Empowering Commonsense Wildfire Prevention and Response
Directs the Departments of Interior and Agriculture to consolidate their wildfire programs, build a technology roadmap for AI-assisted firefighting, and review federal rules that slow prescribed burns, retardant use, and power-line vegetation management.
Establishes a broad set of deadlines across multiple agencies to modernize wildfire prevention and response tools, including declassifying historical satellite data and evaluating surplus military aircraft sales to states and localities.
What this order does
What it orders
The order directs the Secretaries of Interior and Agriculture to consolidate their wildland fire programs within 90 days, strengthen partnerships and mutual aid agreements with states, tribes, and local governments, and develop a technology roadmap — including AI, data sharing, and improved ignition-detection tools — within 180 days. It also requires EPA to consider modifying rules that restrict prescribed burns and fire retardant use, directs Interior, Agriculture, Energy, and FERC to consider rulemaking on reducing wildfire ignition risks from power transmission infrastructure, and instructs the Attorney General to review wildfire-related litigation involving electrical utilities.
It further directs the Secretary of Defense to identify and declassify historical satellite datasets useful for wildfire modeling within 120 days, and within 210 days to evaluate selling excess military aircraft and parts to support firefighting. Agencies must identify regulatory barriers to wildfire prevention and response, with any resulting rulemaking reflected in the Fall 2025 Unified Regulatory Agenda. The order explicitly does not create any enforceable rights and is subject to the availability of appropriations.
Who it affects
Federal land management and firefighting agencies, state and local governments, tribal communities, electrical utility companies, wildfire technology developers, and communities in wildfire-prone regions across the country — particularly those dependent on public lands management and power grid infrastructure.
Why it matters
State and local firefighters may gain access to better technology, declassified satellite data, and surplus military aircraft. Utilities face potential new federal rules on vegetation management near transmission lines. Communities in fire-prone areas could see faster federal-local coordination and fewer regulatory barriers to prescribed burns.
What must happen and when
How the order is supposed to work
Most directives require agencies to "consider" modifying rules or initiating rulemaking rather than imposing changes directly, meaning actual regulatory impact depends on future agency decisions. The Interior and Agriculture Secretaries anchor implementation across nearly every section, with consultation roles for DHS, Commerce, Defense, EPA, and FERC. Deliverables flow in tiers — 90-day partnership and consolidation actions, 120-day satellite declassification, 180-day technology roadmap and rule identification, and 210-day aircraft evaluation — but no reporting mechanism to OMB or the President is specified for missed deadlines.
Actions and deadlines
- Consolidate wildland fire programs across Interior and Agriculture for maximum efficiency
- Expand partnerships and mutual aid agreements empowering federal, state, local, and tribal wildfire response
- Develop and expand measures to incentivize responsible land management and wildfire prevention at state and local levels
- Consider modifying or rescinding EPA rules that impede use of preventative prescribed fires
- Consider modifying or rescinding federal rules hindering appropriate use of wildfire retardant
- Consider promoting innovative uses of woody biomass and forest products to reduce fuel loads
- Consider initiating rulemaking on best practices to reduce wildfire ignition risk from the bulk-power system
- Review pending wildfire-related litigation involving electrical utilities to align Department of Justice positions with this order
- Identify, declassify, and make publicly available historical satellite datasets for wildfire prediction and evaluation
- Develop a comprehensive technology roadmap to increase wildfire firefighting capabilities at state and local levels
- Promote a risk-informed approach and develop policies removing barriers to wildfire prevention and response
- Identify rules impeding wildfire prevention, detection, or response and consider eliminating or revising them for the Fall 2025 Unified Regulatory Agenda
- Develop performance metrics for wildfire response for inclusion in strategic and annual performance plans
- Evaluate and prioritize sale of excess military aircraft and parts to support wildfire mitigation and response