Lummis Introduces Bipartisan Legislation to Improve Wildfire Response

U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ) introduced bipartisan legislation which would eliminate federal regulations and allow wildfire response aircraft, like planes and helicopters leased by the state of Wyoming or federal agencies, to transport wildland firefighters. Current Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations allow leased aircraft to be used for fire suppression operations, such as water drops, but not to transport fire crews.

Senator Lummis said when wildfires break out in Wyoming, it is essential that personnel are deployed as quickly and efficiently as possible and the Wildfire Response Aviation Modernization and Safety Act will allow us to use every safe aircraft at our disposal to get firefighters to wildfire areas to save lives, homes and property.

A media release from the Senator’s Office states that the legislation is part of Senator Lummis’ continuing effort to ensure that burdensome government regulations do not get in the way of protecting Wyoming from the deadly threat of wildfires. In March, Senator Lummis introduced the Forest Protection and Wildland Firefighter Safety Act of 2023, which seeks to protect firefighters, communities and property in Wyoming from the devastating impacts of wildfires by creating a Clean Water Act exemption for federal, state, local and tribal firefighting agencies to use fire retardant on fires.