II

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2439

To save lives, prevent injuries, and protect property through improved State

and local fire safety and prevention education, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

SEPTEMBER 19 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 12), 1994

Mr. BRYAN (for himself and Mr. GORTON) introduced the following bill; which

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and

Transportation

A BILL

To save lives, prevent injuries, and protect property through

improved State and local fire safety and prevention education, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fire Safety and Pre5 vention Education Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds that—

8 (1) fire losses in the United States are esti9 mated at 5,000 deaths and 29,000 injuries annually,
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1 producing an economic loss conservatively estimated

2 at $10,000,000,000 per year, plus more than

3 $1,000,000,000 a year in health care costs;

4 (2) sustained and targeted fire safety and pre5 vention education at the State and local levels, par6 ticularly in identifiable high-risk populations, pro7 duces dramatic results in preventing fires, fire

8 deaths, and dollar losses from fire;

9 (3) in recent years, the fire safety and preven10 tion education budgets of fire departments in the

11 United States have been cut dramatically or, in

12 many cases, eliminated;

13 (4) there is a need to expand the availability of

14 State and local fire safety and prevention education

15 programs and supporting resources and materials to

16 help State agencies and local fire departments in

17 carrying out effective public education;

18 (5) fire departments in other countries with

19 fewer fire deaths per capita than the United States

20 spend an average of 4 to 10 percent of the budgets

21 of the departments on fire prevention, versus less

22 than 3 percent for United States fire departments;

23 and

24 (6) only by accurately collecting and analyzing

25 data on fire deaths, injuries, and dollar losses can
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1 United States fire departments target the popu2 lations and regions where educational efforts are

3 most needed to create a more efficient and effective

4 use of resources.

5 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

6 As used in this Act:

7 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis8 trator’’ means the Administrator of the United

9 States Fire Administration.

10 (2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible en11 tity’’ means the office of the State fire marshal for

12 a State or an equivalent State office having primary

13 responsibility for fire safety and prevention in the

14 State.

15 (3) FIRE SAFETY AND PREVENTION EDUCATION

16 PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘fire safety and prevention

17 education program’’ means a program that includes

18 publications, audiovisual presentations, or dem19 onstrations, concerning fire safety and prevention.

20 (4) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any

21 State of the United States, the District of Columbia,

22 the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the United

23 States Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the

24 Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands,
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1 and any other territory or possession of the United

2 States.

3 SEC. 4. FIRE SAFETY AND PREVENTION EDUCATION.

4 (a) AUTHORITY.—The Administrator may enter into

5 a contract or cooperative agreement with, or make a grant

6 to, an eligible entity in order to obtain and distribute, at

7 the State and local level, fire safety and prevention edu8 cation programs and supporting educational resources.

9 (b) USE OF FUNDS.—Of the amounts received by an

10 eligible entity under subsection (a)—

11 (1) not more than 25 percent may be used for

12 statewide fire safety and prevention education pro13 grams;

14 (2) not more than 25 percent may be used to

15 implement new regional or local fire safety and pre16 vention education programs targeting high-risk pop17 ulations; and

18 (3) not less than 50 percent shall be used for

19 awards, of not more than $10,000 each, for regional

20 or local fire safety and prevention education pro21 grams, in existence on the day before the date of re22 ceipt of the amounts, that have been demonstrated

23 to be effective in preventing fires, fire deaths and in24 juries, and dollar losses from fire.
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1 SEC. 5. DATA COLLECTION.

2 The Administrator may enter into a contract or coop3 erative agreement with, or make a grant to, a State for

4 the purpose of implementing the revised National Fire In5 cident Reporting System at the National Fire Data Cen6 ter, established under section 9 of the Federal Fire Pre7 vention and Control Act of 1974 (15 U.S.C. 2208), to im8 prove and enhance the collection and analysis of fire data

9 at the State and local levels.

10 SEC. 6. APPLICATIONS.

11 Each eligible entity or State desiring a contract, co12 operative agreement, or grant under this Act shall submit

13 an application to the Administrator at such time, in such

14 manner, and accompanied by such information as the Ad15 ministrator may reasonably require.

16 SEC. 7. REPORTS AND EVALUATION.

17 (a) ANNUAL REPORT TO ADMINISTRATOR.—An eligi18 ble entity receiving funds under section 4 shall prepare

19 and submit to the Administrator an annual report that

20 contains such information as the Administrator may re21 quire. At a minimum, the report shall describe each pro22 gram activity undertaken with the funds, including a de23 scription of—

24 (1) any fire safety and prevention education

25 program that has been developed directly or indi-
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1 rectly by the eligible entity and the target population

2 of the program;

3 (2) any support material that has been obtained

4 and the method by which the material is distributed;

5 and

6 (3) any initiative undertaken by the entity to

7 develop a public-private partnership to secure non8 Federal support for the development or distribution

9 of a program or material in furtherance of this Act.

10 (b) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—The Administrator shall

11 prepare and submit an annual report to Congress, includ12 ing a description of each fire safety and prevention edu13 cation program undertaken and any material developed or

14 distributed by each eligible entity receiving funds under

15 section 4.

16 SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

17 (a) FIRE SAFETY AND PREVENTION EDUCATION.—

18 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out sec19 tion 4 $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 1996 and

20 1997, of which not more than $500,000 may be spent for

21 any fiscal year on administrative costs.

22 (b) DATA COLLECTION.—There are authorized to be

23 appropriated to carry out section 5 $2,500,000 for fiscal

24 year 1995, of which not more than $300,000 shall be

25 spent on administrative costs.
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1 (c) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts made available pursu2 ant to subsection (a) or (b) shall remain available until

3 expended.

Æ