II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1941

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

the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide

assistance to fire departments and fire prevention organizations for the

purpose of protecting the public and firefighting personnel against fire

and fire-related hazards.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

NOVEMBER 17, 1999

Mr. DODD (for himself and Mr. DEWINE) introduced the following bill; which

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

Transportation

A BILL

To amend the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act

of 1974 to authorize the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide assistance to fire

departments and fire prevention organizations 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,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

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

5 and Response Enhancement (FIRE) Act’’.
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•S 1941 IS

1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

2 Congress finds that—

3 (1) increased demands on firefighting personnel

4 have made it difficult for local governments to ade5 quately fund necessary fire safety precautions;

6 (2) the Federal Government has an obligation

7 to protect the health and safety of the firefighting

8 personnel of the United States and to ensure that

9 the personnel have the financial resources to protect

10 the public; and

11 (3) the high rates in the United States of

12 death, injury, and property damage caused by fires

13 demonstrates a critical need for Federal investment

14 in support of firefighting personnel.

15 SEC. 3. FIREFIGHTER INVESTMENT AND RESPONSE EN16 HANCEMENT.

17 The Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974

18 (15 U.S.C. 2201 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end

19 the following:

20 ‘‘SEC. 33. FIREFIGHTER INVESTMENT AND RESPONSE EN21 HANCEMENT.

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

23 In this section, the term ‘firefighting personnel’ means in24 dividuals, including volunteers, who are firefighters, offi25 cers of fire departments, or emergency medical service per26 sonnel of fire departments.
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1 ‘‘(b) ASSISTANCE PROGRAM.—

2 ‘‘(1) AUTHORITY.—In accordance with this sec3 tion, the Director may—

4 ‘‘(A) make grants on a competitive basis to

5 fire departments for the purpose of protecting

6 the health and safety of the public and fire7 fighting personnel against fire and fire-related

8 hazards; and

9 ‘‘(B) provide assistance for fire prevention

10 programs in accordance with paragraph (4).

11 ‘‘(2) ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE FOR ADMIN12 ISTRATION OF ASSISTANCE.—Before providing as13 sistance under paragraph (1), the Director shall es14 tablish an office in the Federal Emergency Manage15 ment Agency that shall have the duties of estab16 lishing specific criteria for the selection of recipients

17 of the assistance, and administering the assistance,

18 under this section.

19 ‘‘(3) USE OF FIRE DEPARTMENT GRANT

20 FUNDS.—The Director may make a grant under

21 paragraph (1)(A) only if the applicant for the grant

22 agrees to use the grant funds—

23 ‘‘(A) to hire additional firefighting per24 sonnel;
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1 ‘‘(B) to train firefighting personnel in fire2 fighting, emergency response, arson prevention

3 and detection, or the handling of hazardous ma4 terials, or to train firefighting personnel to pro5 vide any of the training described in this sub6 paragraph;

7 ‘‘(C) to fund the creation of rapid interven8 tion teams to protect firefighting personnel at

9 the scenes of fires and other emergencies;

10 ‘‘(D) to certify fire inspectors;

11 ‘‘(E) to establish wellness and fitness pro12 grams for firefighting personnel to ensure that

13 the firefighting personnel can carry out their

14 duties;

15 ‘‘(F) to fund emergency medical services

16 provided by fire departments;

17 ‘‘(G) to acquire additional firefighting vehi18 cles, including fire trucks;

19 ‘‘(H) to acquire additional firefighting

20 equipment, including equipment for communica21 tions and monitoring;

22 ‘‘(I) to acquire personal protective equip23 ment required for firefighting personnel by the

24 Occupational Safety and Health Administra-
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1 tion, and other personal protective equipment

2 for firefighting personnel;

3 ‘‘(J) to modify fire stations, fire training

4 facilities, and other facilities to protect the

5 health and safety of firefighting personnel;

6 ‘‘(K) to enforce fire codes;

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

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

9 prevention and detection.

10 ‘‘(4) FIRE PREVENTION PROGRAMS.—

11 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For each fiscal year,

12 the Director shall use not less than 10 percent

13 of the funds made available under subsection

14 (c)—

15 ‘‘(i) to make grants to fire depart16 ments for the purpose described in para17 graph (3)(L); and

18 ‘‘(ii) to make grants to, or enter into

19 contracts or cooperative agreements with,

20 national, State, local, or community orga21 nizations that are recognized for their ex22 perience and expertise with respect to fire

23 prevention or fire safety programs and ac24 tivities, for the purpose of carrying out fire

25 prevention programs.
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1 ‘‘(B) PRIORITY.—In selecting organiza2 tions described in subparagraph (A)(ii) to re3 ceive assistance under this paragraph, the Di4 rector shall give priority to organizations that

5 focus on prevention of injuries to children from

6 fire.

7 ‘‘(5) APPLICATION.—The Director may provide

8 assistance to a fire department or organization

9 under this subsection only if the fire department or

10 organization seeking the assistance submits to the

11 Director an application in such form and containing

12 such information as the Director may require.

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

14 may provide assistance under this subsection only if

15 the applicant for the assistance agrees to match with

16 an equal amount of non-Federal funds 10 percent of

17 the assistance received under this subsection for any

18 fiscal year.

19 ‘‘(7) MAINTENANCE OF EXPENDITURES—The

20 Director may provide assistance under this sub21 section only if the applicant for the assistance agrees

22 to maintain in the fiscal year for which the assist23 ance will be received the applicant’s aggregate ex24 penditures for the uses described in paragraph (3)

25 or (4) at or above the average level of such expendi-
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1 tures in the 2 fiscal years preceding the fiscal year

2 for which the assistance will be received.

3 ‘‘(8) REPORT TO THE DIRECTOR.—The Direc4 tor may provide assistance under this subsection

5 only if the applicant for the assistance agrees to sub6 mit to the Director a report, including a description

7 of how the assistance was used, with respect to each

8 fiscal year for which the assistance was received.

9 ‘‘(9) VARIETY OF FIRE DEPARTMENT GRANT

10 RECIPIENTS.—The Director shall ensure that grants

11 under paragraph (1)(A) for a fiscal year are made

12 to a variety of fire departments, including, to the ex13 tent that there are eligible 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 ‘‘(10) LIMITATION ON EXPENDITURES FOR

21 FIREFIGHTING VEHICLES.—The Director shall en22 sure that not more than 25 percent of the assistance

23 made available under this subsection for a fiscal

24 year is used for the use described in paragraph

25 (3)(G).
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1 ‘‘(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—

2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be

3 appropriated to the Director $1,000,000,000 for

4 each of fiscal years 2000 through 2005.

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

6 Of the amounts made available under paragraph (1)

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

8 than 10 percent for the administrative costs of car9 rying out this section.’’.

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