Fire Ready Nation Act of 2025
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Fire Ready Nation Act establishes a coordinated fire weather services program inside NOAA to improve wildfire forecasting, smoke and post-fire flooding warnings, risk communication, data sharing, and decision support. It creates a fire weather testbed for new models, uncrewed systems, observing tools, and research-to-operations work; establishes an Incident Meteorologist Service within the National Weather Service; requires workforce, data, survey, wildfire-rating, GAO, and interagency coordination work; lifts premium pay limits for federal wildfire emergency-response employees; and authorizes $148 million from FY2026 through FY2030.
Who Benefits and How
NOAA and the National Weather Service receive a statutory program, workforce structure, and rising annual authorizations from $15 million in FY2026 to $50 million in FY2030. State emergency managers, local emergency managers, federal land-management agencies, Indian Tribes, Native Hawaiian organizations, communities in wildfire-prone areas, incident meteorologists, and federal wildland firefighters benefit from better forecasts, on-site decision support, fire-weather ratings, data access, and premium-pay relief. Weather technology companies, drone manufacturers, private weather data companies, researchers, and academic institutions may benefit from the fire weather testbed and open-data work.
Who Bears the Burden and How
NOAA, the National Weather Service, GAO, the Interagency Committee for Advancing Weather Services, the Forest Service, FEMA, USGS, National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and Bureau of Land Management take on coordination, planning, reporting, survey, rating-system, and anti-duplication duties. Federal taxpayers fund the new authorization levels, and agencies must avoid duplicating activities already funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
Key Provisions
- Establishes NOAA's coordinated fire weather services program for wildfire, smoke, post-fire flooding, debris-flow, and related hazards.
- Creates a fire weather testbed for models, services, uncrewed systems, observations, and research transition.
- Requires NOAA data and metadata to be made openly available when the agency has redistribution rights.
- Establishes an Incident Meteorologist Service within the National Weather Service.
- Expands premium-pay relief for covered Commerce, Agriculture, and Interior employees performing wildfire emergency response.
- Directs plans and assessments on fire weather services, workforce needs, and National Weather Service support.
- Creates a Fire Science and Technology Working Group and strategic plan.
- Requires wildfire rating-system review with Forest Service, USGS, NPS, FEMA, Fish and Wildlife, BIA, BLM, and other partners.
- Authorizes $148 million over FY2026-FY2030 and bars unnecessary duplication of Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funding.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Creates a NOAA fire weather services program, fire weather testbed, Incident Meteorologist Service, workforce and data modernization requirements, wildfire rating work, GAO reporting, and $148 million in FY2026-FY2030 authorizations to improve wildfire forecasting and response.
Key Policy Areas
Weather, Wildfire, Emergency Management, Science
Primary Purpose
Creates a NOAA fire weather services program, fire weather testbed, Incident Meteorologist Service, workforce and data modernization requirements, wildfire rating work, GAO reporting, and $148 million in FY2026-FY2030 authorizations to improve wildfire forecasting and response.
Policy Domains
Fire weather services and workforce
Identified Gains
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- National Weather Service
- Incident meteorologists
- Federal wildland firefighters
- State emergency management agencies
- Local emergency management agencies
- Indian Tribes
- Native Hawaiian organizations
- Weather technology companies
Identified Costs
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- Government Accountability Office
- Forest Service
- Federal Emergency Management Agency
- Bureau of Land Management
- Federal taxpayers
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
Passed SenateHeld at the desk.
Received in the House.
Message on Senate action sent to the House.
Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous Consent. (consideration: CR S6549-6555; …
Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous Consent.
Passed/agreed to in Senate: Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous …
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Reported by Senator Cruz …
Passed Senate (inferred from es version)
Reported by Mr. Cruz, without amendment
Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Department of Agriculture (Forest Service), Department of the Interior (BLM, NPS), Federal agencies with fire-related responsibilities
NOAA faces effects in multiple directions
Positive-direction: Federal wildland firefighters, Fire management officials, Incident meteorologists
Negative-direction: Department of Agriculture (Forest Service), Department of the Interior (BLM, NPS), Federal agencies with fire-related responsibilities, Federal fire research agencies, Forest Service, Government Accountability Office, Interagency Committee for Advancing Weather Services, NOAA National Weather Service, NOAA and National Weather Service, National Interagency Fire Center, National Weather Service
Academic research institutions, Researchers and academics
Drone/uncrewed systems manufacturers, Weather technology companies, Weather technology contractors
Federal, state and local emergency response agencies, Fire management agencies and firefighters
Indian tribes, Indian tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations
State and local emergency management agencies
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "administration"
- → National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- "under_secretary"
- → Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
An employee of Commerce, Agriculture, or Interior performing covered wildfire emergency response services.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology