The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has published a new report detailing the progress and implementation gaps of wildfire-related policy introduced throughout the United States during 2025.
Wildfire Legislative Year in Review 2025 evaluates the subject focus and passage rates of bills proposed in Congress and across all 50 states.
This research belongs to the Outthink Wildfire initiative – a program that intends to eliminate catastrophic wildfire disasters by 2050 through risk reduction and coordinated policy.
Christina Rust, Wildfire Policy Specialist at NFPA, authored the report.
NFPA found that nearly 200 bills were introduced at the federal level during 2025.
Fewer than 10 percent of these federal proposals moved past the committee stage.
The Aerial Firefighting Enhancement Act of 2025 was the only federal measure enacted into law.
This specific legislation expands the ability of federal wildfire suppression operations to use commercially available aircraft.
Legislative activity was more extensive at the state level where approximately 500 bills were introduced and more than half of the states enacted at least one law.
Oregon, California, Washington and Hawaii saw the highest volume of introduced bills.
States such as Montana, Maine, North Dakota and Kansas successfully passed every measure they proposed.
Federal proposals often centered on post-disaster recovery and land management.
State legislation prioritized the built environment because jurisdictional control over building regulations and land use resides with state and local authorities.
These state-level measures included zoning requirements, construction standards, defensible space rules and building codes.
Legislation regarding response recorded the highest rate of passage within state legislatures.
These bills manage dispatch systems, equipment provision and firefighter training.
The report notes that response-focused bills advance more easily because they have defined operational scopes and immediate impacts on public safety.
These measures also face fewer regulatory conflicts than environmental or land-use policies.
Legislative activity does not represent the full extent of state engagement with wildfire risk.
New Jersey did not introduce new legislation in 2025 but utilized administrative rulemaking to implement policy changes.
A 2024 update to the New Jersey State Fire Code became enforceable in April 2025 to restrict combustible materials like wood mulch near buildings.
Low passage rates remain a primary constraint on the overall impact of wildfire policy.
Barriers to enactment include funding limits, agency coordination challenges and competing policy priorities.
Insurance market pressures and conflicts between land-use restrictions and development activity also hinder progress.
NFPA indicates that successful policy requires coordination between local, state and federal authorities.
Future implementation frameworks must produce measurable risk reductions to match the increasing volume of legislative proposals.
