[House Hearing, 118 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
REAUTHORIZING THE U.S. FIRE
ADMINISTRATION AND FIRE GRANT PROGRAMS:
EVALUATING EFFECTIVENESS AND
PREPAREDNESS FOR MODERN CHALLENGES
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE,
AND TECHNOLOGY
OF THE
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
MAY 11, 2023
__________
Serial No. 118-14
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available via the World Wide Web: http://science.house.gov
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
52-174 PDF WASHINGTON : 2024
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY
HON. FRANK LUCAS, Oklahoma, Chairman
BILL POSEY, Florida ZOE LOFGREN, California, Ranking
RANDY WEBER, Texas Member
BRIAN BABIN, Texas SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon
JIM BAIRD, Indiana HALEY STEVENS, Michigan
DANIEL WEBSTER, Florida JAMAAL BOWMAN, New York
MIKE GARCIA, California DEBORAH ROSS, North Carolina
STEPHANIE BICE, Oklahoma ERIC SORENSEN, Illinois
JAY OBERNOLTE, California ANDREA SALINAS, Oregon
CHUCK FLEISCHMANN, Tennessee VALERIE FOUSHEE, North Carolina
DARRELL ISSA, California KEVIN MULLIN, California
RICK CRAWFORD, Arkansas JEFF JACKSON, North Carolina
CLAUDIA TENNEY, New York EMILIA SYKES, Ohio
RYAN ZINKE, Montana MAXWELL FROST, Florida
SCOTT FRANKLIN, Florida YADIRA CARAVEO, Colorado
DALE STRONG, Alabama SUMMER LEE, Pennsylvania
MAX MILLER, Ohio JENNIFER McCLELLAN, Virginia
RICH McCORMICK, Georgia TED LIEU, California
MIKE COLLINS, Georgia SEAN CASTEN, Illinois,
BRANDON WILLIAMS, New York Vice Ranking Member
TOM KEAN, New Jersey PAUL TONKO, New York
VACANCY
------
Subcommittee on Research and Technology
HON. MIKE COLLINS, Georgia, Chairman
JIM BAIRD, Indiana HALEY STEVENS, Michigan,
DARRELL ISSA, California Ranking Member
RICK CRAWFORD, Arkansas ANDREA SALINAS, Oregon
SCOTT FRANKLIN, Florida KEVIN MULLIN, California
BRANDON WILLIAMS, New York EMILIA SYKES, Ohio
TOM KEAN, New Jersey SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon
C O N T E N T S
May 11, 2023
Page
Hearing Charter.................................................. 2
Opening Statements
Statement by Representative Mike Collins, Chairman, Subcommittee
on Research and Technology, Committee on Science, Space, and
Technology, U.S. House of Representatives...................... 8
Written Statement............................................ 9
Statement by Representative Haley Stevens, Ranking Member,
Subcommittee on Research and Technology, Committee on Science,
Space, and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives........... 10
Written Statement............................................ 12
Statement by Representative Zoe Lofgren, Ranking Member,
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, U.S. House of
Representatives................................................ 13
Written Statement............................................ 14
Witnesses:
Dr. Lori Moore-Merrell, U.S. Fire Administrator, U.S. Fire
Administration
Oral Statement............................................... 16
Written Statement............................................ 18
Chief Donna Black, President, International Association of Fire
Chiefs
Oral Statement............................................... 25
Written Statement............................................ 27
Mr. Kevin B. O'Connor, Assistant to the General President,
International Association of Fire Fighters
Oral Statement............................................... 34
Written Statement............................................ 36
Mr. David Bullard, Georgia Director, National Volunteer Fire
Council
Oral Statement............................................... 47
Written Statement............................................ 49
Mr. Kevin Reardon, State Fire Marshall, State of Ohio
Oral Statement............................................... 58
Written Statement............................................ 60
Discussion....................................................... 65
REAUTHORIZING THE U.S. FIRE
ADMINISTRATION AND FIRE GRANT PROGRAMS:
EVALUATING EFFECTIVENESS AND
PREPAREDNESS FOR MODERN CHALLENGES
----------
THURSDAY, MAY 11, 2023
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on Research and Technology,
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology,
Washington, D.C.
