Firefighter Investment and Response Enhancement (FIRE) Act

Summary: Requires the FEMA Director to establish an office to set specific criteria for the selection of grant recipients and administer the grants.
Authorizes appropriations.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Firefighter Investment and Response 
Enhancement (FIRE) Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Increased demands on firefighting personnel have made 
        it difficult for local governments to adequately fund necessary 
        fire safety precautions.
            (2) The Federal government has an obligation to protect the 
        health and safety of the firefighting personnel of the United 
        States and to ensure that they have the financial resources to 
        protect the public.
            (3) The high rates in the United States of death, injury, 
        and property damage caused by fires demonstrates a critical 
        need for Federal investment in support of firefighting 
        personnel.

SEC. 3. GRANT PROGRAM.

    (a) Authority.--In accordance with this Act, the Director of the 
Federal Emergency Management Agency (in this Act referred to as the 
``Director'') may make grants on a competitive basis to fire 
departments for the purpose of protecting the health and safety of the 
public and firefighting personnel against fire and fire-related 
hazards.
    (b) Establishment of Office for Administration of Grants.--Before 
making grants under subsection (a), the Director shall establish an 
office in the Federal Emergency Management Agency to establish spe- 
cific criteria for the selection of grant recipients and to administer 
the grants.
    (c) Use of Grant Funds.--The Director may make a grant under 
subsection (a) only if the applicant for the grant agrees to use grant 
funds for any of the following:
            (1) To hire additional firefighting personnel.
            (2) To train firefighting personnel in firefighting, 
        emergency response, arson prevention and detection, or the 
        handling of hazardous materials, or to train such personnel to 
        provide any of the training described in this paragraph.
            (3) To fund the creation of rapid intervention teams to 
        protect firefighting personnel at the scenes of fires and other 
        emergencies.
            (4) To certify fire inspectors.
            (5) To establish wellness and fitness programs for 
        firefighting personnel to ensure that such personnel can carry 
        out their duties.
            (6) To fund emergency medical services provided by fire 
        departments.
            (7) To acquire additional firefighting vehicles, including 
        fire trucks.
            (8) To acquire additional firefighting equipment, including 
        equipment for communications and monitoring.
            (9) To acquire personal protective equipment required for 
        firefighting personnel by the Occupational Safety and Health 
        Administration, and other personal protective equipment for 
        firefighting personnel.
            (10) To modify fire stations, fire training facilities, and 
        other facilities to protect the health and safety of 
        firefighting personnel.
            (11) To enforce fire codes.
            (12) To fund fire prevention programs.
            (13) To educate the public about arson prevention and 
        detection.
    (d) Matching Requirement.--The Director may make a grant under 
subsection (a) only if the applicant for the grant agrees to match with 
non-Federal funds 10 percent of the funds received under subsection (a) 
in any fiscal year.
    (e) Maintenance of Expenditures--The Director may make a grant 
under subsection (a) only if the applicant for the grant agrees to 
maintain for the fiscal year in which the grant will be received its 
aggregate expenditures for uses described in subsection (c) at or above 
the average level of such expenditures in the 2 fiscal years preceding 
the fiscal year in which the grant will be received.
    (f) Report to the Director.--The Director may make a grant under 
subsection (a) only if the applicant for the grant agrees to submit to 
the Director a report, including a description of how grant funds were 
used, with respect to each fiscal year for which a grant was received.
    (g) Variety of Grant Recipients.--The Director shall ensure that 
grants under subsection (a) for a fiscal year are made to a variety of 
fire departments, including, to the extent that there are eligible 
applicants--
            (1) paid, volunteer, and combination fire departments;
            (2) fire departments located in communities of varying 
        size; and
            (3) fire departments located in urban, suburban, and rural 
        communities.
    (h) Limitation on Firefighting Vehicles.--The Director shall ensure 
that not more than 25 percent of the assistance made available under 
subsection (a) in a fiscal year is used for purposes authorized under 
section (c)(7).
    (i) Limitation on Administrative Costs.--Of amounts made available 
under section 4 for a fiscal year, the Director may use not more than 
10 percent for the administrative costs of carrying out this Act.
    (j) Application.--The Director may make a grant under subsection 
(a) only if the fire department seeking the grant submits to the 
Director an application in such form and containing such information as 
the Director may require.
    (k) Firefighting Personnel Defined.--In this Act the term 
``firefighting personnel'' means individuals, including volunteers, who 
are firefighters, officers of fire departments, or emergency medical 
service personnel of fire departments.

SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    For the purposes of carrying out this Act, there is authorized to 
be appropriated to the Director $1,000,000,000 for each of the fiscal 
years 2000 through 2005.