WASHINGTON – The Pentagon has agreed to temporarily extend a program that gives wildland firefighters access to military satellite data, according to Rep. Adam B. Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
The move follows weeks of pressure from members of Congress as the initiative’s expiration date neared.
The program, called FireGuard, is popular among federal and state fire commanders in the West, who have come to rely on military satellite imagery to help them make decisions about strategy and evacuations.
It was to end on Sept. 30, just as California’s wildfire season typically becomes more active, and the Pentagon was reluctant to renew it.
Concerned about what the program’s lapse would mean for firefighters, 31 Democrats from California wrote to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin earlier this month, demanding that the Defense Department commit to continuing FireGuard on a permanent basis.
