S. 902 — Wildfire Response and Preparedness Act of 2025

This section directs the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior and the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (collectively, the Secretaries concerned) to establish, not later than 90 days after enactment, standards for response time to wildland fire incidents on federal lands they administer—with a goal, to the extent practicable, of not more than 30 minutes between ignition and on-site evaluation and not more than 3 hours for deployment of fire suppression assets. Not later than 1 year after enactment, the Secretaries concerned must jointly report to specified congressional committees on (1) a single point of contact for federal wildland fire response at the Department of the Interior; (2) a unified budget request for all wildland fire activities; (3) key performance indicators for wildland fire response for the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Indian Affairs, National Park Service, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; (4) current composition and estimated required size of the aviation and ground firefighting fleet to meet the 30-minute/3-hour goals nationwide; (5) necessary changes to the federal ordering and dispatch system for faster asset dispatch; (6) streamlining of federal contracting mechanisms for wildland firefighting assets to enable activation and awards within 1 year; and (7) resources and authorities needed for year-round, nationwide availability of contracted firefighting assets.