I 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4107 

To reauthorize the Assistance to Firefighters Grant program under section 

33 of the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 1, 2004 

Mr. BOEHLERT (for himself, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania, 

Mr. HOYER, Mr. SMITH of Michigan, Mr. ANDREWS, Mr. COX, Mr. 

TURNER of Texas, and Mrs. LOWEY) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Science 

A BILL 

To reauthorize the Assistance to Firefighters Grant program 

under section 33 of the Federal Fire Prevention and 

Control Act of 1974, 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 ‘‘Assistance to Fire5 fighters Grant Reauthorization Act of 2004’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 
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1 (1) there are 1,100,000 firefighters serving in 

2 over 30,000 fire departments in the United States; 

3 (2) fire departments responded to nearly 

4 1,700,000 fires in 2002; 

5 (3) every 19 seconds a fire department re6 sponds to a fire somewhere in the United States; 

7 (4) in 2003, 110 firefighters died in the line of 

8 duty; 

9 (5) fires resulted in the deaths of 3,380 civil10 ians in 2002; 

11 (6) nationwide there is a civilian fire death 

12 every 156 minutes; 

13 (7) in 2002, 18,425 people sustained injuries 

14 from fires; 

15 (8) in 2002 there was an estimated 

16 $10,337,000,000 in property damage caused by 

17 fires, including $6,055,000,000 worth of property 

18 loss to residential properties; 

19 (9) for communities with populations between 

20 10,000 and 1,000,000, it is estimated that approximately 1 21 ⁄4 of emergency responders on a shift lack 

22 radios, and this percentage increases as community 

23 size decreases; 
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1 (10) an estimated one-third of firefighters per 

2 shift are not equipped with self-contained breathing 

3 apparatus (SCBA); 

4 (11) nearly half of all self-contained breathing 

5 apparatus units are at least 10 years old; 

6 (12) nearly half of firefighters on a shift lack 

7 personal alert system (PASS) devices; 

8 (13) an estimated 57,000 firefighters lack per9 sonal protective clothing; 

10 (14) one-third of personal protective clothing is 

11 at least 10 years old; 

12 (15) half of all fire engines are at least 15 

13 years old; 

14 (16) only one-fourth of fire departments have 

15 the ability to communicate with Federal, State, and 

16 local partners; 

17 (17) only one-fourth of fire departments have 

18 thermal imaging cameras; 

19 (18) only one fire department in 28 has mobile 

20 data terminals; 

21 (19) only one fire department in 50 has ad22 vanced personnel location equipment; 

23 (20) only one fire department in 23 has equip24 ment to collect chemical or biological samples; 
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1 (21) an estimated 42 percent of the population 

2 is protected by fire departments that do not have a 

3 program for free distribution of home smoke alarms; 

4 (22) an estimated 48 percent of the population 

5 is protected by fire departments that do not have a 

6 juvenile firesetter program; 

7 (23) an estimated 27 percent of the population 

8 is protected by fire departments that do not have a 

9 fire safety education program based on a national 

10 curriculum; 

11 (24) only 11 percent of fire departments can re12 spond to a technical rescue involving emergency 

13 medical services at a building collapse with local per14 sonnel, and nearly half of all departments consider 

15 such an incident outside their scope; 

16 (25) only 13 percent of fire departments can re17 spond to a hazmat incident involving emergency 

18 medical services with local personnel, and two-fifths 

19 of all departments consider such an incident outside 

20 their scope; 

21 (26) only 26 percent of fire departments can re22 spond to a wildland/urban interface fire affecting 

23 500 acres with local personnel, and one-third of all 

24 departments consider such an incident outside their 

25 scope; and 
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1 (27) only 12 percent of fire departments can 

2 handle mitigation of a developing major flood with 

3 local personnel, and a majority of fire departments 

4 consider such an incident outside their scope. 

5 SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS. 

6 Section 33 of the Federal Fire Prevention and Con7 trol Act of 1974 (15 U.S.C. 2229) is amended— 

8 (1) by striking ‘‘Director’’ each place it appears 

9 and inserting ‘‘Administrator’’; 

10 (2) in subsection (b)(1)(A), by inserting ‘‘and 

11 volunteer emergency medical service squads’’ after 

12 ‘‘fire departments’’; 

13 (3) in subsection (b)(1)(B), by inserting ‘‘and 

14 firefighter safety research and development’’ after 

15 ‘‘fire prevention’’; 

16 (4) in subsection (b)(3)(F), by inserting ‘‘and 

17 volunteer emergency medical service squads that are 

18 not affiliated with a fire department, hospital, or 

19 for-profit entity’’ after ‘‘fire departments’’; 

20 (5) in subsection (b)(4)— 

21 (A) by inserting ‘‘AND FIREFIGHTER SAFE22 TY RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT’’ after ‘‘PRE23 VENTION’’ in the paragraph heading; 

24 (B) in subparagraph (A)(ii)— 
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1 (i) by inserting ‘‘that are not fire de2 partments and’’ after ‘‘community organi3 zations’’; 

4 (ii) by inserting ‘‘and firefighter re5 search and development programs,’’ after 

6 ‘‘fire safety programs and activities,’’; and 

7 (iii) by inserting ‘‘and research to im8 prove firefighter health and life safety’’ 

9 after ‘‘fire prevention programs’’; and 

10 (C) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘to 

11 children from fire’’ and inserting ‘‘to high risk 

12 groups from fire, as well as research programs 

13 that demonstrate the potential to improve fire14 fighter safety’’; 

15 (6) in subsection (b)(6)— 

16 (A) in subparagraph (A)— 

17 (i) by striking ‘‘subparagraph (B)’’ 

