59–010 

Calendar No. 229 

110TH CONGRESS REPORT " ! SENATE 1st Session 110–99 

WILDLAND FIREFIGHTER SAFETY ACT OF 2007 

JUNE 26, 2007.—Ordered to be printed 

Mr. BINGAMAN, from the Committee on Energy and Natural 

Resources, submitted the following 

R E P O R T 

[To accompany S. 1152] 

The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was 

referred the bill (S. 1152) to promote wildland firefighter safety, 

having considered the same, reports favorably thereon with an 

amendment and recommends that the bill, as amended, do pass. 

The amendment is as follows: 

Strike section 1 and insert the following: 

‘‘SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

‘‘This Act may be cited as the ‘Wildland Fire Safety and 

Transparency Act of 2007’.’’. 

PURPOSE OF THE MEASURE

The purpose of S. 1152 is to promote wildland firefighter safety 

and facilitate agency and congressional oversight of the Federal 

agencies’ wildland firefighter safety practices and policies. 

BACKGROUND AND NEED

Wildland firefighting has long been a dangerous activity. For example, the National Wildfire Coordinating Group reports 945 fatalities resulting from wildland fire accidents since 1910. In recent 

years, wildfire behavior has become more extreme, the wildlandurban interface has grown rapidly, and the number and size of 

wildfires has increased significantly. Despite improvements in wildfire fighting technologies, these and other factors combine to make 

wildland firefighting more complex today than ever before. 

Between 1910 and the late 1970s and early 1980s, the number 

of Federal wildland fire fatalities was trending downward, but that 

trend has reversed, with the number of Federal fatalities slowly inVerDate Aug 31 2005 07:25 Jun 29, 2007 Jkt 059010 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6659 Sfmt 6602 E:\HR\OC\SR099.XXX SR099

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creasing since then. The deaths of fourteen Forest Service firefighters on Storm King Mountain in 1994, four in the Thirtymile 

Fire in 2001, two in the Cramer Fire in 2003, five in the Esperanza 

Fire in 2006, and many others, particularly highlight the need for 

continual improvement in and oversight of safety policies and practices. 

A number of recent reports have identified serious concerns with 

the agencies’ safety practices. The Occupational Safety and Health 

Administration found ‘‘serious and willful’’ violations of safety 

standards by the Forest Service in its investigation of Thirtymile 

Fire fatalities, noting that a number of them were similar to failures which occurred at the Storm King Mountain fire. It also found 

willful, serious and repeated violations of safety regulations during 

its investigation of the Cramer Fire. 

The agencies’ growing reliance on contract wildfire fighting crews 

also has presented safety challenges. A report by the Department 

of Agriculture’s Office of Inspector General (Report No. 08601–42–

SF, March 2006) identified significant problems with oversight and 

administration of the Forest Service contracts and agreements for 

these private crews. The report’s ‘‘findings confirm the need to address serious control weaknesses with respect to the firefighting 

contract crews,’’ which led the Inspector General to recommend, 

among other things, improving oversight of contract crews’ qualifications and training. 

These and other reports highlight the need for Congress and the 

Federal agencies to improve oversight in the area of wildfire safety. 

The agencies indicated at a recent Committee oversight hearing on 

wildfire that they are working on making some major changes to 

their training and other safety programs, which further highlights 

the need for Congress to keep abreast of the agencies’ wildfire safety program. 

Ensuring timely and sufficient information on the agencies’ safety practices and policies is critical to that effort. For example, the 

Federal agencies currently do not specifically track the portion of 

their wildfire-related funding that is expended for wildland firefighter safety and training, making oversight of safety program 

funding difficult. The annual report to Congress required by S. 

1152 will help to ensure that information that is critical to improving oversight is available. 

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

S. 1152 was introduced by Senator Cantwell on April 18, 2007. 

A similar bill, S. 906, was introduced by Senator Cantwell and Senator Murray on April 26, 2005. The Subcommittee on Public Lands 

and Forests held a hearing on S. 906 on May 10, 2006 (S. Hrg. 

109–518). 

COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION

The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in an 

open business session on May 23, 2007, by voice vote of a quorum 

present, recommends that the Senate pass S. 1152, if amended as 

described herein. 


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COMMITTEE AMENDMENT

During the consideration of S. 1152, the Committee adopted an 

amendment to the short title. 

SUMMARY OF THE MEASURE

S. 1152 requires the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior 

to jointly submit to Congress an annual report on their agencies’

wildland firefighter safety practices and policies, including training 

programs and other safety-related activities for fire suppression, 

prescribed burning, and wildland fire use. The report will describe 

wildland firefighter safety practices and policies, statistics and 

trend analyses, estimates of expenditures on safety practices, the 

status of implementing recommendations to improve safety, and 

specific information relating to wildland firefighters that are utilized pursuant to a Federal contract (such as the Forest Service’s 

National Firefighter Crew Contract) or agreement (such as the Pacific Northwest Wildfire Coordinating Group’s Interagency Firefighting Crew Agreement). The definition of ‘‘wildland firefighter’’

makes clear that the report must address safety practices not only 

for Federal firefighters directly employed by the agencies, but also 

any other firefighters—including contractors and volunteers—that 

participate in any wildland firefighting activities under the direction of the Federal agencies. 

