Fire Innovation Unit Act

Wildfire technology pilot for communities

If enacted, the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior would set up a deployment and demonstration Pilot Program within 1 year. The pilot would run for seven years after enactment. Private companies, nonprofits, and colleges could apply to demonstrate wildfire prevention, detection, communication, response, and mitigation technologies. Priority areas would include things like remote sensing and tracking, hazardous fuels treatments, dispatch communications, autonomous suppression, grid resilience, and home hardening. Selected applicants would be linked with Federal, State, Tribal, and local fire and land agencies for real-time testing and training. The Secretaries would coordinate multiagency procurement and public-private partnerships, set evaluation criteria focused on effectiveness, scalability, and cost-efficiency, and report to Congress not later than 180 days after establishment and annually thereafter on deployments, costs, outreach, NOAA coordination, and procurement barriers.