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:01 p.m., in
room 2325, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Mike Collins
[Chairman of the Subcommittee] presiding.
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairman Collins. All right. So the Subcommittee on
Research and Technology will come to order. I'd like to remind
the witnesses that when you're not speaking, if you would just
turn off your mic.
So without objection, the Chair is authorized to declare
recess of the Subcommittee at any time.
Welcome to today's hearing entitled ``Reauthorizing the
U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) and Fire Grant Programs:
Evaluating Effectiveness and Preparedness for Modern
Challenges.''
I'm going to recognize myself for 5 minutes for an opening
statement.
Good afternoon, and welcome to our witnesses who have
joined us here today. Before I begin my remarks, I want to take
a moment to thank our witnesses and those in the room who have
served as firefighters or in other first responders' roles.
Firefighting is dangerous, and too many firefighters lose their
lives each year. My home State of Georgia lost one of its own
in March when firefighter Matthew Brian Smith of Bartow County
Fire and Emergency Service passed away due to complications
from a medical incident during a search-and-rescue training
exercise. This tragedy is a somber reminder of the dangers
firefighters face even when not responding to an active call.
It is my hope the work we do here in Congress and the things
that we discuss today will lead to fewer deaths in the future.
We have convened this hearing to discuss the United States
Fire Administration, the research it conducts and the programs
it administers. Originally part of the Department of Congress,
the U.S.--Commerce--the U.S. Fire Administration was founded
through the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974.
Now it's housed within the Federal Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA) at the Department of Homeland Security. The Fire
Administration plays an essential role in our Nation's fire
prevention efforts.
For example, the Fire Administration collects, organizes,
and publishes statistics on fire incidents nationwide through
the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) at the
National Fire Data Center. The Administration promotes
awareness of fire prevention through partnerships and special
incentives. It maintains and operates the National Emergency
Training Center in Maryland where thousands of firefighters and
first responders have trained over the last 50 years.
The Fire Administration also runs two popular grant
programs, the Assistance to Firefighters, or AFG program, and
the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response, or SAFER
program. The Assistance to Firefighters program supports local
emergency responders by providing direct assistance for
training, equipment, facility upgrades, vehicle acquisition,
and other critical needs. The SAFER program helps fire
departments and firefighter support organizations hire and
retain capable firefighters. Together, these programs have led
to billions of dollars in investments in local fire readiness
by increasing the number of service-ready firefighters and
providing equipment to urban, suburban, and rural fire
departments across America.
The Fire Administration doesn't just invest in local
departments, though. It also funds and conducts critical
research on fire prevention. Improving the fire safety of the
things we use, the buildings we enter, the vehicles we drive
means fewer fire-related deaths and less property damage every
year. This critical function of the Fire Administration means
there are fewer fire incidences, and they are more manageable
when they do happen. Minimizing the size and frequency of fire
incidents is the most cost-effective way to protect
firefighters and reduce the cost of operating fire departments.
Supporting our firefighters and first responders has never
been more essential than it is today. During COVID lockdowns,
firefighters and other frontline workers carried the weight of
a nation in crisis. Emergency services never stopped during
lockdowns thanks to every brave man and woman who showed up
every day to put their lives on the line.
Unfortunately, the effects of the pandemic have led
thousands of firefighters, both career and volunteer, to exit
the service. This has left many departments understaffed, and
new recruits are not signing up fast enough to replace those
exiting the service.
The witnesses with us today will be the first to tell you
that firefighting is more than a profession. It's a passion
that has often passed from parent to child through the
generations. The U.S. Fire Administration has a role in
restoring that passion and prestige to the service. The U.S.
Fire Administration is a trusted institution of the fire
community, and its leadership will be needed to identify and
address modern challenges facing America's firefighters.
However, with more than 29,000 fire departments across the
United States, the Federal Government, which is already
trillions of dollars in debt, does not have the resources to
fund every aspect of fire prevention. The Fire Administration
has and should continue to act as a force multiplier for fire
departments by providing high-quality and accessible training
services through the Fire Academy. The AFG and SAFER programs
should be thoroughly examined to identify where these limited
Federal resources can have the biggest impact, and Congress
must think critically about how to best support the fire
prevention community long into the future.