COST AND BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS

The following estimate of costs of this measure has been provided 

by the Congressional Budget Office: 

S. 1152—Wildland Fire Safety and Transparency Act of 2007 

S. 1152 would direct the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior to submit an annual report regarding the wildland fire safety 

practices of designated agencies, such as the Forest Service and the 

Bureau of Land Management. The reports would provide information on policies, statistics, trends, and progress made on wildland 

fire safety. 

Based on information provided by the affected agencies and assuming appropriation of the necessary amounts, CBO estimates 

that implementing S. 1152 would cost $2 million over the 2008–

2012 period. This amount would be spent on data collection and report preparation expenses over the five-year period. Enacting this 

legislation would not affect revenues or direct spending. 

The legislation contains no private-sector or intergovernmental 

mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and 

would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal governments. 

The CBO staff contacts for this estimate are Tyler Kruzich and 

David Reynolds. The estimate was approved by Peter H. Fontaine, 

Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Analysis. 

REGULATORY IMPACT EVALUATION

In compliance with paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of the Standing 

Rules of the Senate, the Committee makes the following evaluation 

of the regulatory impact which would be incurred in carrying out 

S. 1152. 


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The bill is not a regulatory measure in the sense of imposing 

Government-established standards or significant economic responsibilities on private individuals and businesses. 

No personal information would be collected in administering the 

program. Therefore, there would be no impact on personal privacy. 

Little additional paperwork would result from the enactment of S. 

1152. 

EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS

Because S. 1152 is similar to legislation considered by the Committee in the 109th Congress, the Committee did not request Executive Agency views on S. 1152. The views of the Administration 

were included in testimony received by the Committee at a hearing 

on S. 906 on May 10, 2006. 

STATEMENT OF JOEL HOLTROP, DEPUTY CHIEF FOR NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM, FOREST SERVICE, DEPARTMENT

OF AGRICULTURE

Mr. Chairman and members of the Subcommittee: 

Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you 

today to provide the Department’s views on S. 906—

Wildland Firefighter Safety Act of 2005. * * * I am Joel 

Holtrop, Deputy Chief for the National Forest System, 

USDA Forest Service. 

S. 906 Wildland Firefighter Safety Act 

Since the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture work closely together in fire management, the two Departments are providing a joint statement on S. 906, the Wildland Firefighter Safety Act. The 

bill would require the Secretary of Agriculture and the 

Secretary of the Interior to track funds expended for firefighter safety and training programs and activities and to 

include a line item for such expenditures in annual budget 

requests. This bill would also require the Secretaries to 

jointly submit a report on the implementation and efficacy 

of wildland firefighter safety and training programs and 

activities to Congress each year. In addition, the bill would 

direct the Secretaries to ensure that any Federal contract 

or agreement with private entities for firefighting services 

requires the entity to provide firefighting training consistent with qualification standards set by the National 

Wildfire Coordinating Group. The Secretaries would be 

further directed to develop a program to monitor and enforce compliance with this contracting requirement. 

The Departments are concerned that a budget line item 

may not achieve the desired oversight of safety efforts and 

would carry unnecessary administrative complexities. The 

Departments do not consider training costs an effective 

means of determining a firefighter’s ability to perform 

safely. 

Furthermore, section 2(a)(1) of the bill applies only to 

the Secretary of the Interior with respect to public land 

managed by the Bureau of Land Management. It’s imporVerDate Aug 31 2005 22:21 Jun 28, 2007 Jkt 059010 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6659 Sfmt 6969 E:\HR\OC\SR099.XXX SR099

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tant to recognize that wildland fire occurs not only on public lands but also on the other Federal lands administered 

by the Secretary of the Interior through the various other 

agency heads. 

Required training, recurrent training, required experience, and job performance cross multiple budget activities 

and are extremely difficult to track at the budget line item 

level. Federal and state agencies provide funding for national and advanced training academies as well as training 

at more local levels. Virtually every firefighting training 

course includes some element of fire safety. For these reasons, the Departments do not support S. 906 in its present 

form. 

Rather than focus upon budget structure, the Departments suggest that an annual report, which would focus 

on measurable firefighter performance and the efficacy of 

our safety and training practices and activities, would better assist the Departments’ continual improvement of safety and performance and would provide information to Congress in its oversight capacity. Indeed, actions are already 

underway to report to Congress. For fiscal year 2007, the 

Forest Service will report to Congress (as part of the national performance measures) the accident frequency rate 

for firefighter injuries during the suppression of fires 

under Forest Service jurisdiction. The Department of the 

Interior tracks and reports the number of firefighter injuries and the amount of time lost from firefighter injuries 

as a proportion of all time spent firefighting. This information is reported as part of the 10–Year Comprehensive 

Strategy Implementation Plan for Reducing Wildland Fire 

Risks. 

