II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 142
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to wildland firefighters in recognition
of their strength, resiliency, sacrifice, and service to protect the forests,
grasslands, and communities of the United States, and for other pur-
poses.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY16, 2025
Mr. B
ARRASSO(for himself, Mr. SHEEHY, Mr. RISCH, Ms. SMITH, Ms. LUM-
MIS, Mr. WARNOCK, Mr. BENNET, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, and Mr. CRAPO) in-
troduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com-
mittee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
A BILL
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to wildland firefighters
in recognition of their strength, resiliency, sacrifice, and
service to protect the forests, grasslands, and commu-
nities of the United States, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Wildland Firefighters 4
Congressional Gold Medal Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
Congress finds the following: 7
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(1) Wildland fires have increased in intensity 1
and severity over the 30-year period preceding the 2
date of enactment of this Act, causing catastrophic 3
destruction to homes, infrastructure, and valuable 4
Federal, State, and private lands. More than 5
1,000,000,000 acres of land across the United 6
States are at risk of wildfire, including approxi-7
mately 117,000,000 acres of Federal land that have 8
been identified as high or very high risk for wildfire 9
potential. 10
(2) The Forest Service, the Bureau of Land 11
Management, the National Park Service, the United 12
States Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of 13
Indian Affairs collectively employ more than 18,700 14
wildland firefighters to combat wildfires across mil-15
lions of acres of public and private lands each year, 16
while thousands more workers and volunteers serve 17
as State, local, and contract wildland firefighters. 18
(3) As the wildland-urban interface expands, 19
wildfires increasingly find their way out of the 20
backcountry and into the backyards of communities 21
across the United States. Wildland firefighters are 22
evolving their skillsets, tactics, and strategies to ad-23
dress the growing threat of wildfire in the 21st cen-24
tury. 25
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(4) While the protection of life and property re-1
mains a top priority, wildland firefighters also have 2
an important role in responsible forest management 3
and conservation. Wildland firefighters perform pre-4
scribed burns and other forest management activi-5
ties, including timber harvests, contribute to healthy 6
forests, and reduce catastrophic wildfire risk. 7
(5) Each wildland firefighter is specialized and 8
trained to work in dynamic and extraordinarily dan-9
gerous environments. Wildland firefighters routinely 10
work long days while on a 2-week rotation, often 11
sleeping in inhospitable conditions. 12
(6) According to the Forest Service, firefighters 13
generally work 16-hour days while fighting a fire, 14
and they typically exceed 2,500 operational hours in 15
a 6-month period. 16
(7) Wildland firefighter crews are all-hazards 17
frontline emergency responders that use any means 18
necessary to protect life and property while respond-19
ing to floods, hurricanes, pandemics, and acts of ter-20
rorism. 21
(8) Engine and hand crews, the primary fire-22
fighting workforce, come in varying sizes and mod-23
ules that can be tailored to fit the specific needs and 24
terrain obstacles that each fire presents. 25
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(9) Interagency hotshot crews are highly skilled 1
mobile hand crews with elite knowledge about fire 2
suppression tactics. 3
(10) Pilots and aerial fire suppression crews 4
take to the skies with air tankers and helicopters to 5
drop water and fire retardant, supporting decision- 6
makers on the ground. 7
(11) Aerially delivered firefighters, including 8
helitack crews and smokejumpers, exit helicopters 9
and jump from planes into remote and difficult-to- 10
reach areas, providing quick and targeted fire sup-11
pression and emergency medical short-haul extrac-12
tion. These fire personnel provide oversight and di-13
rect action on initial and extended attack incidents. 14
(12) Wildland firefighters in the United States 15
also answer the call to fight wildfires internationally. 16
During the record-setting fires in Australia in 2020, 17
the United States sent 362 firefighters to help. Dur-18
ing Canada’s historic 2023 fire season, more than 19
2,000 Federal wildland firefighters answered the 20
call. 21
(13) As of the date of enactment of this Act, 22
the United States maintains mutual assistance and 23
