I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5909 

To amend the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 to authorize 

the Administrator of the United States Fire Administration to provide 

assistance to firefighting task forces, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 28, 2010 

Mrs. LOWEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Science and Technology 

A BILL 

To amend the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act 

of 1974 to authorize the Administrator of the United 

States Fire Administration to provide assistance to firefighting task forces, 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 ‘‘Firefighters Special 

5 Operation Task Force Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR FIREFIGHTING TASK FORCES. 

2 The Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 

3 (15 U.S.C. 2201 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

4 the following new section: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 38. ASSISTANCE FOR FIREFIGHTING TASK FORCES. 

6 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

7 ‘‘(1) CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE.—The term 

8 ‘critical infrastructure’ has the meaning given that 

9 term in section 1016(e) of the Critical Infrastruc10 tures Protection Act of 2001 (42 U.S.C. 5195c(e)). 

11 ‘‘(2) FIREFIGHTING PERSONNEL.—The term 

12 ‘firefighting personnel’ has the meaning given that 

13 term in section 33(a). 

14 ‘‘(3) INCIDENT RESPONSE.—The term ‘incident 

15 response’ means a response by a task force or task 

16 force unit to— 

17 ‘‘(A) a terrorist attack, including such an 

18 attack that utilizes a weapon of mass destruc19 tion; 

20 ‘‘(B) a release of a hazardous material; 

21 ‘‘(C) a natural disaster; or 

22 ‘‘(D) any other emergency for which a re23 sponse by a fire service is appropriate. 

24 ‘‘(4) MEMBER.—The term ‘member’, with re25 spect to a task force, means a fire service that is a 


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1 party to the cooperative agreement establishing the 

2 task force. 

3 ‘‘(5) TASK FORCE.—The term ‘task force’ 

4 means 2 or more fire services that collectively con5 sist of at least 50 firefighting personnel, operating 

6 pursuant to a cooperative agreement for the purpose 

7 of coordinating incident response among such fire 

8 services. 

9 ‘‘(b) GRANT AUTHORITY.—The Administrator may 

10 award not more than 100 grants for task forces each fiscal 

11 year for the purposes described in subsection (c). 

12 ‘‘(c) PURPOSES.—A grant awarded under this section 

13 shall be used— 

14 ‘‘(1) to provide salary and benefits to hire fire15 fighting personnel or rehire firefighting personnel 

16 who have been laid off to provide services to the task 

17 force, including salary and benefits; 

18 ‘‘(2) to pay expenses related to the participation 

19 of firefighting personnel in appropriate training 

20 courses; 

21 ‘‘(3) to provide training related to incident re22 sponse to firefighting personnel; 

23 ‘‘(4) to obtain appropriate equipment, including 

24 firefighting vehicles or support systems for members 

25 of the task force; 


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1 ‘‘(5) to improve the ability of a member of a 

2 task force to communicate with a local police depart3 ment or hospital, or with any other appropriate gov4 ernmental or private sector entity; and 

5 ‘‘(6) to ensure the compatibility and interoper6 ability of training and equipment with those ob7 tained by other task forces. 

8 ‘‘(d) APPLICATION GUIDANCE.—The Administrator 

9 shall make available to potential applicants for assistance 

10 under this section a description of a model task force con11 figuration, which shall include— 

12 ‘‘(1) an administrative unit, consisting of 2 

13 chief officers, 2 captains, and 2 lieutenants, to co14 ordinate training programs, logistics, and mainte15 nance of equipment, which shall operate at least 40 

16 hours per week; 

17 ‘‘(2) a command unit, consisting of 1 chief offi18 cer serving as the task force commander and 1 fire19 fighter serving as communications coordinator, 

20 which shall operate at all times; 

21 ‘‘(3) at least 1 hazardous materials company, 

22 consisting of 1 company officer and 5 firefighters, 

23 which shall operate at all times; 


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1 ‘‘(4) at least 1 rescue company, consisting of 1 

2 company officer and 5 firefighters, which shall oper3 ate at all times; and 

4 ‘‘(5) 6 squad companies, each consisting of 1 

5 company officer and 5 firefighters, which shall oper6 ate at all times, and which may serve, as appro7 priate, as a hazardous materials company or rescue 

8 company as described in paragraphs (3) and (4). 

9 ‘‘(e) APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS.—Each task 

10 force desiring assistance under this section shall submit 

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

12 manner, and accompanied by such information as the Ad13 ministrator may reasonably require. In order to qualify for 

14 a grant, an applicant’s proposal shall provide for— 

15 ‘‘(1) prompt incident response; 

16 ‘‘(2) a unified command system; 

17 ‘‘(3) common training and equipment for task 

18 force members; 

19 ‘‘(4) maximum coverage in the task force re20 gion, taking into account population, business cen21 ters, vital infrastructures, transportation corridors, 

22 and government centers; and 

23 ‘‘(5) preservation during the life of the grant of 

24 the overall personnel level for each fire service, at 


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1 least at the level in effect at the time the application 

2 was submitted. 

3 ‘‘(f) SELECTION PRIORITY.—In selecting a task force 

4 to receive assistance under this section, the Administrator 

5 shall give priority to task forces that serve a geographic 

6 area that— 

7 ‘‘(1) has a high population density; or 

8 ‘‘(2) is located not more than 50 miles from— 

9 ‘‘(A) a facility that produces nuclear 

10 power; 

11 ‘‘(B) a large facility that produces, treats, 

12 or refines chemicals or petroleum products; 

13 ‘‘(C) a business district of national signifi14 cance; or 

15 ‘‘(D) a location with one or more critical 

16 infrastructures. 

17 ‘‘(g) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—The Administrator 

18 may provide assistance to a Task Force under this section 

19 for a fiscal year only if the task force agrees to obtain 

20 from non-Federal sources for such fiscal year at least 55 

21 percent of the costs of the task force. The non-Federal 

22 contributions may be in-kind contributions, including per23 sonnel, personnel overtime, vehicles, equipment, adminis24 trative costs, fuel, maintenance, contractor services, and 

25 rental space. 


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1 ‘‘(h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

2 are authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator to 

3 carry out this section such sums as may be necessary for 

4 each of the fiscal years 2011 through 2019.’’. 

Æ 


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