I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 545

To provide for the establishment of a scientific basis for new firefighting 

technology standards, improve coordination among Federal, State, and 

local fire officials in training for and responding to terrorist attacks 

and other national emergencies, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 5, 2003

Mr. CAMP (for himself, Mr. DEUTSCH, Mr. ISRAEL, Mr. ETHERIDGE, and Mr. 

WELDON of Pennsylvania) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science 

A BILL

To provide for the establishment of a scientific basis for 

new firefighting technology standards, improve coordination among Federal, State, and local fire officials in 

training for and responding to terrorist attacks and other 

national emergencies, 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 ‘‘Firefighting Research 

5 and Coordination Act’’. 
2

•HR 545 IH 

1 SEC. 2. NEW FIREFIGHTING TECHNOLOGY. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 8 of the Federal Fire Pre3 vention and Control Act of 1974 (15 U.S.C. 2207) is 

4 amended—

5 (1) by redesignating subsection (e) as sub6 section (f); and 

7 (2) by inserting after subsection (d) the fol8 lowing: 

9 ‘‘(e) DEVELOPMENT OF NEW TECHNOLOGY.—

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In addition to, or as part 

11 of, the program conducted under subsection (a), the 

12 Administrator, in consultation with the National In13 stitute of Standards and Technology, the Inter14 Agency Board for Equipment Standardization and 

15 Inter-Operability, national voluntary consensus 

16 standards development organizations, interested 

17 Federal, State, and local agencies, and other inter18 ested parties, shall—

19 ‘‘(A) develop new, and utilize existing, 

20 measurement techniques and testing methodolo21 gies for evaluating new firefighting tech22 nologies, including—

23 ‘‘(i) personal protection equipment; 

24 ‘‘(ii) devices for advance warning of 

25 extreme hazard; 

26 ‘‘(iii) equipment for enhanced vision; 
3

•HR 545 IH 

1 ‘‘(iv) devices to locate victims, fire2 fighters, and other rescue personnel in 

3 above-ground and below-ground structures; 

4 ‘‘(v) equipment and methods to pro5 vide information for incident command, in6 cluding the monitoring and reporting of in7 dividual personnel welfare; 

8 ‘‘(vi) equipment and methods for 

9 training, especially for virtual reality train10 ing; and 

11 ‘‘(vii) robotics and other remote-con12 trolled devices; 

13 ‘‘(B) evaluate the compatibility of new 

14 equipment and technology with existing fire15 fighting technology; and 

16 ‘‘(C) support the development of new vol17 untary consensus standards through national 

18 voluntary consensus standards organizations for 

19 new firefighting technologies based on tech20 niques and methodologies described in subpara21 graph (A). 

22 ‘‘(2) NEW EQUIPMENT MUST MEET STAND23 ARDS.—For equipment for which applicable vol24 untary consensus standards have been established, 

25 the Administrator shall, by regulation, require that 
4

•HR 545 IH 

1 equipment or systems purchased through the assist2 ance program established by section 33 meet or ex3 ceed applicable voluntary consensus standards.’’. 

4 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Section 

5 17 of the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 

6 (15 U.S.C. 2216) is amended by adding at the end the 

7 following: 

8 ‘‘(i) DEVELOPMENT OF NEW TECHNOLOGY.—There 

9 are authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator to 

10 carry out section 8(e) $2,200,000 for fiscal year 2004.’’. 

11 SEC. 3. COORDINATION OF RESPONSE TO NATIONAL EMER12 GENCY. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 10 of the Federal Fire 

14 Prevention and Control Act of 1974 (15 U.S.C. 2209) is 

15 amended—

16 (1) by redesignating subsection (b) as sub17 section (c); and 

18 (2) by inserting after subsection (a) the fol19 lowing: 

20 ‘‘(b) MUTUAL AID SYSTEMS.—

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator, after 

22 consultation with the Director of the Federal Emer23 gency Management Agency, shall provide technical 

24 assistance and training to State and local fire serv25 ice officials to establish nationwide and State mutual
5

