FIRE Act of 2025

This bill tells NOAA to set up and keep programs that better predict and detect wildfires so people get earlier, clearer warnings. It focuses on forecasting how fires grow and spread, tracking where smoke will go, improving public alerts, and spotting fires sooner. The work can include advanced satellite tools, fuel‑moisture and fire‑danger maps, models that connect weather and fire behavior, links from climate predictions to land management choices, and better observations in hard‑to‑reach areas.

It also requires NOAA to create one or more “weather research testbeds” within 180 days of the law taking effect, working with industry and universities, to test and improve these tools. The bill says this effort can’t pull resources from NOAA’s existing cooperative institutes and authorizes $15 million for FY2026 to fund it. Testbeds are collaborative spaces where researchers and forecasters try out new observation systems and data methods to improve weather services for the public .

• Who is affected: Communities in wildfire‑prone areas, firefighters and emergency managers, and people sensitive to smoke and air quality.
• What changes: NOAA will build better wildfire forecasts and detection tools, set up research testbeds, and improve smoke and warning information; it can’t shift resources away from existing institutes; $15 million is authorized for FY2026.
• When: Testbeds must be started within 180 days after the law is enacted; funding applies to FY2026.