18 and inserting ‘‘subparagraphs (B) and 

19 (C)’’; and 

20 (ii) by striking ‘‘30 percent’’ and in21 serting ‘‘20 percent’’; and 

22 (B) by inserting after subparagraph (B) 

23 the following new subparagraph: 

24 ‘‘(C) FIRE PREVENTION AND FIREFIGHTER

25 SAFETY GRANTS.—There shall be no matching 
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1 requirement for a grant described in paragraph 

2 (4)(A)(ii).’’; 

3 (7) in subsection (b)(10)— 

4 (A) by amending subparagraph (A) to read 

5 as follows: 

6 ‘‘(A) RECIPIENT LIMITATIONS.—A grant 

7 recipient under this section— 

8 ‘‘(i) that serves a jurisdiction with 

9 500,000 people or less may not receive 

10 grants in excess of $1,000,000 for any fis11 cal year; 

12 ‘‘(ii) that serves a jurisdiction with 

13 more than 500,000 but not more than 

14 1,000,000 people may not receive grants in 

15 excess of $2,000,000 for any fiscal year; 

16 and 

17 ‘‘(iii) that serves a jurisdiction with 

18 more than 1,000,000 people may not re19 ceive grants in excess of $3,000,000 for 

20 any fiscal year. 

21 The Administrator may award grants in excess 

22 of the limitations provided in clause (i) or (ii) 

23 to a recipient that serves a population close to 

24 the relevant threshold, upon a showing of suffi25 cient need.’’; 
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1 (B) by redesignating subparagraph (B) as 

2 subparagraph (C); 

3 (C) by inserting after subparagraph (A) 

4 the following new subparagraph: 

5 ‘‘(B) DISTRIBUTION.—Notwithstanding 

6 subparagraph (A), no single recipient may re7 ceive more than one half of one percent of the 

8 funds appropriated under this section for a sin9 gle fiscal year.’’; and 

10 (D) by adding at the end the following new 

11 subparagraph: 

12 ‘‘(D) VOLUNTEER EMERGENCY MEDICAL

13 SERVICE LIMITATION.—Not more than 4 per14 cent of the funds appropriated to provide grants 

15 under this section for a fiscal year may be 

16 awarded to volunteer emergency medical service 

17 squads.’’; 

18 (8) in subsection (b), by adding at the end the 

19 following new paragraphs: 

20 ‘‘(13) ANNUAL MEETING.—The Administrator 

21 shall convene an annual meeting of non-Federal fire 

22 service experts, including representatives from a 

23 wide range of fire service organizations, to rec24 ommend criteria for awarding grants under this sec-
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1 tion for the next fiscal year and recommend any nec2 essary administrative changes to the grant program. 

3 ‘‘(14) GUIDELINES.—(A) Each year, prior to 

4 making any grants under this section, the Adminis5 trator shall publish in the Federal Register— 

6 ‘‘(i) guidelines that describe the process for 

7 applying for grants and the criteria for award8 ing grants; and 

9 ‘‘(ii) an explanation of any differences be10 tween the guidelines and the recommendations 

11 made pursuant to paragraph (1). 

12 ‘‘(B) The criteria for awarding grants shall in13 clude the extent to which the grant would enhance 

14 the daily operations of a fire department and the im15 pact of such a grant on the protection of lives and 

16 property. 

17 ‘‘(15) PEER REVIEW.—The Administrator shall, 

18 after consultation with national fire service organiza19 tions, appoint fire service personnel to conduct peer 

20 review of applications received under paragraph (5). 

21 In making grants under this section, the Adminis22 trator shall consider the results of such peer review 

23 evaluations. 

24 ‘‘(16) PROTECTION OFVOLUNTEERS FROM DIS25 CRIMINATION.—A fire department receiving funds 
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1 provided under this section shall not discriminate 

2 against, or prohibit its members from engaging in, 

3 volunteer activities in another jurisdiction during 

4 off-duty hours.’’; and 

5 (9) in subsection (e)(1), by striking ‘‘2002 

6 through 2004’’ and inserting ‘‘2005 through 2007’’. 

7 SEC. 4. REPORTS. 

8 (a) STUDY ON NEED FOR FEDERAL ASSISTANCE TO

9 STATE AND LOCAL COMMUNITIES TO FUND FIRE10 FIGHTING AND EMERGENCY RESPONSE ACTIVITIES.— 

11 The Administrator of the United States Fire Administra12 tion shall— 

13 (1) reconduct the study required under section 

14 1701(b) of the Floyd D. Spence National Defense 

15 Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001, in conjunc16 tion with the National Fire Protection Association, 

17 to— 

18 (A) define the current role and activities 

19 associated with the fire services; 

20 (B) analyze the extent to which grant 

21 awards fulfill the goals of applicants; and 

22 (C) provide a needs assessment to identify 

23 shortfalls; 
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1 (2) express the needs assessment under sub2 paragraph (A)(iii) on a national and State-by-State 

3 basis; and 

4 (3) measure the impact the Assistance to Fire5 fighters Grant program under section 33 of the Fed6 eral Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 has 

7 had in meeting the shortfalls identified in the origi8 nal report conducted under such section 1701(b). 

9 (b) TIME FOR COMPLETION OF STUDY; REPORT.— 

10 The Administrator shall complete the study under sub11 section (a), and submit a report on the results of the study 

12 to Congress, not later than 18 months after the date of 

13 the enactment of this Act. 

14 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

15 are authorized to be appropriated to the United States 

16 Fire Administration $300,000 for fiscal year 2005 to 

17 carry out the study required by subsection (a). 

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