cooperation agreements for wildland firefighting ef-24
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forts with Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, 1
and Portugal. 2
(14) The increases in the severity of wildfires 3
and in annual fire season active months have also 4
increased the demand for wildland firefighters and 5
associated employees. Recruitment and retention of 6
wildland firefighters has been a national issue for 7
many years. 8
(15) Wildland firefighters put their lives on the 9
line to keep the people of the United States safe, 10
and some pay the ultimate sacrifice to do so. Be-11
tween January 1, 2019, and January 1, 2025, 98 12
wildland firefighters have lost their lives fighting 13
fires. Acute and secondary effects from wildfire, 14
such as wildfire smoke exposure, are directly linked 15
to tens of thousands of firefighter and civilian 16
deaths each year. 17
(16) June 30 to July 6 of each year is recog-18
nized as a Week of Remembrance to honor the fallen 19
wildland firefighters who sacrificed their lives to pro-20
tect the wildlands of the United States. 21
(17) National Wildland Firefighter Day is held 22
annually on July 2 to recognize all who are devoted 23
to wildland firefighting. 24
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(18) The exemplary efforts of wildland fire-1
fighters are deserving of recognition, and it is appro-2
priate and proper to honor those who have pre-3
viously served, as well as current and future fire-4
fighters. Wildland firefighters showcase principles of 5
duty, respect, and integrity in every aspect of serv-6
ice. Each firefighter exhibits strength, resiliency, and 7
grit to protect the forests, grasslands, and commu-8
nities of the United States. Wildland firefighters do 9
not shy away from dangerous situations, but instead 10
risk life and limb to help others. The outstanding 11
accomplishments of these brave individuals continue 12
an unparalleled legacy of public service. 13
SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 14
(a) P
RESENTATIONAUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 15
the House of Representatives and the President pro tem-16
pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 17
for the presentation, on behalf of Congress, of a single 18
gold medal of appropriate design in honor of wildland fire-19
fighters, collectively, in recognition of their strength, resil-20
iency, sacrifice, and service to protect the forests, grass-21
lands, and communities of the United States. 22
(b) D
ESIGNANDSTRIKING.—For purposes of the 23
presentation described in subsection (a), the Secretary of 24
the Treasury (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Secretary’’) 25
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shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, devices, 1
and inscriptions, to be determined by the Secretary, in 2
consultation with the National Interagency Fire Center. 3
(c) D
ISPOSITION OFMEDAL.— 4
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Following the presentation 5
of the gold medal under subsection (a), the gold 6
medal shall be given to the National Interagency 7
Fire Center, where the gold medal shall be dis-8
played, as appropriate, and made available for re-9
search. 10
(2) S
ENSE OF CONGRESS .—It is the sense of 11
Congress that the National Interagency Fire Center 12
should ensure that the display and availability of the 13
medal described in paragraph (1) be at appropriate 14
locations, particularly locations associated with 15
wildland firefighters. 16
SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 17
The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 18
bronze of the gold medal struck under section 3, at a price 19
sufficient to cover the costs thereof, including labor, mate-20
rials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses. 21
SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 22
(a) N
ATIONALMEDALS.—The medals struck under 23
this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 51 24
of title 31, United States Code. 25
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(b) NUMISMATICITEMS.—For purposes of sections 1
5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals 2
struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic 3
items. 4
SEC. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF 5
SALE. 6
(a) A
UTHORITYTOUSEFUNDAMOUNTS.—There is 7
authorized to be charged against the United States Mint 8
Public Enterprise Fund such amounts as may be nec-9
essary to pay for the costs of the medals struck under 10
this Act. 11
(b) P
ROCEEDS OFSALES.—Amounts received from 12
the sale of duplicate bronze medals authorized under sec-13
tion 4 shall be deposited into the United States Mint Pub-14
lic Enterprise Fund. 15
Æ
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