Sec. 3. Establishment of fire weather services program
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The Under Secretary shall establish and maintain a coordinated fire weather services program within the Administration. The functions of the program established under subsection (a), consistent with the priorities described in section 101 of the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 ( 15 U.S.C. 8511 ), shall be— to support readiness, responsiveness, understanding, and overall resilience of the United States to wildfires, fire weather, smoke, and other associated conditions, hazards, and impacts in built and natural environments and at the wildland-urban interface; to collaboratively disseminate accurate, precise, effective, and timely risk communications, forecasts, watches, and warnings relating to wildfires, fire weather, air quality, smoke, and other associated conditions, hazards, and impacts, as applicable, in collaboration with Federal land management agencies; to partner with and support the public, Federal, State, and Tribal governments, and academic and local partners through the development of capabilities, impact-based decision support services, and overall service delivery and utility; to conduct and support research and development of new and innovative models, technologies, techniques, products, systems, processes, and procedures to improve understanding of wildfires, fire weather, air quality, the fire environment, including impacts of climate variability and changing climate conditions, smoke, and associated conditions, hazards, and impacts, and to transition such research into effective operations; to develop strong research-to-operations and operations-to-research transitions, in order to facilitate delivery of products, services, and tools to operational users and platforms; and to develop, in coordination with Federal land management agencies, impact-based decision support services that operationalize and integrate the functions described in paragraphs
(1)through
(5)in order to provide comprehensive impact-based decision support services that encompass the fire environment. In developing and implementing the program established under subsection (a), the Under Secretary shall prioritize— development of a fire weather-enabled Earth system model and data assimilation systems that— are capable of prediction and forecasting across all timescales; include variables associated with fire weather, air quality from smoke, and the fire environment, and other variables, as determined by the Under Secretary; improve understanding of the connections between fire weather and modes of climate variability; and incorporate emerging techniques such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and cloud computing; advancement of observational capabilities, including satellite-, airborne-, air-, and ground-based systems and technologies that— identify— high-risk pre-ignition conditions; conditions that influence fire behavior and spread including those conditions that suppress active fire events; and fire risk values; support real-time notification of ignitions; support observations and data collection of fire weather and fire environment variables for development of the model and systems under paragraph (1); and support forecasts and advancing understanding and research of the impacts of wildfires on human health, ecosystems, climate, transportation, and economies; and development and implementation of advanced and user-oriented impact-based decision tools, science, and technologies that— ensure real-time and retrospective data, products, and services are findable, accessible, interoperable, usable, inform further research, and are analysis- and decision-ready; provide targeted information throughout the fire lifecycle including pre-ignition, detection, forecasting, post-fire, and monitoring phases; and support early assessment of post-fire hazards, such as air quality, debris flows, mudslides, and flooding. In developing and implementing the program established under subsection (a), the Under Secretary may— conduct relevant physical and social science research activities in support of the functions described in subsection
(b)and the priorities described in subsection (c); conduct relevant activities, in coordination with Federal land management agencies, to assess fuel characteristics, including moisture, loading, and other parameters used to determine fire risk levels and outlooks; support and conduct research that assesses impacts to marine, riverine, and other relevant ecosystems, which may include forest and rangeland ecosystems, resulting from activities associated with mitigation of and response to wildfires; support and conduct attribution science research relating to wildfires, fire weather, fire risk, smoke, and associated conditions, risks, and impacts; develop smoke and air quality forecasts, forecast guidance, and prescribed burn weather forecasts, and conduct research on the impact of such forecasts on response behavior that minimizes health-related impacts from smoke exposure; use, in coordination with Federal land management agencies, wildland fire resource intelligence to inform fire environment impact-based decision support products and services for safety; evaluate and provide data, tools, and services to support determinations for the implementation of mitigation measures such as prescribed burns and selective thinning; provide comprehensive training to ensure staff of the program established under subsection
(a)is properly equipped to deliver the impact-based decision support products and services described in paragraphs
(1)through (6); and acquire through contracted purchase private sector-produced observational data to fill identified gaps, as needed. The Under Secretary shall, as the Under Secretary considers appropriate, collaborate and consult with partners in the weather and climate enterprises, academic institutions, States, Tribal governments, local partners, and Federal agencies, including land and fire management agencies, in the development and implementation of the program established under subsection (a). The Under Secretary may enter into agreements in support of the functions described in subsection (b), the priorities described in subsection (c), the activities described in subsection (d), and activities carried out under section 8.
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Sec. 3
Establishment of fire weather services program
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