II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1899

To redesignate the Federal Emergency Management Agency as the ‘‘Federal

Fire and Emergency Management Agency’’, and to amend the Federal

Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 to authorize the Director

of the Federal Fire and Emergency Management Agency to make grants

to fire departments for the purpose of protecting the public and firefighting personnel against fire and fire-related hazards.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

NOVEMBER 10, 1999

Mr. CAMPBELL introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works

A BILL

To redesignate the Federal Emergency Management Agency

as the ‘‘Federal Fire and Emergency Management Agency’’, and to amend the Federal Fire Prevention and

Control Act of 1974 to authorize the Director of the

Federal Fire and Emergency Management Agency to

make grants to fire departments for the purpose of protecting the public and firefighting personnel against fire

and fire-related hazards.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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•S 1899 IS

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Firefighter Investment

3 and Response Enhancement (FIRE) Act’’.

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

5 Congress finds that—

6 (1) increased demands on firefighting personnel

7 have made it difficult for local governments to ade8 quately fund necessary fire safety precautions;

9 (2) the Federal Government has an obligation

10 to protect the health and safety of the firefighting

11 personnel of the United States and to help ensure

12 that the personnel have the financial resources to

13 protect the public;

14 (3) the United States has serious fire losses, in15 cluding a fire death rate that is one of the highest

16 per capita in the industrialized world;

17 (4) in the United States, fire kills more than

18 4,000 people and injures more than 25,000 people

19 each year;

20 (5) in any single day in the United States, on

21 the average—

22 (A) 11 people will die because of fire;

23 (B) 2 of those people are likely to be chil24 dren under the age of 5;

25 (C) 68 people will be injured because of

26 fire; and
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1 (D) over $9,000,000,000 in property losses

2 will occur from fire; and

3 (6) those statistics demonstrate a critical need

4 for Federal investment in support of firefighting

5 personnel.

6 SEC. 3. REDESIGNATION OF FEDERAL EMERGENCY MAN7 AGEMENT AGENCY.

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Federal Emergency Manage9 ment Agency is redesignated as the ‘‘Federal Fire and

10 Emergency Management Agency’’.

11 (b) REFERENCES.—Any reference in a law, map, reg12 ulation, document, paper, or other record of the United

13 States to the Federal Emergency Management Agency

14 shall be deemed to be a reference to the Federal Fire and

15 Emergency Management Agency.

16 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS TO FEDERAL FIRE

17 PREVENTION AND CONTROL ACT OF 1974.—Sections

18 4(4), 17, and 31(a)(5)(B) of the Federal Fire Prevention

19 and Control Act of 1974 (15 U.S.C. 2203(4), 2216, and

20 2227(a)(5)(B)) are amended by striking ‘‘Federal Emer21 gency Management Agency’’ each place it appears and in22 serting ‘‘Federal Fire and Emergency Management Agen23 cy’’.
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1 SEC. 4. FIREFIGHTER INVESTMENT AND RESPONSE EN2 HANCEMENT.

3 The Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974

4 (15 U.S.C. 2201 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end

5 the following:

6 ‘‘SEC. 33. FIREFIGHTER INVESTMENT AND RESPONSE EN7 HANCEMENT.

8 ‘‘(a) DEFINITION OF FIREFIGHTING PERSONNEL.—

9 In this section, the term ‘firefighting personnel’ means in10 dividuals, including volunteers, who are firefighters, offi11 cers of fire departments, or emergency medical service per12 sonnel of fire departments.

13 ‘‘(b) GRANT PROGRAM.—

14 ‘‘(1) AUTHORITY.—In accordance with this sec15 tion, the Director may make grants on a competitive

16 basis to fire departments for the purpose of pro17 tecting the health and safety of the public and fire18 fighting personnel against fire and fire-related haz19 ards.

20 ‘‘(2) ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE FOR ADMIN21 ISTRATION OF GRANTS.—Before making grants

22 under paragraph (1), the Director shall establish an

23 office in the Federal Fire and Emergency Manage24 ment Agency that shall have the duties of estab25 lishing specific criteria for the selection of grant re-
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1 cipients, and administering the grants, under this

2 section.

