Spectrum News 1 SoCal https://spectrumnews1.com/ca/southern-california/politics/2025/06/17/kim–gray-introduce-legislation-to-set-national-standard-response-time-for-wildfires
The pair’s bill, known as the Wildfire Response and Preparedness Act of 2025, will be introduced Tuesday. The legislation would create a national standard for response times when a wildfire breaks out on federal land. Per a copy of the bill obtained by Spectrum News, it would establish a standard response time of 30 minutes and require deployment of fire suppression assets within 3 hours in order to quickly engage a fire. Currently, the national standard for a structure fire is five minutes and 20 seconds, as set by the National Fire Protection Association. But there is no standard currently for wildfire response.
“Timely response to a wildfire can make the difference between life and death,” said Kim in a statement to Spectrum News.
Kim’s district in Orange County includes the Cleveland National Forest Trabuco Ranger District.
“My community knows the devastation of wildfires firsthand as we still recover from last year’s Airport Fire that started in Trabuco Canyon and burned 23,000 acres in Orange and Riverside Counties,” she said. “The WRAP Act will help equip our communities with the manpower and tools needed to contain wildfires and save lives.”
The Airport Fire, which was active for 26 days, was unintentionally sparked in September 2024 when a public work crew was moving large boulders to cordon off dry brush as part of fire-mitigation efforts. Since the fire last year, Kim has been pushing for better mitigation efforts and communication when it comes to battling wildfires. Earlier this month, Kim sent a letter to the Director of the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services alongside fellow Orange County Rep. Lou Correa, D-Calif., to try to obtain retroactive grant support for the county’s emergency services. She is also co-sponsoring a bill with Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Colo., that looks to evaluate and improve how wildfire mitigation efforts are coordinated across federal, state, local, and Tribal lands.
Gray, a freshman Democrat, has also made fire prevention and response a top priority within his first six months in office. He’s listed as a co-sponsor on the Fix Our Forests Act and the Forest Protection and Wildland Firefighter Safety Act of 2025, both of which are bipartisan pieces of legislation.
“Californians are far too familiar with wildfires tearing through our communities, threatening lives, public health and property. The only way to counter increasingly dangerous wildfires is by responding to them as quickly as possible,” said Gray, who serves on the House Agriculture Committee and the House Natural Resources Committee. “I’m proud to introduce this bipartisan, commonsense legislation which would protect our firefighters, save federal lands and prevent catastrophic loss of life and property across the country.”
The bill has been endorsed by the Western Fire Chiefs Association and the United Aerial Firefighters Association. A companion piece of legislation was introduced in the Senate by Sens. Andy Kim, D-N.J., and Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., earlier this year.
The legislation comes as tensions continue to ratchet up between President Donald Trump and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., over the president’s decision to federalize the National Guard in Los Angeles after protests against the Trump administration’s immigration policies. There has still been no public movement on Newsom’s $40 billion aid request for fire relief, and some Democrats worry the funding could be in jeopardy as tensions grow.
Kim rejected the idea of placing conditions on the wildfire aid that California would eventually require when her colleagues floated the notion back in January.
“Californians are already victimized and hurt by the bad policies anyway. We cannot further victimize them,” said Kim at the time, taking a swipe at the state’s Democratic leadership.
“I am of the opinion that we get the aid to the communities that they need, [then] worry about the policies,” she added. “From the federal perspective, that should be our first priority. And I don’t agree 100% with tying this to anything other than what is the first priority right now — bring the aid, bring the resources.”
This week, Kim told Spectrum News in a statement that she hopes both men can rise above the noise. But she also criticized Newsom in the same breath.
“I hope President Trump and Governor Newsom can come together to deliver for the Californians impacted by the terrible fires in our state,” she said in the statement. “The Governor raising tensions will only hurt the ability of both sides to work together. As always, I will continue to work in a bipartisan manner to secure the vital aid Californians need and deserve.”