I look forward to working with my colleagues and the
witnesses here today to identify the most pressing issues
facing the fire services and supporting the men and women who
keep this essential service operating across America.
[The prepared statement of Chairman Collins follows:]
Good afternoon, and welcome to our witnesses who have
joined us here today.
Before I begin my remarks, I want to take a moment to thank
our witnesses and those in the room who have served as
firefighters or in other first responder roles.
Firefighting is dangerous, and too many firefighters lose
their lives each year.
My home state of Georgia lost one of its own in March when
firefighter Matthew Brian Smith of the Bartow County Fire and
Emergency Service passed away due to complications from a
medical incident during a search and rescue training exercise.
This tragedy is a somber reminder of the dangers
firefighters face, even when not responding to an active call.
It is my hope that the work we do here in Congress and the
things we discuss today will lead to fewer deaths in the
future.
We have convened this hearing to discuss the United States
Fire Administration, the research it conducts, and the programs
it administers.
Originally part of the Department of Commerce, the U.S.
Fire Administration was founded through the Federal Fire
Prevention and Control Act of 1974.
Now housed within the Federal Emergency Management Agency
at the Department of Homeland Security, the Fire Administration
plays an essential role in our nation's fire prevention
efforts.
For example, the Fire Administration collects, organizes,
and publishes statistics on fire incidents nationwide through
the National Fire Incident Reporting System at the National
Fire Data Center.
The Administration promotes awareness of fire prevention
through partnerships and special initiatives.
It maintains and operates the National Emergency Training
Center in Maryland, where thousands of firefighters and first
responders have trained over the last fifty years.
The Fire Administration also runs two popular grant
programs, The Assistance to Firefighters--or AFG--program and
the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response--or
SAFER--program.
The Assistance to Firefighters Program supports local
emergency responders by providing direct assistance for
training, equipment, facilities upgrades, vehicle acquisition,
and other critical needs.
The SAFER Program helps fire departments and firefighter
support organizations hire and retain capable firefighters.
Together, these programs have led to billions of dollars of
investments in local fire readiness by increasing the number of
service-ready firefighters and providing equipment to urban,
suburban, and rural fire departments across America.
The Fire Administration doesn't just invest in local
departments, though. It also funds and conducts critical
research on fire prevention.
Improving the fire-safety of the things we use, the
buildings we enter, and the vehicles we drive means fewer fire-
related deaths and less property damage every year.
This critical function of the Fire Administration means
there are fewer fire incidents, and they are more manageable
when they do happen.
Minimizing the size and frequency of fire incidents is the
most cost-effective way to protect firefighters and reduce the
costs of operating fire departments.
Supporting our firefighters and first responders has never
been more essential than it is today.
During COVID lockdowns, firefighters and other front-line
workers carried the weight of a nation in crisis.
Emergency services never stopped during lockdowns thanks to
the brave men and women who showed up every day to put their
lives on the line.
Unfortunately, the effects of the pandemic have led
thousands of firefighters, both career and volunteer, to exit
the service.
This has left many departments understaffed, and new
recruits are not signing up fast enough to replace those
exiting the service.
The witnesses with us today will be the first to tell you
that firefighting is more than a profession--it's a passion
that has often passed from parent to child through the
generations.
The U.S. Fire Administration has a role in restoring that
passion and prestige to the service.
The U.S. Fire Administration is a trusted institution of
the fire community, and its leadership will be needed to
identify and address modern challenges facing America's
firefighters.
However, with more than 29,000 fire departments across the
United States, the Federal Government, which is already
trillions of dollars in debt, does not have the resources to
fund every aspect of fire prevention.
The Fire Administration has, and should continue to, act as
a force multiplier for fire departments by providing high
quality and accessible training services through the Fire
Academy.
The AFG and SAFER programs should be thoroughly examined to
identify where these limited Federal resources can have the
biggest impact.
And Congress must think critically about how to best
support the fire prevention community long into the future.
I look forward to working with my colleagues and the
witnesses here today to identify the most pressing issues
facing the fire services and supporting the men and women who
keep this essential service operating across America.
Chairman Collins. I now recognize the Ranking Member, the
gentlewoman from Michigan, for an opening statement.
