, we have H.R. 4866, a phenomenal bipartisan piece of legislation to direct NOAA to establish a program that will increase the accuracy of, and effectively communicate, fire forecasts and warnings.

The brave and tireless work of incident management teams is absolutely the cornerstone of successful wildfire responses. This includes incident meteorologists, or IMETs, who work around the clock at active fire sites for days or weeks at a time, providing lifesaving information about wildfire and environmental conditions to firefighters and managers.

This bill also allows NOAA's National Weather Service to fully compensate IMETs for overtime work during active fire events, which will expand the capacity of IMETs to conduct their essential work.

The bill also requires NOAA to leverage collaborations with State, local, and Tribal governments, Federal agencies, academia, and the private sector to decrease the loss of lives and property from wildfires and support fire response personnel.

I truly commend Congressman Mike Garcia and my colleague from Colorado (Ms. Caraveo) for working on this important legislation that will truly put the United States in a better position to respond to increasing threats of wildfires.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Colorado (Ms. Caraveo).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time for closing.

Mr. Speaker, we find ourselves at a prominent moment here on the House floor, hopefully seeing the passage of H.R. 4866 to address some of these extraordinary fire considerations that have taken place. I continue to encourage my colleagues to join those of us who do this hard and great work on the Science Committee to pass this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of my bill, H.R. 4866, the Fire Weather Development Act. I thank my colleagues, Congressman Mike Garcia and Congresswoman Kim, for working with me to run this bipartisan piece of legislation. Thank you also to Ranking Member Lofgren and Chairman Lucas for their steadfast leadership.

Sadly, Coloradans are no strangers to wildfires, and we know that wildfires are no longer seasonal but can happen year-round. The impacts of these fires are felt long after the flames are extinguished and have lasting effects on our environment, economy, infrastructure, and more. With that, we are also seeing wildfires begin to encroach on communities that are not used to experiencing fires.

The Marshall fire in Colorado was the most expensive wildfire in our State's history and was primarily driven by an extreme windstorm that blew the fire into suburban parts of Colorado right next door to my district. With the total monetary cost of the Marshall fire estimated at $2 billion, it is critical that we continue to invest in new ways to understand fire weather.

This is where our bill, the Fire Weather Development Act, comes in. This bill will give NOAA the tools it needs to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to fire weather technology by allowing the agency to do things like access airborne and space-based data to enhance fire weather and fire environment monitoring. The bill also gives NOAA the ability to determine drone usage to improve data collection and even conduct drone pilot programs. Finally, the bill helps our local and State responders even more through several provisions focused on improving communications, especially around forecasting.

The Front Range and northern Colorado know how important it is that we do what we can to better predict fire weather, especially when it means protecting our homes and economic well-being.

In Colorado's Eighth District, we have a burgeoning energy sector and the largest agriculture economy in the State, but as we saw in Texas earlier this year, one wildfire can pose serious damage to that. By passing the Fire Weather Development Act, we are ensuring that we keep bolstering the tools we have to respond to fire weather. I look forward to continuing to work with Representatives Mike Garcia and Kim to get this commonsense solution in this bill across the finish line as soon as possible.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I was unable to vote during the week of April 29th through May 1st, as I was in the district recovering from a medical procedure.

Had I been present, I would have voted: YEA on H.R. 4866, Roll Call No. 153;

YEA on H.R. 4755, Roll Call No. 154;

YEA on H. Res. Roll Call No. 1173, Roll Call No. 163;

YEA on H.R 529, Roll Call No. 155;

YEA on H.R. 4824, Roll Call No. 156;

YEA on H.R. 4877, Roll Call No. 157;

YEA on H.R. 6093, Roll Call No. 158;

YEA ON H.R. 3738, Roll Call No. 159,

YEA on H.R. 4016, Roll Call No. 160;

YEA on H.R. 1767, Roll Call 161;

YEA on H.R. 3195, Roll Call No. 171;

YEA on H.R. 764, Roll Call No. 169;

YEA on H.R. 615, Roll Call No. 167;

YEA on H.R. 3397, Roll Call No, 165;

YEA on H. Res. 1112, Roll Call No. 176;

YEA on H.R. 6090, Roll Call No. 172; and

YEA on H.R. 6285, Roll Call No. 174.