Protecting Firefighters and Promoting Innovation Act

Protecting Firefighters and Promoting Innovation Act

This bill directs the President to establish an interagency working group to study the use of unmanned aircraft systems for wildland firefighting.

The working group shall:

• develop standards and best practices for the use of unmanned aircraft systems for wildland firefighting to assist in fire suppression, to provide real-time updates for firefighters, and to reduce the risk of firefighter fatalities due to wildland firefighting and related aircraft accidents;
• identify opportunities to use existing federal unmanned aircraft systems to lower the costs of the use of unmanned aircraft systems for wildland firefighting;
• with respect to the use of unmanned aircraft systems for wildland firefighting, assess opportunities to improve interagency coordination, the efficacy of current technology, and the potential efficacy of emerging technology;
• assess the implications for the Fourth Amendment of any standards, best practices, or recommendations under this Act with respect to the use of unmanned aircraft systems; and
• report to Congress and to the National Wildfire Coordinating Group on the results of its work.