On September 29, the Senate unanimously passed the Wildfire Emissions Prevention Act of 2026 (S.5045), a bipartisan bill to encourage the use of prescribed fire by reducing regulatory burdens under the Clean Air Act (CAA).
Wildfires are burning hotter and more frequently than ever. Yet one of the best tools to prevent them, prescribed and managed fire, is still underused. Prescribed fires, the controlled application of fire, can dramatically reduce wildfire risk by clearing dried brush and reducing the buildup of hazardous fuels that increase the intensity and severity of a wildfire. Prescribed burns can both be cheaper—costing as little as $11/acre compared to $2,000/acre for mechanical thinning—and contribute to forest health by mimicking the beneficial ecological effects of fire. Despite wide agreement on its value, beneficial fire remains boxed in by a number of obstacles, including rigid air quality regulations.
States are responsible for meeting and maintaining federally-set national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS). Prescribed fire creates smoke, which can potentially exceed NAAQS. The CAA exempts exceptional events — defined as natural or human activities that are “not reasonably controllable or preventable” and “unlikely to recur at a particular location” — like prescribed burns. However, these exemptions must go through a timely EPA approval process. Local regulators may prefer to avoid the lengthy paperwork and instead issue burn bans or deny smoke management permit requests. And because burn days are declared on a daily basis, burners also run the risk of starting a burn and then having to shut it down if air quality impacts change.
The Wildfire Emissions Prevention Act seeks to change this by explicitly listing prescribed fire as an exceptional event and streamlining the process for EPA approval. The bill would also require EPA to propose new rules to “reduce the burden and cost for States to demonstrate an exceptional event,” including requiring EPA to act on a state petition within 1 year. In addition to changes to the CAA, the bill would create a new grant program “for the assessment, prevention, control, or abatement of wildfire smoke hazards in community buildings.”
The Wildfire Emissions Prevention Act is introduced by Sen. Curits (R-UT) and sponsored by Sens. Merkley (D-OR), Capito (R-WV), Padilla (D-CA), Boozman (R-AR), and Kelly (D-AZ). The bill now faces conference with the House, which passed a similar bipartisan bill on April 22. The Fire Improvement and Reforming Exceptional Events (FIRE) Act, introduced by Rep. Evans (R-CO), would further expand the list of exceptional events to include other weather events like droughts, heat waves and stagnant air masses.