•HR 545 IH 

1 aid systems for dealing with national emergencies 

2 that—

3 ‘‘(A) include threat assessment and equip4 ment deployment strategies; 

5 ‘‘(B) include means of collecting asset and 

6 resource information to provide accurate and 

7 timely data for regional deployment; and 

8 ‘‘(C) are consistent with the Federal 

9 Emergency Management Agency’s Federal Re10 sponse Plan. 

11 ‘‘(2) MODEL MUTUAL AID PLANS.—The Admin12 istrator, in consultation with the Director of the 

13 Federal Emergency Management Agency, shall de14 velop and make available to State and local fire serv15 ice officials model mutual aid plans for both intra16 state and interstate assistance.’’. 

17 (b) REPORT ON STRATEGIC NEEDS.—Within 90 days 

18 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator 

19 of the United States Fire Administration shall report to 

20 the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Trans21 portation and the House of Representatives Committee on 

22 Science on the need for a strategy concerning deployment 

23 of volunteers and emergency response personnel (as de24 fined in section 6 of the Firefighters’ Safety Study Act 
6

•HR 545 IH 

1 (15 U.S.C. 2223e), including a national credentialing sys2 tem, in the event of a national emergency. 

3 (c) UPDATE OF FEDERAL RESPONSE PLAN.—Within 

4 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Di5 rector of the Federal Emergency Management Agency 

6 shall—

7 (1) revise that Agency’s Federal Response Plan 

8 to incorporate plans for responding to terrorist at9 tacks, particularly in urban areas, including fire de10 tection and suppression and related emergency serv11 ices; and 

12 (2) transmit a report to the Senate Committee 

13 on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the 

14 House of Representatives Committee on Science de15 scribing the action taken to comply with paragraph 

16 (1). 

17 SEC. 4. TRAINING. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 7(d)(1) of the Federal 

19 Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 (15 U.S.C. 

20 2206(d)(1)) is amended—

21 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon in 

22 subparagraph (E); 

23 (2) by redesignating subparagraph (F) as sub24 paragraph (N); and 
7

•HR 545 IH 

1 (3) by inserting after subparagraph (E) the fol2 lowing: 

3 ‘‘(F) strategies for building collapse rescue; 

4 ‘‘(G) the use of technology in response to 

5 fires, including terrorist incidents and other na6 tional emergencies; 

7 ‘‘(H) response, tactics, and strategies for 

8 dealing with terrorist-caused national catas9 trophes; 

10 ‘‘(I) use of and familiarity with the Fed11 eral Emergency Management Agency’s Federal 

12 Response Plan; 

13 ‘‘(J) leadership and strategic skills, includ14 ing integrated management systems operations 

15 and integrated response; 

16 ‘‘(K) applying new technology and devel17 oping strategies and tactics for fighting forest 

18 fires; 

19 ‘‘(L) integrating terrorism response agen20 cies into the national terrorism incident re21 sponse system; 

22 ‘‘(M) response tactics and strategies for 

23 fighting fires at United States ports, including 

24 fires on the water and aboard vessels; and’’. 
8

•HR 545 IH 

1 (b) CONSULTATION ON FIRE ACADEMY CLASSES.—

2 The Superintendent of the National Fire Academy may 

3 consult with other Federal, State, and local agency offi4 cials in developing curricula for classes offered by the 

5 Academy. 

6 (c) COORDINATION WITH OTHER PROGRAMS TO

7 AVOID DUPLICATION.—The Administrator of the United 

8 States Fire Administration shall coordinate training pro9 vided under section 7(d)(1) of the Federal Fire Prevention 

10 and Control Act of 1974 (15 U.S.C. 2206(d)(1)) with the 

11 Attorney General, the Secretary of Health and Human 

12 Services, and the heads of other Federal agencies—

13 (1) to ensure that such training does not dupli14 cate existing courses available to fire service per15 sonnel; and 

16 (2) to establish a mechanism for eliminating 

17 duplicative training programs.

Æ