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NIST Wildland Fire Communications and Information Dissemination Act

Source: Congress.gov  ·  1,148 words in original text
What This Bill Does
This bill requires the National Institute of Standards and Technology (a government research agency) to study how wildland firefighters and fire managers communicate with each other. The bill also requires research on how to improve and connect existing communication systems so that fire officials can send and receive real-time data, alerts and information safely. ##
Who It Affects
Federal, state, tribal and local wildland firefighters; fire management response officials; member agencies of the National Interagency Fire Center (including the Forest Service, National Park Service, and other government agencies); and technology manufacturers that make communications equipment for wildland fire authorities. ##
Key Provisions
- The Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology must start research within 60 days on communication standards among wildland firefighters and fire management officials at all government levels (Sec. 2(a)(1)(A)) - The Director must research how to improve and connect existing communication systems to send secure real-time data, alerts and advisories between fire officials and wildland firefighters (Sec. 2(a)(1)(B)) - The Director must test equipment, software and other technologies through both live and virtual field testing to measure how fast information spreads and create standards for secure real-time data sharing (Sec. 2(a)(2)) - The Director must develop and publish recommendations to improve communication coordination standards and send these recommendations to the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Science and Technology Policy (Sec. 2(b)(1) and (b)(2)) - The Director must submit a report with recommendations to Congress (Sec. 2(b)(3)(A)) - The Comptroller General of the United States must submit a report to Congress within one year of publication showing whether agencies have followed the recommendations (Sec. 2(b)(3)(B)) ##
What Changes
If this becomes law, the National Institute of Standards and Technology will conduct research on wildland fire communication standards and systems. The agency will test equipment and software to measure information delivery times. The agency will then publish recommendations for improving how fire officials and firefighters communicate with each other. Congress will receive reports on these recommendations and whether agencies have adopted them. ##
Important Definitions
- **Director** means the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology - **Member agency** means agencies including the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Forest Service, United States Fire Administration and the Department of Defense - **Wildland firefighter** means any person who participates in wildland firefighting activities - **Fire management response officials** means regional fire directors, deputy regional fire directors, agency officials who directly oversee fire operations, fire management officers and individuals serving on incident management teams - **Technology manufacturers** means private sector companies that manufacture communications technologies used by federal, state, tribal or local wildland fire authorities ##
Effective Date
Not specified in bill text
Important: This plain English summary was generated by AI and is provided for informational purposes only. It is not legal advice. Always consult the official bill text on Congress.gov or a qualified attorney for legal matters.