Suppression of wildfires

(a) In general With respect to National Forest System lands described in subsection (b), the Secretary, acting through the Chief of the Forest Service— (1) shall— (A) use available resources to carry out wildfire suppression with the purpose of containing wildfires detected on such lands not later than 24 hours after such a wildfire is detected; and (B) carry out wildfire suppression under subparagraph (A) in a manner that is consistent with interagency agreements and applicable standards of firefighter safety; (2) shall not inhibit the suppression efforts of State or local firefighting agencies that are authorized to respond to wildfire on such lands; (3) may only use fire as a resource management tool if the fire is a prescribed fire that complies with applicable law and regulations; (4) may only initiate a backfire or burnout during a wildfire— (A) by order of the responsible incident commander, in consultation with the appropriate Forest Service line officer; or (B) in instances that are necessary to protect the health and safety of firefighting personnel; (5) shall use available resources to control any such initiated backfire or burnout until contained; (6) shall use available resources, including infrared technologies, to ensure prescribed fires are contained; and (7) shall update the prescribed fire policies of the Forest Service to reflect the findings and recommendations included in the report entitled National Prescribed Fire Program Review published in September 2022 by the Forest Service. (b) Limitations on scope For purposes of subsection (a), the National Forest System lands described in this subsection are National Forest System lands that— (1) the National Interagency Fire Center has established as a National Wildland Fire Preparedness Level of 5; (2) contain areas that the U.S. Drought Monitor has rated as having a D2 (severe drought) intensity, D3 (extreme drought) intensity, or D4 (exceptional drought) intensity; or (3) the Secretary, acting through the Chief of the Forest Service, has identified as being located in a fireshed ranked in the top 10 percent of wildfire exposure, as determined using the most recent published models of fireshed risk exposure published by the Forest Service. (c) National Forest System defined In this section, the term National Forest System has the meaning given such term in section 11(a) of the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1609(a)).