Bipartisan legislation introduced by first-term Sens. Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.) and Andy Kim (D-N.J.) would establish a nationwide response time standard for wildfires affecting public lands.
Under the bill, the Wildfire Response and Preparedness Act, all wildfires on Interior Department- or Agriculture Department-administered lands would be subject to a half-hour response standard.
In a statement, Sheehy and Kim noted the National Fire Protection Association currently has a 5-minute, 20-second response time standard in place for structural fires, which has been credited with reducing civilian deaths 70 percent. No such standard currently exists for wildfires.
“The WRAP Act will help our brave firefighters put out wildfires while they are small and dramatically reduce catastrophic wildfire damage. This bill will save lives and prevent hundreds of billions of dollars in future property damage,” Sheehy, a onetime aerial firefighter, said in a statement.
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