Sheehy Proposes New Wildland Fire Response Time, Centralization Bill
Wildfire Response and Preparedness Act of 2025, would set a 30-minute limit, ‘to the extent practicable,’ for fire crews to respond to an incident
By Jordan Hansen for the Daily Montanan
A bipartisan U.S. Senate bill seeking to centralize wildland firefighting operations and set a national wildfire standard response time has been introduced to Congress by Senators Tim Sheehy, R-Montana and Andy Kim, D-New Jersey.
S-140, called the Wildfire Response and Preparedness (WRAP) Act of 2025, would set a 30-minute limit, “to the extent practicable” for fire crews to respond to an incident. It also sets a three-hour time limit for fire suppression efforts to begin.
Essentially, the bill aims at assessing or observing any fire within a half-hour.
“Establishing an aggressive national wildfire standard response time, just like we have for structure fires, is an America First, commonsense way to protect our nation and our people,” Sheehy said in a statement. “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 co-founded Bridger Aerospace in 2014 with his brother and among other services, provides aerial firefighting services. The company is headquartered in Belgrade and has six SuperScooper aircraft.
Sheehy has since left the company, which he did before his election to office. The bill seeks to save lives and property, a one-sheet informational page from Sheehy’s office stated.
“Wildfires sometimes go days without suppression actions due to agency mismanagement. One dollar of suppression saves $1,000 of recovery,” the document said.
While fires actively threatened structures or other property rise in priority, some, especially in remote areas like Alaska, are left to burn. Human-caused fires are always suppressed, according to the National Parks Service.
“Fire is part of a cycle in most ecosystems. It reduces dead vegetation, stimulates new growth, and improves habitat for wildlife,” an NPS document said.
Fires in the Wildland Urban Interface, or WUI, can pose significant dangers to the public. Those urban interface areas are where human development meets undeveloped wild lands, creating zones where life and property can be at a heightened risk because of the fuel and lack of firefighting equipment and personnel.
In a statement, the Western Fire Chief’s Association CEO Bob Roper said the legislation would help “stem the threat of catastrophic wildfires.”
The bill also seeks to streamline the process for wildland fire response, asking for one point of contact within the Department of the Interior. It also requests one budget for all federal wildfire response activities.
Additionally, it’s also asking for a description of “key performance indicators” from the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management; the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the National Park Service and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.
Lastly, the bill would also ask for reports on the “description of the composition of the aviation and ground wildland firefighting fleet” and an estimation of what size of fleet would be required to provide the 30 minute response time and the three-hour suppression window.
“The United Aerial Firefighters Association (UAFA) greatly supports this bill to develop aerial response standards,” Paul Petersen, Executive Director of the UAFA said in a statement. “This will ensure there are aircraft available to respond to incidents and support the firefighters on the ground.”
Sheehy previously sat on the board of directors for UAFA. The freshman Senator has introduced or cosponsored 10 pieces of wildfire legislation since taking office.
Gee, of course there is no conflict of interest, and Sheehy wouldn't dream of crafting a bill that puts money in the pockets of his friends, regardless of how unwise the bill's approach to firefighting is.