```

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7077 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        H.R.7077

                    One Hundred Seventeenth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America

                          AT THE SECOND SESSION

           Begun and held at the City of Washington on Monday,
          the third day of January, two thousand and twenty-two

                                 An Act

 
  To require the United States Fire Administration to conduct on-site 
         investigations of major fires, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
    This Act may be cited as the ``Empowering the U.S. Fire 
Administration Act''.
SEC. 2. FIRE SAFETY INVESTIGATIONS.
    The Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 (15 U.S.C. 2201 
et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:
  ``SEC. 38. INVESTIGATION AUTHORITIES.
    ``(a) In General.--In the case of a major fire, the Administrator 
may send incident investigators, which may include safety specialists, 
fire protection engineers, codes and standards experts, researchers, 
and fire training specialists, to the site of the fire to conduct a 
fire safety investigation as described in subsection (b).
    ``(b) Investigation Required.--A fire safety investigation 
conducted under this section--
        ``(1) shall be conducted in coordination and cooperation with 
    appropriate Federal, State, local, Tribal, and territorial 
    authorities, including Federal agencies that are authorized to 
    investigate any fire; and
        ``(2) shall examine the previously determined cause and origin 
    of the fire and assess broader systematic matters to include use of 
    codes and standards, demographics, structural characteristics, 
    smoke and fire dynamics (movement) during the event, and costs of 
    associated injuries and deaths.
    ``(c) Report.--
        ``(1) In general.--Subject to paragraph (2), upon concluding 
    any fire safety investigation under this section, the Administrator 
    shall--
            ``(A) issue a public report to the appropriate Federal, 
        State, local, Tribal, and territorial authorities on the 
        findings of such investigation; or
            ``(B) collaborate with another investigating Federal, 
        State, local, Tribal, or territorial agency on the report of 
        that agency.
        ``(2) Exception.--If the Administrator, in consultation with 
    appropriate Federal, State, local, Tribal, and territorial 
    authorities determines that issuing a report under paragraph (1) 
    would have a negative impact on a potential or ongoing criminal 
    investigation, the Administrator is not required to issue such 
    report.
        ``(3) Contents.--Each public report issued under paragraph (1) 
    shall include recommendations on--
            ``(A) any other buildings with similar characteristics that 
        may bear similar fire risks;
            ``(B) improving tactical response to similar fires;
            ``(C) improving civilian safety practices;
            ``(D) assessing the costs and benefits to the community of 
        adding fire safety features; and
            ``(E) how to mitigate the causes of the fire.
    ``(d) Discretionary Authority.--In addition to a fire safety 
investigation conducted pursuant to subsection (a), provided doing so 
would not have a negative impact on a potential or ongoing criminal 
investigation, the Administrator may send fire investigators to conduct 
a fire safety investigation at the site of any fire with unusual or 
remarkable context that results in losses less severe than those 
occurring as a result of a major fire, in coordination and cooperation 
with the appropriate Federal, State, local, Tribal, and territorial 
authorities, including Federal agencies that are authorized to 
investigate the fire.
    ``(e) Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be construed 
to--
        ``(1) affect or otherwise diminish the authorities or the 
    mandates vested in other Federal agencies;
        ``(2) grant the Administrator authority to investigate a major 
    fire for the purpose of an enforcement action or criminal 
    prosecution; or
        ``(3) require the Administrator to send investigators or issue 
    a report for a major fire when the Administrator, in coordination 
    and cooperation with the appropriate Federal, State, local, Tribal, 
    and territorial authorities, determine that it may compromise a 
    potential or ongoing criminal investigation.
    ``(f) Major Fire Defined.--For purposes of this section, the term 
`major fire' shall have the meaning given such term under regulations 
to be issued by the Administrator.''.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.
```