This bill aims to make communities safer before, during, and after wildfires. It speeds up disaster aid, improves smoke warnings and air quality information, builds up-to-date fire risk maps, and supports firefighters and their families.

• Who is affected: people in wildfire-prone areas who need timely smoke alerts ; local, state, and Tribal governments seeking grants or aid ; owners of fire-damaged forest land and small businesses applying for recovery help ; wildland firefighters and their families ; and workers exposed to wildfire smoke on the job.
• What changes: faster help—certain wildfire-related grants, loans, and debris-removal aid must be paid within 90 days ; broader disaster coverage—a wildfire declaration can also cover later hazards like landslides or floods for up to three years after the fire ; cleaner air info—a national smoke monitoring and county-level alert system (including Wireless Emergency Alerts) with more sensors and better use of satellites and existing tools ; people and training—new college/training grants and a fire leaders academy, plus flexibility for firefighters to keep retirement benefits when changing jobs or job-sharing with Tribal governments, and a casualty assistance program for families after critical injury or death (notifications, travel reimbursement, case management, and help finding benefits) ; easier community grants—agencies must simplify applications and offer more help to applicants ; better maps and data—agencies will build dynamic, regularly updated fire risk maps and stand up a joint office and public data center to share tools and information .
• When: within 90 days of enactment, agencies must start simplifying wildfire grant programs ; within 1 year, the public smoke alert system and key FEMA updates are due ; within 2 years, a worker health risk assessment on wildfire smoke must be completed ; within 3 years, new fire risk maps must be ready ; and certain wildfire aid and loans must be paid within 90 days once approved or when a fire ends, as specified.