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Firefighter Investment and Response Enhancement HR 1168"-->
Firefighter Investment and Response Enhancement (FIRE)
Act (Introduced in the House)
HR 1168 IH
106th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1168
To authorize the Director of the Federal 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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 17, 1999
Mr. PASCRELL (for himself, Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania,
Mr. HOYER, Mr. ANDREWS, Mr. MCNULTY, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. BALDACCI, Mr. BISHOP,
Mr. BONIOR, Mr. BOUCHER, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Ms. BROWN of Florida, Mr.
BURR of North Carolina, Mr. COYNE, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. DEUTSCH, Mr. DOYLE, Mr.
EHRLICH, Mr. ENGLISH, Mr. ETHERIDGE, Mr. FARR of California, Mr. FORBES, Mr.
FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. GILMAN, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida,
Mr. HOLDEN, Mr. HOLT, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. KANJORSKI, Mrs.
KELLY, Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. KLINK, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr.
LARSON, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. LOBIONDO, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. LUCAS of Kentucky,
Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. MCHUGH, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. MASCARA,
Mr. MATSUI, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. METCALF, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. NEY, Mr. OBERSTAR,
Mr. PALLONE, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. PICKETT, Mr. QUINN, Mr. RAHALL, Mr. RAMSTAD, Mr.
REYES, Mr. SWEENEY, Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi, Mr. TERRY, Mr. UPTON, Mr. WEYGAND,
Mr. WISE, Mr. YOUNG of Alaska, Mr. FROST, Mrs. MORELLA, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of
Texas, Mr. FORD, Mr. ROTHMAN, and Ms. MCKINNEY) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Science, and in addition to the Committee
on Transportation and Infrastructure, for a period to be subsequently determined
by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within
the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To authorize the Director of the Federal 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.
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 `Firefighter Investment
and Response Enhancement (FIRE) Act'.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Increased demands on firefighting personnel
have made it difficult for local governments to adequately fund necessary
fire safety precautions.
(2) The Federal government has an obligation to
protect the health and safety of the firefighting personnel of the United
States and to ensure that they have the financial resources to protect the
public.
(3) The high rates in the United States of death,
injury, and property damage caused by fires demonstrates a critical need for
Federal investment in support of firefighting personnel.
SEC. 3. GRANT PROGRAM.
(a) AUTHORITY- In accordance with this Act, the
Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (in this Act referred to as
the `Director') may make grants on a competitive basis to fire departments for
the purpose of protecting the health and safety of the public and firefighting
personnel against fire and fire-related hazards.
(b) ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE FOR ADMINISTRATION OF
GRANTS- Before making grants under subsection (a), the Director shall establish
an office in the Federal Emergency Management Agency to establish spe-
cific criteria for the selection of grant recipients
and to administer the grants.
(c) USE OF GRANT FUNDS- The Director may make a
grant under subsection (a) only if the applicant for the grant agrees to use
grant funds for any of the following:
(1) To hire additional firefighting personnel.
(2) To train firefighting personnel in
firefighting, emergency response, arson prevention and detection, or the
handling of hazardous materials, or to train such personnel to provide
any of the training described in this paragraph.
(3) To fund the creation of rapid intervention
teams to protect firefighting personnel at the scenes of fires and other
emergencies.
(4) To certify fire inspectors.
(5) To establish wellness and fitness programs
for firefighting personnel to ensure that such personnel can carry out
their duties.
(6) To fund emergency medical services provided
by fire departments.
(7) To acquire additional firefighting
vehicles, including fire trucks.
(8) To acquire additional firefighting
equipment, including equipment for communications and monitoring.
(9) To acquire personal protective equipment
required for firefighting personnel by the Occupational Safety and
Health Administration, and other personal protective equipment for
firefighting personnel.
(10) To modify fire stations, fire training
facilities, and other facilities to protect the health and safety of
firefighting personnel.
(11) To enforce fire codes.
(12) To fund fire prevention programs.
(13) To educate the public about arson
prevention and detection.
(d) MATCHING REQUIREMENT- The Director may make a
grant under subsection (a) only if the applicant for the grant agrees to
match with non-Federal funds 10 percent of the funds received under
subsection (a) in any fiscal year.
(e) MAINTENANCE OF EXPENDITURES--The Director may
make a grant under subsection (a) only if the applicant for the grant agrees
to maintain for the fiscal year in which the grant will be received its
aggregate expenditures for uses described in subsection (c) at or above the
average level of such expenditures in the 2 fiscal years preceding the
fiscal year in which the grant will be received.
(f) REPORT TO THE DIRECTOR- The Director may make a
grant under subsection (a) only if the applicant for the grant agrees to
submit to the Director a report, including a description of how grant funds
were used, with respect to each fiscal year for which a grant was received.
(g) VARIETY OF GRANT RECIPIENTS- The Director shall
ensure that grants under subsection (a) for a fiscal year are made to a
variety of fire departments, including, to the extent that there are
eligible applicants--
(1) paid, volunteer, and combination fire
departments;
(2) fire departments located in communities of
varying size; and
(3) fire departments located in urban,
suburban, and rural communities.
(h) LIMITATION ON FIREFIGHTING VEHICLES- The
Director shall ensure that not more than 25 percent of the assistance made
available under subsection (a) in a fiscal year is used for purposes
authorized under section (c)(7).
(i) LIMITATION ON ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS- Of amounts
made available under section 4 for a fiscal year, the Director may use not
more than 10 percent for the administrative costs of carrying out this Act.
(j) APPLICATION- The Director may make a grant
under subsection (a) only if the fire department seeking the grant submits
to the Director an application in such form and containing such information
as the Director may require.
(k) FIREFIGHTING PERSONNEL DEFINED- In this Act the
term `firefighting personnel' means individuals, including volunteers, who
are firefighters, officers of fire departments, or emergency medical service
personnel of fire departments.
SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
For the purposes of carrying out this Act, there is
authorized to be appropriated to the Director $1,000,000,000 for each of the
fiscal years 2000 through 2005.
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