We are taking additional action to improve tracking of 

firefighter safety and training measures. 

As this Subcommittee is aware, after the investigations 

of fatal fires in the last 10 years, we re-examined our safety and training policies, practices, and performance and 

implemented numerous significant changes. These changes 

have been developed in cooperation with the Occupational 

Safety and Health Administration, the Department of the 

Interior and other interagency partners through the National Wildfire Coordinating Group. In addition, an audit 

by the USDA Office of Inspector General (OIG) in 2004 of 

the Forest Service firefighter safety program and in 2006 

of firefighting contract crews provided recommendations 

that assisted the Forest Service and the Department of the 

Interior agencies in identifying areas for improvement. We 

have made significant progress in improving safety, training, certification, accountability, and reporting. 

The National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG), 

made up of representatives from the Forest Service, Department of the Interior agencies, Tribes, and State forestry agencies, establishes minimum requirements for 

training, experience, physical fitness level, and currency 

standards for wildland fire positions. All participating 

agencies must meet these requirements for national mobiVerDate Aug 31 2005 22:21 Jun 28, 2007 Jkt 059010 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6659 Sfmt 6969 E:\HR\OC\SR099.XXX SR099

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lization. All firefighters—federal, tribal, state, local, or contract—carry a position qualifications document (known as 

a Red Card) that shows the firefighter has met all the 

training, experience, and physical fitness requirements to 

perform a specific job under NWCG standards. The Forest 

Service has augmented these standards to meet specific 

safety requirements for the Forest Service. 

Certification of each firefighter is the responsibility of 

the employing agency. Firefighters must successfully complete coursework and multiple training assignments before 

they are certified for positions. Individual firefighters are 

trained to meet unit, regional and national needs. Performance based qualification standards, training courses, 

annual training to maintain currency, drills, and demonstrated successful performance prepare firefighters for 

conditions they may encounter. 

I would like to give you an update of items we have improved in safety, training, certification, accountability, and 

reporting for firefighters and contract firefighting crews. 

The Incident Qualifications Certification System (IQCS), 

now fully operational, responds to the need for accurate 

tracking of qualifications and centralized records as recommended in the 2004 USDA OIG report on firefighter 

safety. Training, on-the-job experience, and certification of 

each firefighter are documented and then added to the 

IQCS. Every federal firefighter must be qualified and in 

the system before they can be assigned by fire managers. 

State, local, and contract firefighters use different tracking 

systems. 

The 2006 OIG review of crew contract firefighting programs reported the need for program oversight and gave 

several recommendations for improvements. As a result, 

experience requirements have been included in the 2006 

crew contracts and qualification records were reviewed 

prior to contract awards. The Forest Service is working 

with the Pacific Northwest Coordinating Group to establish a process to ensure contract associations’ training 

meets the National Wildfire Coordinating Group standards. Also included in the 2006 crew contracts is a provision for standardized language assessment to ensure that 

there are no communication barriers that would contribute 

to unsafe conditions. The Forest Service is coordinating 

with other Federal agencies to identify counterfeit documents used to obtain employment on contract crews. In addition, temporary workers—that is, workers hired on a 

short-term basis during an emergency—must also meet 

agency certification requirements. 

The interagency Wildland Fire Leadership Development 

Program trains firefighters and managers in leadership 

values through a curriculum of courses designed to span 

the career of wildland firefighters from entry level through 

management and leadership levels. Individual firefighters 

and managers improve their leadership skills through selfdirected continuing education efforts using the on-line reVerDate Aug 31 2005 22:21 Jun 28, 2007 Jkt 059010 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6659 Sfmt 6969 E:\HR\OC\SR099.XXX SR099

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source (www.fireleadership.gov) to prepare themselves for 

the decision-making demands of firefighting. 

The Federal Interagency Firefighter Medical Qualifications and Standards program was developed by the Interagency Medical Standards Team under the direction of the 

National Fire and Aviation Executive Board. This program 

established medical qualifications, standards, and procedures to ensure that firefighters have an appropriate level 

of health and not be at unnecessary risk, or put others at 

risk, in performing arduous firefighter duties. The program is intended to ensure that sufficient information is 

available to make a medically sound judgment of whether 

an individual could safely perform the firefighter duties. 

Mr. Chairman and members of the Subcommittee, we 

believe that examining firefighter performance and safety 

as a whole, rather than simply tracking training costs, 

helps us to better assess overall quality and effectiveness 

of our programs. We welcome continuing oversight from 

Congress to help us make further progress in this area, 

and we believe that providing Congress an annual report 

on the performance and efficacy of our overall firefighting 

program would produce the desired outcome. 

CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the Standing 

Rules of the Senate, the Committee notes that no changes in existing law are made by the bill S. 1152 as ordered reported. 

Æ 


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