II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 441
To direct the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior
to develop a plan to reorganize Federal wildland fire response, and
for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY6 (legislative day, FEBRUARY5), 2025
Mr. S
HEEHY(for himself and Mr. PADILLA) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nu-
trition, and Forestry
A BILL
To direct the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary
of the Interior to develop a plan to reorganize Federal
wildland fire response, 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 ‘‘Fit for Purpose Wild-4
fire Readiness Act of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. FEDERAL WILDLAND FIRE RESPONSE REORGANIZA-6
TION. 7
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary of Agriculture and 8
the Secretary of the Interior (referred to in this Act as 9
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•S 441 IS
the ‘‘Secretaries’’) shall jointly develop a plan to consoli-1
date the authorities of the Secretaries relating to Federal 2
wildland fire preparedness, suppression, and recovery ef-3
forts under an agency of the Department of the Interior, 4
to be known as the ‘‘National Wildland Firefighting Serv-5
ice’’. 6
(b) R
EQUIREMENTS.—The plan developed under sub-7
section (a) shall include— 8
(1) a budget for the National Wildland Fire-9
fighting Service; 10
(2) a description of the qualifications required 11
for an individual to be appointed to be the Director 12
of the National Wildland Firefighting Service, who 13
shall be appointed by the President, by and with the 14
advice and consent of the Senate; and 15
(3) a description of the resources and authori-16
ties necessary to consolidate Federal wildland fire 17
response efforts of the Secretaries in the National 18
Wildland Firefighting Service. 19
(c) R
EPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 20
of enactment of this Act, the Secretaries shall jointly sub-21
mit a report describing the plan developed under sub-22
section (a) to— 23
(1) the Committee on Energy and Natural Re-24
sources of the Senate; 25
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•S 441 IS
(2) the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, 1
and Forestry of the Senate; 2
(3) the Committee on Natural Resources of the 3
House of Representatives; and 4
(4) the Committee on Agriculture of the House 5
of Representatives. 6
Æ
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