Rep. Dave Min, D-Costa Mesa, on Wednesday, Nov. 19, introduced the Regional Leadership in Wildland Fire Research Act.
The bill, Min said, would establish research centers at institutions of higher education across the country with a goal of bolstering wildfire research and developing new technologies to support wildfire preparedness.
“Wildfires are becoming more deadly, and without strong research and modern tools to address these growing threats, our communities will continue to pay the price,” Min said Wednesday. “I’m proud to lead this legislation to ensure we are better equipped to save lives and neighborhoods.”
The bill comes as Southern California continues to recover from catastrophic Jan. 7 fires in the Palisades and in the Altadena areas, where thousands of homes and business were destroyed, and which left 12 dead in the Palisades and 19 dead in Altadena.
Both were fueled by extreme winds.
But Min’s office said wildfires are burning in ways that surprise even seasoned firefighters, citing models and forecasting technologies that are not fully predicting fire behavior.
Current tools, officials said, are more likely to fail to predict such behavior, leading to “dire consequences for local communities and firefighters and come at a steep cost for taxpayers.”
Under the legislation, each of the new centers would:
-Develop, maintain, and operate next-generation fire and vegetation models and technologies to support wildland fire mitigation and address the specific needs of the region they are situated in;-Develop a career pathway training program to help carry out wildland fire research and technology development; and-Consult with regional advisory boards, which include membership from land management agencies, state, local, and Tribal governments, private industry, and more.
The bill joins an array of related legislation brought after the devastating fires.
“With support from universities, this legislation will strengthen large-scale modeling and simulation, develop new technologies for fire prevention, management and recovery, and enhance risk-based decision-making,” said Theresa Maldonado, vice president for research and innovation, University of California System, in a written statement accompanying Min’s announcement.
The bill is being co-led by Rep. Gabe Evans, R-Colo., in the House and is a companion to Senate legislation that is being led by Senators Ben Ray Lujan, D-New Mexico, and Dan Sullivan, R-Arkansas, and has support by Megafire Action, the National Association of Federal Employees, the Nature Conservancy, the National Association of State Foresters, and University of California.