HR582-119

What This Bill Does

The Community Protection and Wildfire Resilience Act creates a dedicated wildfire resilience grant program. FEMA, acting through the U.S. Fire Administrator and coordinating with the Forest Service Chief, must establish a program within one year to fund eligible entities that either carry out projects in existing community protection and wildfire resilience plans or develop those plans. Eligible entities include States, Indian Tribes, local or regional governments, fire protection districts, municipal fire departments, volunteer fire departments, and collaborations among those entities. Plans must be developed with local communities, Tribal governments, law enforcement, firefighters, first responders, fire managers, utilities, NGOs, State fire, emergency, public safety, environmental, and forest-management agencies, and must cover early detection, public outreach, alerts, evacuation, first-responder access, vulnerable populations, critical infrastructure, home hardening, community-scale defensible space, local capacity, land-use planning, education, and coordination with existing wildfire plans. Grants prioritize high-risk communities, require a 25 percent nonfederal share that may be waived or reduced, and authorize $1 billion annually for fiscal years 2025 through 2029. The bill also requires a GAO report on federal wildfire community-protection programs, updates Healthy Forests Restoration Act at-risk community definitions and mapping including Tribal at-risk communities, requires a radio interoperability report, and expands Community Wildfire Defense Grants to cover structure hardening against flames and embers.

Who Benefits and How

High wildfire-risk communities benefit because the grant program funds plans and projects for early detection, evacuation, home hardening, defensible space, and local capacity. States, Indian Tribes, local governments, fire districts, municipal fire departments, and volunteer fire departments benefit because they can apply as eligible entities. Vulnerable residents such as elderly people, children, disabled individuals, and homeless individuals benefit because plans must address their wildfire evacuation and resilience needs. Homeowners in wildfire-prone areas benefit because structure-hardening work becomes eligible under Community Wildfire Defense Grants. First responders benefit from planning for access, interoperable communications, evacuation execution, and community-scale defensible space.

Who Bears the Burden and How

FEMA and U.S. Fire Administration grant staff must stand up the program, coordinate with the Forest Service, set criteria, and manage waivers. Eligible entities must develop plans with broad local, Tribal, utility, NGO, fire, emergency, public safety, environmental, and forest-management partners. Grant recipients must provide a 25 percent nonfederal share unless FEMA waives or reduces it. GAO and federal wildfire communications staff must report on program gaps, radio frequencies, interoperability barriers, and available technologies. Federal taxpayers fund $1 billion per year for fiscal years 2025 through 2029.

Key Provisions

• Defines community protection and wildfire resilience plans with early detection, public outreach, evacuation, vulnerable-population, infrastructure, home-hardening, defensible-space, and land-use strategies.
• Creates a FEMA grant program for eligible entities to develop plans or carry out projects in existing plans.
• Prioritizes communities at high fire or wildfire risk and authorizes $1 billion annually for fiscal years 2025 through 2029.
• Requires a GAO report on federal wildfire community-protection authorities, programs, impediments, and funding gaps.
• Requires updated at-risk community mapping, including Tribal at-risk communities, within 180 days and every five years.
• Requires a radio communications interoperability report for wildfire management.
• Expands Community Wildfire Defense Grants to include structure-hardening projects against flames and embers.