Ms. Stevens. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr.
Collins, for holding this important hearing today on
reauthorizing the U.S. Fire Administration and fire grant
programs, evaluating the effectiveness and preparedness for
modern challenges.
Look, although fire loss has improved significantly over
the past 25 years, the fire problem in the United States
remains serious. The United States still has one of the highest
fire death rates in the industrialized world, and it is clear
that we still have work to do to prevent these fires and their
deadly consequences.
It's also been a particularly bad year for fires in my home
State of Michigan. According to the Michigan Fire Inspector
Society, home fires have been up significantly. We measure this
year over year, the increase, and only 5 months into 2023, the
State of Michigan has experienced an increase of 11 percent in
fires compared with this time of the year in the last 5-year
average.
And so while incidences are up in homes, there also have
been several notable fires at businesses across metro Detroit
that I have been tracking over the last handful of years, and
one that I would like to highlight in my home district is a
fire that burned down, or nearly burned down the Oakland Hills
Country Club, a fixture that had been in the community for
generations, a place where I worked when I was in high school,
a 99-year-old clubhouse, which was one of the oldest all-wooden
structures in Michigan just caught on fire. And the fire crews
from several cities worked together, came together that day--it
was a snowy day in Michigan--for over 24 hours to fully
extinguish--to extinguish the blaze. And to this day, we can
all be extremely thankful that no one was injured. And I want
to thank our hometown heroes from the Bloomfield Hills Township
Fire Department, and particularly Fire Chief John LeRoy.
And before continuing, I also want to recognize the fire
service professionals in the room with us here today. Our
firefighters and our first responders are truly some of the
bravest among us. I have put on your gear. It is heavy. It is
tough work, and you deserve our debt of gratitude for
fearlessly protecting our homes, our businesses, schools, and
families from catastrophe. First responders save lives while
risking their own each and every day, and our fire service
professionals deserve adequate and reliable support from
Congress, across the Congress, and here today, especially in
this Committee, as we evaluate your needs. Thank you for
representing the backbone of our communities.
And we're also here today to discuss the need for
reauthorization of the Fire Administration, or USFA, and the
grant programs known as Assistance to Firefighters Grant
programs, or AFG, and the Staffing for Adequate Fire and
Emergency Response grant program, or SAFER, something, you
know, I hear from my fire departments frequently when out
visiting and spending time with them, SAFER grants, very
important, AFG grants, very important.
And as I've hosted grant workshops throughout my district,
our firefighter professionals, they show up because they are so
eager to get access to these dollars, and we've seen firsthand
how SAFER and AFG grants make the difference in our fire
departments, make the difference with the equipment that you're
utilizing, and on.
And last year, we're very pleased that the Empowering U.S.
Fire Administration Act introduced by Mr. Ritchie Torres not
only passed the House, passed the Senate, and was signed. And I
know Ms. Moore-Merrell is nodding her head because that
utilizes the power of the U.S. Fire Administration to
investigate these fires like what happened in Michigan at
Oakland Hills.
Under the Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Presidential budget
request, USFA would receive a much-needed but still
insignificant--or insufficient budget increase of 3.5 percent.
The AFG and SAFER grant programs would each receive a budget
increase of $10 million. It still falls below the funding
levels required for these programs to realize their full
potential, and I really want to encourage my colleagues to
continue to support authorization levels that reflect the
demand for these programs and their lifesaving impact on the
ground.
As the Ranking Member of the Research and Technology
Subcommittee, I'm also very eager to hear more about the fire
community's priorities for research and development. Where do
you need technology investment? Where are we falling short?
Where should we be looking to invest? The fire community is on
the brink of significant advancements in technology protocol
and certainly workforce protection.
I believe one of the most urgent needs is to advance the
establishment of a comprehensive firefighter cancer strategy
that invests in research and eliminates PFAS exposure on the
job. The development of PFAS-free alternatives for protective
fire gear is critical to protect firefighters from long-term
health impacts such as cancer. NIST (National Institute of
Standards and Technology) just released an important analysis
of PFAS in turnout gear. I'd like to hear more about USFA's
role to research and develop alternative textiles.
