Determining the Best Wildfire Strategy

Timely here in the state of California, a wildfire technology bill is gathering strong bipartisan support in the U.S. House. The legislation was approved by the House on Wednesday. The bill, from California’s own, Representative David Valadao, could update technology used to fight wildfires from the sky.

Specifically we’re talking about H.R. 836, the Emergency Wildfire Fighting Technology Act of 2025. The legislation aims to evaluate the firefighting system known as the Container Aerial Firefighting System (CAFFS). If the bill becomes law, the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior, in consultation with the National Interagency Aviation Committee and the Interagency Airtanker Board, would jointly conduct an evaluation of the system to assess its use in mitigation and suppression of wildfires. That evaluation would be mandated to begin no later than 90 days after the date the legislation becomes law with a report from the evaluation due no later than 120 after the enactment.

The overarching goal of the bill is to assess whether the CAFFS is an effective tool for combating wildfires.