Reps. Garamendi and Whitesides Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Enhance Wildfire Response

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congressman John Garamendi (CA-08) joined Congressman George Whitesides (CA-27) in introducing a bipartisan bill to reauthorize the FireGuard program, which utilizes Department of Defense satellites to detect wildfires and distribute information to firefighting efforts on the ground.

“As California’s Insurance Commissioner, I saw firsthand how destructive wildfires are: lost family members, homes destroyed, and a lifetime of memories turned to ash. Every day, I hoped for new detection tools that would allow us to contain the fires before they got out of hand,” said Rep. Garamendi. “This commonsense bill ensures that firefighters will have every tool at their disposal to fight wildfires and keep our communities safe.”

“Regions like mine understand the existential threat of wildfires, and the need to use every tool at our disposal to detect, track, and prevent fires before they start,” said Rep. Whitesides. “Reauthorizing the FireGuard program will enhance our local, state, and federal wildfire response – especially on the first day a fire starts to spread – and help keep Americans safe.”

“As wildfires become more intense and frequent, we must give fire departments every tool possible to help combat blazes and protect communities,” said Rep. Carbajal. “The bipartisan FireGuard Reauthorization Act will further build on our previous work to leverage Department of Defense capabilities to quickly identify and respond to wildfires.” 

“Colorado is no stranger to wildfires,” said Rep. Crank. “The FireGuard Reauthorization Act will assure our federal, state, and local partners are equipped with detection tools to ensure wildfires are tracked and responded to properly to keep our communities safe.”

The FireGuard Reauthorization Act would:

• Establish new pathways to review and integrate satellite and aerial data from private, nonprofit, and public sector sources to improve wildfire detection.
• Require the Department of Defense to inform Congress about the efficacy of the program, including how accurate detections are compared to final fire perimeters, and how quickly alerts reach local responders.
• Extend the program for five additional years.  

Rep. Garamendi and Whitesides are joined by Reps. Jeff Crank, Jason Crow and Salud Carbajal as original cosponsors.

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