In addition, USFA is requesting additional funds to help
implement a next-generation data system that will modernize and
advance predictive analytics and risk measurement capabilities
to enhance the Fire Service's ability to prevent and respond to
emergencies.
Thank you all so much for being here today and helping us
understand how Congress can better support you and effectively
protect our communities.
I yield back.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Stevens follows:]
Thank you, Chairman Collins, for holding this important
hearing.
Although fire loss has improved significantly over the past
25 years, the fire problem in the United States remains
serious. The United States still has one of the highest fire
death rates in the industrialized world. It is clear we still
have work to do to prevent these fires and their deadly
consequences.
It's been a particularly bad year for home fires in my own
state of Michigan. According to the Michigan Fire Inspectors
Society, home fires have been up significantly. It's only 5
months into 2023, and Michigan has already experienced an 11%
increase in fires compared with this time of the year in the
last 5-year average.
While incidents are up in homes, there also have been
several notable fires at businesses across metro Detroit in the
past few years. My own district experienced a fire that burned
down the Oakland Hills Country Club--a fixture that had been in
the community for generations. The 99-year-old clubhouse was
one of the oldest all-wooden structures in Michigan and was
where I worked as a hostess the summer after high school to
save up money for college. Fire crews from several cities
worked together for over 24 hours to fully extinguish the
blaze. To this day, I am extremely thankful that no one was
injured.
Before continuing, I do want to recognize the fire service
professionals in the room today. Our firefighters and first
responders are some of the bravest among us--fearlessly
protecting our homes, businesses, schools, and families from
catastrophe. First responders save lives while risking their
own, each and every day. Our fire service professionals deserve
adequate and reliable support from Congress. You all represent
the backbone of our communities and I want to thank you and
your families for your service.
We are here today to discuss the need for reauthorization
of the U.S. Fire Administration, or USFA, and the grant
programs known as Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program, or
AFG, and the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response
Grant Program, or SAFER. I am proud to report that when I host
grant workshops for community members in my District, our local
fire departments are often the most engaged in the discussions.
And I have seen firsthand the impact of the SAFER and AFG
grants.
The U.S. fire service at large plays a critical role in
protecting the health and safety of our citizens, communities,
and critical infrastructure. The USFA and associated grant
programs are critical pieces of that puzzle. Under the fiscal
year 2024 Presidential Budget Request, USFA would receive a
much needed, but still insufficient, budget increase of 3.5
percent. The AFG and SAFER grant programs would each receive a
budget increase of 10 million dollars. This still falls far
below the funding levels required for these programs to realize
their full potential. I encourage my colleagues to continue to
support authorization levels that reflect the demand for these
programs and their lifesaving impact on the ground.
As the Ranking Member of the Research & Technology
subcommittee, I am eager to hear more about the fire
community's priorities for research and development. The fire
community is on the brink of significant advancements in
technology, protocol, and workforce protection. I believe one
of the most urgent is the establishment of a comprehensive fire
fighter cancer strategy that invests in research and eliminates
PFAS exposure on the job. The development of PFAS-free
alternatives for protective gear is critical to protect
firefighters from long-term health impacts such as cancer. NIST
just released an important analysis of PFAS in turnout gear.
I'd like to hear more about USFA's role in research to develop
alternative textiles. In addition, USFA is requesting
additional funds to help implement a next generation data
system that will modernize and advance predictive analytics and
risk measurement capabilities to enhance the fire service's
ability to prevent and respond to emergencies. I look forward
to learning more about fire-related technology gaps keeping us
from getting closer to zero fire-related deaths.Thank you again
for being here today and sharing how Congress can provide the
support you need to effectively protect our first responders
and our communities.
Thank you. I yield back.
Chairman Collins. Thank you, Ms. Stevens.
I now recognize the Ranking Member of the Full Committee
from California, Ms. Lofgren, for a statement.
Ms. Lofgren. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I think
this hearing is very timely. I'm looking forward to hearing the
witnesses.
You know, we have returned to a post-COVID world.
Obviously, people are still getting COVID, but the pandemic has
been declared over. Yet, the impact of that epidemic has left
us reeling in some cases, and when it comes to firefighters,
you know, we asked you to do a lot. You do emergency response,
but during the pandemic, you also exposed yourself to deadly
disease. You were acting as healthcare providers in many cases.
