Interagency Data Collaboration Environment (Report Recommendation 107)

(a) Expansion of information system Not later than a 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the United States Fire Administration shall expand the National Emergency Response Information System to include real-time information and analytics tools relating to prescribed fires as well as wildfires that do not impact structures and infrastructure. The expansion of this system shall be compatible with, and shared with, existing wildland fire information collection at the Fire Environment Center established under section 405. (b) Wildfire Digital Data Center (1) Creation The Administrator of the United States Fire Administration shall create a data center to be known as the Wildfire Digital Data Center. The Wildfire Digital Data Center shall be a public, government, scientific research data catalog and repository available to assist the wildfire communities research and share data. (2) Data and modeling collaboration environment The Wildfire Digital Data Center shall provide a data and modeling collaboration environment for researchers across the wildfire community to engage with data across agencies and disciplines. (3) Open access The Administrator shall ensure that the Wildfire Digital Data Center is in compliance with the guidance on public access policies as specified in the Memorandum from the Office of Science and Technology Policy of the Executive Office of the President that was issued on August 25, 2022. (4) Information to be included in Wildfire Digital Data Center repository The Wildfire Digital Data Center shall include in its repository information on the following areas: (A) Outcomes and impacts of wildfire and associated management actions. (B) Real-time data on new fire starts. (C) The effectiveness of wildfire risk mitigation measures. (D) Public health research related to wildland fire and fires in the built environment. (5) Information to be included on website The Administrator of the United States Fire Administration shall coordinate with the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Chief of the Forest Service, to include on the publicly accessible website of the Wildfire Digital Data Center— (A) information on postwildfire impacts and State and Federal programs and funding opportunities to address such impacts; (B) State and Federal best practices relating to the short- and long-term mitigation of wildfire; and (C) with respect to wildfire, information on ecological recovery, assessment science, and State and Federal emergency declaration processes. (6) Rule of construction Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect the ownership of individual agencies over their data sources. (c) Findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable requirement (1) Access requirement for U.S. Department of the Interior Library along with the National Emergency Training Center Library and National Forest Service Library Through the Wildfire Digital Data Center, the U.S. Department of the Interior Library along with the National Emergency Training Center Library and National Forest Service Library shall provide services to make federally funded wildland and structural fire research data systems and data products findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR). (2) The services required by subparagraph (A) shall be integrated with the National Emergency Response Information System of the United States Fire Administration to better collect data and model the built environment. (d) Authorization of appropriations There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section $15,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2035.