Executive Order 13728: Wildland-Urban Interface Federal Risk Mitigation
President: Barack Obama
Required wildfire-resistant design and site standards for certain federal buildings in the wildland–urban interface.
Status: In effect. Is Executive Order 13728 still in effect? Yes. Executive Order 13728's federal-building wildfire-risk requirements remain unrevoked in the Federal Register disposition table. The U.S. Fire Administration continues to publish its implementation guidelines among official wildfire-risk resources. Sources: Office of the Federal Register: current 2016 executive order disposition table; Executive Order 13728: signed text; U.S. Fire Administration: wildfire-risk implementation resources.
What does Executive Order 13728 do?
EO 13728 directs agencies building, altering, leasing or financing qualifying federal facilities in wildfire-prone wildland–urban interface areas to apply location-specific building and site standards. It also requires evaluation of existing federal buildings and encourages community wildfire planning. The order remains unrevoked, and the US Fire Administration continued linking its implementation guidelines in 2025.
Before and after
Before the order
Federal agencies lacked one government-wide minimum framework for WUI building and site risk.
After the order
Covered projects incorporated wildfire-resistant codes, standards and location assessment.
Who had to do what
| Agency / office | Action | Timing / position |
|---|---|---|
| Federal agencies | Apply standards to covered buildings and leases | Continuing |
| Agriculture and Homeland Security | Maintain mapping and technical guidance | Continuing |
| GSA and agencies | Evaluate existing property and assistance programs | Continuing |
What happened next
EO 13728 established the standard.
Legal and source detail
How it works legally
Federal property statutes and wildfire authorities support the order. State and local codes, program law and appropriations also govern projects.
Sources by type
If a source is unavailable, first check the cited publisher or another official repository. The cited publisher remains the authority.
Primary and official sources
Orders, laws, court records and official implementation material.
- US Fire Administration — assess WUI risk (opens in a new tab) Official record
- NIST — WUI fire research (opens in a new tab) Official record
How we checked this
Last checked against the sources above on September 15, 2026. How we research →