You know, we provided $100 million in the CARES Act for
supplemental funding to the Assistance for Firefighters Grant,
or AFG. Now, the House also passed the Heroes Act, which
proposed an additional amount of funding for the AFG program
and its partner program, the SAFER program. However, the Senate
failed to act, a big disappointment to us.
Now, in part due to this inaction, we've seen a lot of
firefighters retire in large numbers and relatively few
stepping forward to take their place. In my home State of
California between 2019 and 2021 the U.S. Forest Service--
obviously, the Federal Government's primary wildfire agency--
lost more than 1,000 firefighters. This represents 20 percent
of the agency's firefighting forces in the State. And officials
with the Forest Service said the pandemic, as well as
firefighter burnout, which is connected to the pandemic,
contributed to that whole retirement scene.
Demands on the fire service are increasing. In California,
we've seen huge wildfires, unprecedented wildfires, and our
firefighters are stepping forward to protect property and
lives. We thank you for that. We need also to support crucial
scientific research to better predict and prepare for wildfires
and to support State and local governments that have faced in
some cases repeated wildfires, as well as other disasters. Now,
we passed a bill to deal with that. Again, unfortunately, the
Senate has failed to act. I'm hoping that this Congress we can
rise to the challenge and get our Nation's firefighters the
resources that they need to do their jobs and to support our
State and local officials in the fight against wildfires.
Congress just has to reauthorize the U.S. Fire Administration
and the AFG and the SAFER programs to train more firefighters,
modernize the data systems used to track and respond to fire
emergencies, and many others.
I remember a time in my own city of San Jose where we had
had a shortfall. We were going to have to lay off firefighters
when we had huge needs, and thank goodness for the
administrators in the SAFER program. We were able to avoid
those layoffs, and those firefighters continued to do their job
protecting the public, and I am grateful for that, as are the
citizens of San Jose and the firefighters themselves.
I look forward to today's discussion on reauthorizing these
bills and how Congress can help ensure that the brave men and
women who really stepped forward to protect us all can get the
support that's concrete. You all know that we support you
morally. Let's make sure that the concrete support that you
need is also provided.
And with that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Lofgren follows:]
Thank you, Chairman Collins and Ranking Member Stevens, for
holding today's hearing. And thank you to our witnesses for
being here today.
While many aspects of our daily lives have returned to
normal, the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a heavy toll on our
first responders, especially our firefighters. During the
public health crisis, we relied more than ever on our nation's
fire service to provide emergency medical response. We asked
firefighters to be healthcare workers and risk their own
exposure to a deadly disease, often with limited access to
personal protective equipment.
Congress initially provided $100 million in the CARES Act
for supplemental funding to the Assistance to Firefighters
Grant, or AFG. The House also passed the Heroes Act, which
proposed an additional $1 billion in supplemental funding for
the AFG program and its partner program, the Staffing for
Adequate Fire and Emergency Response, or SAFER program.
However, the Senate failed to act.
In part due to this inaction, we have seen many
firefighters retire in large numbers during the pandemic and
relatively few rise to fill their roles. In my home state of
California, between 2019 and 2021, the U.S.
Forest Service, which is the federal government's primary
wildfire agency, lost more than 1000 firefighters. This number
represents 20 percent of the agency's firefighting force in
California. Officials with the Forest Service said the pandemic
and firefighter burnout both contributed to this workforce
shortage.
Demands on our fire service have only continued to
increase. I have seen firsthand how increasingly dangerous
wildfires threaten the health and safety of communities across
California. Last year, I worked to pass four bills out of the
House that would make sure federal firefighters get the
overtime they deserve, improve FEMA's response to wildfires,
support crucial scientific research to better predict and
prepare for wildfires, and support state and local governments
that have faced repeat wildfires and other disasters.
Unfortunately, the Senate again failed to act.
It is my hope that Congress can rise to the challenge this
year to get our nation's firefighters the resources they need
to do their jobs and to support our state and local officials
in the fight against wildfires. Congress must reauthorize the
U.S. Fire Administration and the AFG and SAFER programs to
train more firefighters and modernize our data systems used to
track and respond to fire emergencies.
