I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4846 

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

the Administrator of the United States Fire Administration to provide 

grants for infrastructure improvements to fire first responders. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 19, 2007 

Ms. RICHARDSON 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 grants for infrastructure improvements to fire first responders. 

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 ‘‘First Line of Defense 

5 Infrastructure Improvement Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF GRANT PROGRAM FOR INFRA2 STRUCTURE IMPROVEMENTS TO FIRE FIRST 

3 RESPONDER STATIONS. 

4 The Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 

5 (15 U.S.C. 2201 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

6 the following new section: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 37. GRANTS TO IMPROVE FIRST LINE OF DEFENSE IN8 CIDENT RESPONSE AND FIREFIGHTER LIV9 ABILITY THROUGH INFRASTRUCTURE IM10 PROVEMENTS TO FIRE STATIONS. 

11 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT OF GRANT PROGRAM.—In 

12 order to improve first responder incident response and 

13 firefighter livability by making improvements to the infra14 structure of fire stations, the Administrator shall establish 

15 a competitive grant program and shall award grants in 

16 each of fiscal years 2009 through 2013 to eligible fire 

17 services. 

18 ‘‘(b) USE OF GRANT FUNDS.—A recipient of a grant 

19 awarded under this section shall use the funds to make 

20 improvements to the infrastructure of a specified fire sta21 tion— 

22 ‘‘(1) by repairing such station if the condition 

23 of the infrastructure of such station prevents the fire 

24 service from performing incident response duties in 

25 a timely manner because such station is either de26 caying or contains structural impairments that imVerDate Aug 31 2005 02:01 Dec 22, 2007 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4846.IH H4846

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1 pede egress of fire service equipment or personnel 

2 from the fire station; or 

3 ‘‘(2) by renovating such station if it does not 

4 properly accommodate all personnel in the fire serv5 ice through the use of gender-equitable facilities, in6 cluding restroom and shower facilities and sleeping 

7 areas. 

8 ‘‘(c) PROHIBITED USES.—A recipient of a grant 

9 awarded under this section shall not use the funds for ac10 tivities related to the planning or design of infrastructure 

11 improvements. 

12 ‘‘(d) ELIGIBILITY.—In order to be eligible to receive 

13 a grant under this section, a fire service shall submit an 

14 application to the Administrator at such time, in such 

15 form, and with such information and assurances as the 

16 Administrator may require. 

17 ‘‘(e) SELECTION PRIORITIES.—In selecting a fire 

18 service to receive a grant under this section, the Adminis19 trator shall give priority to a fire service seeking assistance 

20 for a fire station that is located not more than 25 miles 

21 from— 

22 ‘‘(1) a facility that produces nuclear power; 

23 ‘‘(2) a facility that produces, treats, or refines 

24 more than 20,000 barrels of oil per day; or 


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1 ‘‘(3) a location with at least 1 critical infra2 structure, such as an international seaport, airport, 

3 refinery, or treatment plant. 

4 ‘‘(f) GRANT PROGRAM SPECIFICATIONS.— 

5 ‘‘(1) AMOUNT OF GRANT.—The Administrator 

6 shall not award a grant under this section in an 

7 amount that is more than 40 percent of the reason8 able cost of carrying out the project proposed by the 

9 fire service to be funded by the grant. 

10 ‘‘(2) GRANT CONDITION.—As a condition of re11 ceipt of a grant under this section, the fire service 

12 shall be responsible for funding, using non-Federal 

13 funds, the remaining amount of the reasonable cost 

14 of carrying out such project. 

15 ‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

16 ‘‘(1) The term ‘critical infrastructure’ has the 

17 meaning given such term in the Critical Infrastruc18 tures Protection Act of 2001 (42 U.S.C. 5195c). 

19 ‘‘(2) The term ‘incident response’ means a re20 sponse by a fire service to— 

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

22 attack that utilizes a weapon of mass destruc23 tion; 

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

25 ‘‘(C) a natural disaster; or 


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1 ‘‘(D) any other emergency for which a re2 sponse by a fire service is appropriate. 

3 ‘‘(h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—In ad4 dition to any other amounts authorized to be appropriated 

5 under this Act, there are authorized to be appropriated 

6 to the Administrator for grants under this section such 

7 sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal years 2009 

8 through 2013.’’. 

Æ 


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