NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 67

Community wildfire defenses
program: $500 million
For years, communities in the WUI
have been encouraged to develop
community wildfire protection plans,
or CWPPs. These plans help communities
plot a course of initiatives, from
fuel mitigation to public education, to
reduce their wildfire risk. While all of
that is well and good, Steinberg said,
the reality was that communities would
often come up with workable plans
only to learn that money wasn't available
to support them.
Provisions in the new infrastructure
bill allocated $500 million to help communities
develop CWPPs and, critically,
to fund projects in existing CWPPs that
may have been collecting dust on a
shelf. Each grant can be up to $10 million.
" This is a big potential infusion to
communities, " Housewright said.
To get the money, however, communities
must address a couple of
stipulations. Their plan cannot be more
than 10 years old and, if they are located
in the continental US, the communities
must have " adopted an ordinance or regulation
that requires the construction of
new roofs on buildings to adhere to the
standards that are similar to, or more
stringent than, the roof construction
standards established by the National
Fire Protection Association, or an applicable
model building code established
by the International Code Council, "
according to language in the bill.
Since the bill's language is vague,
Steinberg said, she has already heard
from US Forest Service officials with
questions about how to address the
roofing provision. She said NFPA will
be directing officials to NFPA 1140,
Standard for Wildland Fire Protection,
specifically Chapter 25, which deals
with building design, location, and construction.
The standard mandates that
roof coverings need to be rated Class A
(noncombustible) and meet some additional
provisions.
Creating a new Wildfire Mitigation
and Management Commission
In addition to allocating funds, the infrastructure
bill establishes a new federal
commission comprised of 27 members-nine
from federal departments
and 18 non-federal members, including
representatives from state, tribal, county,
and municipal governments, as well as
non-governmental stakeholders from
private industry. The group will meet
monthly and is tasked with " recommending
federal policies and strategies to more
" I would say that it is a
significant investment,
but one thing to watch ...
is if there are future bills
[providing] additional
funds. Are they treating
this as a base to add to,
or are they going to say
we don't need to add any
more money to it?
How big a bump this
represents will depend on
whether this current bill is
the whole potato. "
effectively prevent, mitigate, suppress
and manage wildland fires, including
rehabilitating land affected from wildland
fires, " according to a press release
from the Federal Emergency Management
Agency.
According to timelines in the bill,
commission members were to be named
in January, and the group's first meeting
was to occur by the middle of February.
NFPA is pursuing membership on the
commission, which would dovetail with
the organization's new initiative Outthink
Wildfire, a comprehensive strategy
focused on promoting policy actions in
all levels of government, and with the
stated goal of ending the destruction of
communities by wildfire in 30 years.
By February 2023, the new commission
is expected to produce a report to
Congress with its recommendations on
several topics. These include recommendations
for wildfire management and
suppression, strategies for short- and
long-term forest management, ways to
Following the Money
The Infrastructure Investment
and Jobs Act includes $3.37 billion
in wildfire-related spending.
Here's where it's going.
$600 million
Federal wildland firefighter salaries
and expenses
$500 million
Mechanical thinning and timber
harvesting
$500 million
Community wildfire defense grants
$500 million
Planning and conducting
prescribed fires
$500 million
Installing fuel breaks
$200 million
Employing crews to modify and
remove vegetation on federal land
$200 million
Post-fire restoration activities
$100 million
Preplanning workshops, firefighter
workforce training
$100 million
Planning and implementing projects
under the Collaborative Forest
Landscape Restoration Program
$50 million
Pilot program for slip-on tanker units
for pickup trucks
$30 million
Funds for states and local governments
to establish and maintain
reverse 911 communication systems
$20 million
Data mapping for wildfire prevention
treatments
$20 million
Joint Fire Science Program research
$20 million
Satellite wildfire detection
$10 million
Procurement and placement of
wildfire detection and monitoring
equipment
$10 million
Radio interoperability
$8 million
Firewood bank assistance
$1.2 million
At-risk wildfire mapping
NFPA .ORG/JOURNAL * NFPA JOURNAL | 67
http://nfpa.org/journal
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - Spring 2022
