# Plain Language Summary of H.R. 6903

This bill requires the U.S. Forest Service to prioritize putting out wildfires on national forests as quickly as possible. Specifically, the Forest Service must use all available resources to extinguish any wildfire detected on National Forest System lands within 24 hours of discovery. The bill also requires the Forest Service to immediately stop any prescribed fire (a controlled fire intentionally set by forest managers) if it starts spreading beyond its intended boundaries.

The bill places some important restrictions on how the Forest Service can manage fires. It says the Forest Service can only use fire as a management tool through carefully planned prescribed burns that follow all applicable laws and regulations. If firefighters need to use backfires or burnouts (fires set to stop an advancing wildfire), only the incident commander in charge can authorize them, and the Forest Service must fully extinguish these fires once they're no longer needed. The bill also makes clear that state and local firefighting agencies can continue helping fight wildfires on national forests without the Forest Service getting in their way.

The bill includes a legal enforcement mechanism: if someone believes the Forest Service violated the rules about backfires or burnouts, they can sue the federal government in court to recover actual damages. This gives citizens a way to hold the agency accountable if they believe these fire-fighting practices caused them harm. Overall, the bill aims to shift Forest Service priorities toward faster wildfire suppression while maintaining stricter control over how fires are used as management tools.

To require the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out activities to suppress wildfires, and for other purposes.

McClintock, Tom

This bill sets out requirements for wildfire suppression and management activities carried out by the Forest Service. Within 24 hours of detecting a wildfire on Forest Service land, the service must use (to the maximum extent practicable) all available resources to extinguish the wildfire. Additionally, the service may not inhibit the firefighting activities of state and local agencies that are authorized to respond to wildfires on Forest Service land. Further, the service may not initiate a backfire or burnout as part of a fire suppression strategy unless ordered by the responsible incident commander and must control any initiated fire until it is extinguished. An individual who is harmed by an improperly initiated or controlled backfire or burnout may sue the United States. The bill also limits the service's use of prescribed fires (i.e., the controlled application of fire by a team of experts under specified weather conditions to restore health to ecosystems that depend on fire). The service must comply with all applicable laws and regulations concerning prescribed fires and must immediately suppress (to the maximum extent practicable) a prescribed fire that exceeds its prescription.