Firefighters, conservation groups, business leaders and local governments call for action to protect communities and reduce mounting wildfire costs
WASHINGTON – Alliance for Wildfire Resilience Action led more than 45 organizations, including The Nature Conservancy, Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, Edison Electric Institute and American Property Casualty Insurance Association, in urging Congress to pass the bipartisan Fix Our Forests Act before the end of the year.
The letter was sent to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, as well as leaders of the House Natural Resources Committee and Senate Agriculture Committee.
“We brought this coalition together around a shared goal of safer communities, healthier forests and fewer families losing their homes to wildfire,” said Tyson Bertone-Riggs of Alliance for Wildfire Resilience Action. “Protecting lives, homes and livelihoods is in all of our interests. Congress has a bipartisan path forward to reduce the risk of wildfire, and it’s time to act.”
In the letter, the coalition urged Congress to act before the wildfire crisis claims more lives and destroys more communities, citing more than 66,000 fires that have burned over 9 million acres in 2026 and the deaths of 17 wildland firefighters in the line of duty.
“Reducing that risk takes planning and sustained work before a fire starts,” the organizations wrote. “Delaying action leaves our firefighters, land managers, and communities without the proper tools they need. It is clear that the wildfire crisis isn’t waiting and the next destructive wildfire can spark at any time. Congress must act now to protect communities, first responders, and forest health.”
The Fix Our Forests Act would improve real-time decision-making, streamline work to reduce flammable vegetation where communities meet wildlands, expand risk reduction through prescribed fire and help communities prepare for wildfire. The coalition emphasized that these measures can help avoid costs and losses while supporting long-term economic growth.
Additional signatories include the International Association of Fire Chiefs, Western Fire Chiefs Association, Grassroots Wildland Firefighters, American Forests, National Association of State Foresters, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Read the full letter HERE.