Wildfire Aerial Response Safety Act

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 6618, the Wildfire Aerial Response Safety Act, as amended, bipartisan legislation introduced by my good friend from Oregon and fellow freshman, Representative Bynum, Representative Neguse from Colorado, and Representatives Crane and Ciscomani from Arizona.

The devastating impacts of wildfires are seen far too often across this country, destroying local communities and the livelihoods of many of our constituents. According to the National Interagency Fire Center, there were at least 34 drone incursions into active wildfire suppression areas last year. Of those 34, 29 incursions forced aerial firefighting efforts to be grounded and significantly delayed critical response efforts.

Most notably, as my colleague Representative Taylor just mentioned, a drone actually struck a Canadian Super Scooper plane during last year's catastrophic wildfires in southern California.

Whether these drone disruptions are intentionally malicious or the result of uninformed operators, they are a costly nuisance to Federal wildfire suppression efforts and needlessly risk the lives of first responders and law enforcement, both those in the air and those on the ground. These brave women and men put their lives on the line to fight dangerous fires and should not have to deal with drone incursions while doing their jobs.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 6618 requires the FAA to evaluate the number and impact of drone incursions over the previous 5 years, including any cost to the Federal Government, the effectiveness of educational public outreach, and deploying approved counter-UAS systems to detect and mitigate against drone interference.

This study and the recommendations will be key in establishing necessary safeguards against drone incursions during wildfire suppression activities. With the growing number and severity of wildfires across the country, we cannot afford to let these dangerous drone incursions go unabated, lest we run the risk of distracting or endangering our firefighters and first responders.

These brave individuals put their lives on the line for us, and today, they need our assistance. This is the first step to delivering it.

Mr. Speaker, I support this legislation.

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Mr. FIGURES. Bynum).

Mr. Speaker, we must do everything that we can to help our firefighters and first responders battling wildfires. We know drone use is becoming more prolific. With that, we are seeing increased risks to the efforts to battle these fires. Sometimes it is out of curiosity. Sometimes it is out of carelessness or recklessness. Sometimes it is just pure stupidity.

At the end of the day, we have an obligation in this House to do everything that we can to protect our firefighters and make sure that they are equipped with the resources and the laws that they need to be able to do their jobs effectively.

That is why I support H.R. 6618, and I urge my colleagues to do the same.

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