FEMA’s U.S. Fire Administration and Moore Foundation’s Wildfire Resilience Initiative Sign MOU at the White House

Washington D.C., October 17, 2024 – The U.S. Fire Administration (USFA), a component of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the Wildfire Resilience Initiative of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation signed a Memorandum of Understanding, formalizing a new partnership around fire research, innovation, and community resilience.

Representing their organizations, Dr. Lori Moore-Merrell, U.S. Fire Administrator, and Genevieve Biggs, program director for the Wildfire Resilience Initiative, signed the agreement at the White House, spotlighting a shared interest in cooperation and collaboration. The White House FireTech Innovation Roundtable followed the signing and focused on bringing together industry leaders, innovators, scientists, and agency experts to discuss fire resilience innovations and the barriers those innovations face in getting to market and scale.

USFA is the nation’s lead federal agency for fire incident data collection, public fire safety education, fire research, and fire service training, and the Moore Foundation’s Wildfire Resilience Initiative is a 12-year philanthropic effort to support a transformation in the role that fire plays and is perceived to play in Western North America. Together, they will share and advance knowledge, opportunities, lessons, and best practices regarding fire detection, risk assessment, fire spread prediction modeling, fuels mitigation, effective response, and technology innovations developed by or supported by the USFA or the Moore Foundation. The partnership reflects a shared commitment to addressing extreme wildfire events as a threat to national security and to enabling ecologically beneficial fire for fire-adapted ecosystems by combining the expertise of a federal agency with the strategic grantmaking of a philanthropic entity.

“The current impact of wildfire on our nation, particularly in the West, requires an all-hands approach to change,” said Dr. Lori Moore-Merrell. “Therefore, USFA is honored to partner with one of the most passionate change agents in the wildfire arena. The Moore Foundation shares our vision for continued learning that will enable intervention to stop the scourge of wildfire on communities.”

Areas of cooperation for USFA and Moore will include:

• Identifying opportunities to reduce the impact of extreme wildfire on natural resources and state and local communities and tribal areas by deepening our understanding of wildfire and advancing innovative technologies.
• Raising awareness of the challenges and opportunities faced by career and volunteer firefighters across the U.S.
• Disseminating novel and technical solutions enables the fire service to predict, detect, mitigate, prepare for, respond to, contain, and manage wildfires more safely and effectively in the wildfire urban interface (WUI) and communities where fire moves quickly.
• Facilitating increased engagement and convening around fire resilience topics and fostering public-private partnerships.

By deepening understanding, advancing innovation, raising awareness, enabling improved fire management, and facilitating increased engagement and convening, the USFA and Moore Foundation are united to increase wildfire resilience and mitigate the impact of extreme wildfires on communities, ecosystems, and the fire service.

“We are seeing that extreme wildfire events are on the rise, across Western North America and around the world,” remarked Biggs. “They represent a big challenge for communities and natural resources, but we also believe it’s a challenge we can collectively overcome if we work together. We are deeply grateful for Dr. Lori Moore-Merrell’s leadership and for the commitment we share with the US Fire Administration to a safer, more resilient future, where communities are less vulnerable to catastrophic wildfire events and can co-exist—even thrive—with beneficial fire in our fire-dependent landscapes.”

About the U.S. Fire Administration

As a component of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the USFA’s primary mission is to support and strengthen fire and emergency medical services (EMS) and stakeholders to prepare for, prevent, mitigate, and respond to all hazards including the impacts of climate change-driven wildfire. Through stakeholder engagement and public-private partnerships, the USFA strengthens its capability and capacity to meet its mission and contribute to local community risk reduction practices and emergency response effectiveness, build resilient communities by implementing and enforcing science-based building codes and standards, and promote firefighter health, safety, and wellbeing.

About the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation was established to create positive outcomes for future generations. In pursuit of that vision, the foundation advances scientific discovery, environmental conservation, and the special character of the San Francisco Bay Area. The Foundation’s Wildfire Resilience Initiative aims to support a transformation in the role that fire plays and is perceived to play in Western North America from an unwanted, destructive threat to a vital element in our landscapes.