3 ‘‘(3) USE OF GRANT FUNDS.—The Director

4 may make a grant under paragraph (1) only if the

5 applicant for the grant agrees to use grant funds—

6 ‘‘(A)(i) to train firefighting personnel in

7 firefighting, emergency response, arson preven8 tion and detection, or the handling of hazardous

9 materials, which shall include, at a minimum,

10 the removal of any hazardous substance or pol11 lutant or contaminant associated with the ille12 gal manufacture of amphetamine or meth13 amphetamine; or

14 ‘‘(ii) to train firefighter personnel to pro15 vide any of the training described in clause (i);

16 ‘‘(B) to make effective use of the capabili17 ties of the National Institute of Standards and

18 Technology, the Department of Commerce, the

19 Consumer Product Safety Commission, and

20 other public and private sector entities, for re21 search and development aimed at advancing—

22 ‘‘(i) the health and safety of fire23 fighters;

24 ‘‘(ii) information technologies for fire

25 management;
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1 ‘‘(iii) technologies for fire prevention

2 and protection;

3 ‘‘(iv) firefighting technologies; and

4 ‘‘(v) burn care and rehabilitation;

5 ‘‘(C) to fund the creation of rapid interven6 tion teams to protect firefighting personnel at

7 the scenes of fires and other emergencies;

8 ‘‘(D) to certify fire inspectors;

9 ‘‘(E) to establish wellness and fitness pro10 grams for firefighting personnel to ensure that

11 the firefighting personnel can carry out their

12 duties;

13 ‘‘(F) to fund emergency medical services

14 provided by fire departments;

15 ‘‘(G) to acquire additional firefighting vehi16 cles, including fire trucks;

17 ‘‘(H) to acquire additional firefighting

18 equipment, including equipment for communica19 tions and monitoring;

20 ‘‘(I) to acquire personal protective equip21 ment required for firefighting personnel by the

22 Occupational Safety and Health Administra23 tion, and other personal protective equipment

24 for firefighting personnel;
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1 ‘‘(J) to modify fire stations, fire training

2 facilities, and other facilities to protect the

3 health and safety of firefighting personnel;

4 ‘‘(K) to enforce fire codes;

5 ‘‘(L) to fund fire prevention programs; or

6 ‘‘(M) to educate the public about arson

7 prevention and detection.

8 ‘‘(4) APPLICATION.—The Director may make a

9 grant under paragraph (1) only if the fire depart10 ment seeking the grant submits to the Director an

11 application in such form and containing such infor12 mation as the Director may require.

13 ‘‘(5) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—The Director

14 may make a grant under paragraph (1) only if the

15 applicant for the grant agrees to match with an

16 equal amount of non-Federal funds 10 percent of

17 the funds received under paragraph (1) for any fis18 cal year.

19 ‘‘(6) MAINTENANCE OF EXPENDITURES.—The

20 Director may make a grant under paragraph (1)

21 only if the applicant for the grant agrees to main22 tain in the fiscal year for which the grant will be re23 ceived the applicant’s aggregate expenditures for the

24 uses described in paragraph (3) at or above the av25 erage level of such expenditures in the 2 fiscal years
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1 preceding the fiscal year for which the grant will be

2 received.

3 ‘‘(7) REPORT TO THE DIRECTOR.—The Direc4 tor may make a grant under paragraph (1) only if

5 the applicant for the grant agrees to submit to the

6 Director a report, including a description of how

7 grant funds were used, with respect to each fiscal

8 year for which a grant was received.

9 ‘‘(8) VARIETY OF GRANT RECIPIENTS.—The Di10 rector shall ensure that grants under paragraph (1)

11 for a fiscal year are made to a variety of fire depart12 ments, including, to the extent that there are eligible

13 applicants—

14 ‘‘(A) paid, volunteer, and combination fire

15 departments;

16 ‘‘(B) fire departments located in commu17 nities of varying sizes; and

18 ‘‘(C) fire departments located in urban,

19 suburban, and rural communities.

20 ‘‘(9) LIMITATION ON EXPENDITURES FOR FIRE21 FIGHTING VEHICLES.—The Director shall ensure

22 that not more than 25 percent of the assistance

23 made available under paragraph (1) for a fiscal year

24 is used for the use described in paragraph (3)(G).

25 ‘‘(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—
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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be

2 appropriated to the Director such sums as are nec3 essary to carry out this section.

4 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION ON ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—

5 Of the amounts made available under paragraph (1)

6 for a fiscal year, the Director may use not more

7 than 10 percent for the administrative costs of car8 rying out this section.’’.

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