Congress must pass legislation to enact a whole-of-
government response to increasingly severe and destructive
wildfires. Congress must act, because failure to do so will put
the lives and property of millions of Americans at risk.
I look forward to today's discussion on reauthorizing the
U.S. Fire Administration and fire grant programs, and how
Congress can help ensure the brave women and men of our
Nation's fire service have the resources they need.
I yield back.
Chairman Collins. Thank you, Ms. Lofgren.
I am going to take a few minutes and I'll just take the
opportunity to introduce our witnesses today. Our first witness
today is Dr. Lori Moore-Merrell, Fire Administrator of the U.S.
Fire Administration. Dr. Moore-Merrell was appointed as Fire
Administrator on October 25, 2021, and prior to her
appointment, she served as President and CEO (Chief Executive
Officer) of the International Public Safety Data Institute. She
was also a long-serving senior executive in the International
Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF). Dr. Moore-Merrell began
her Fire Service career as a fire department paramedic in the
city of Memphis Fire Department. Dr. Moore-Merrell holds a
doctor of public health and quality performance metrics from
the George Washington University Milken Institute's School of
Public Health.
Our next witness is Chief Donna Black, President of the
International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC). Chief Black
began her service as a volunteer working her way through the
ranks as both a volunteer and career firefighter before being
selected as the Fire Chief of Duck, North Carolina, in 2006.
Chief Black also holds a bachelor of science from Ithaca
College and a master of arts from the University of Georgia,
and you know I'm going to say it, go Dawgs. Chief Black was
selected as President of the International Association of Fire
Chiefs in August of last year.
Next, we have Mr. Kevin O'Connor, Assistant to the General
President, International Association of Fire Fighters. Mr.
O'Connor is a longtime advocate for firefighters. He has led
the International Association of Fire Fighters' government
affairs and public policy efforts for nearly two decades. Kevin
is currently serving as a Fire Commissioner on the Baltimore
Board of Fire Commissioners.
Our next witness is Mr. David Bullard, volunteer
firefighter and Georgia Director for the National Volunteer
Fire Council (NVFC). Mr. Bullard began his fire service in 1998
at Leah, North Carolina--North Columbia, I'm sorry, Fire
Rescue. David currently serves as a Lieutenant on the Columbia
County Fire Rescue in Martinez, Georgia. He also serves on the
Board of Directors of the Georgia State Firefighters
Association and the Board of Trustees of the Georgia
Firefighters Pension Fund.
And our last witness we have Mr. Kevin Reardon, who my
colleague, Miss Sykes, would like to introduce. So I now
recognize Miss Sykes to introduce Mr. Reardon.
Mrs. Sykes. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
And I am honored to welcome and introduce Mr. Kevin
Reardon, who is the Fire Marshal for the great State of Ohio.
He became our State's 39th Fire Marshal upon his appointment in
June 2020. Mr. Marshal is no stranger to the Hill because he
served our State as a staffer to then-Senator DeWine for a
decade and as a firefighter with the Columbus Division of Fire
for 30 years. Mr. Chairman, I think I speak for all of us when
I say we are grateful to have someone with his experience here.
He was so good of a staffer to Senator DeWine, he appointed him
as the Fire Marshal for the State, so I am sure that not only
is commitment and loyalty a part of his service, and we are
grateful to have his expertise here. Thank you for advocating
for firefighters across the State of Ohio and across the
Nation.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I yield back.
Chairman Collins. With that, I now recognize Dr. Moore-
Merrell for 5 minutes to present her testimony.
TESTIMONY OF DR. LORI MOORE-MERRELL,
U.S. FIRE ADMINISTRATOR, U.S. FIRE ADMINISTRATION
Dr. Moore-Merrell. This is coming on--there we are.
Chairman Collins, Ranking Member Stevens, and Ms. Lofgren, I
first must compliment the well-informed opening statements.
Thank you all for that. And the Members of the Subcommittee, my
name is Lori Moore-Merrell, and I serve as the Administrator of
the United States Fire Administration and within the Federal
Emergency Management Agency. I thank you all for this
opportunity to testify today and to discuss the USFA's evolving
role within the firefighting and emergency management
community.
The USFA's mission is to support and strengthen fire and
emergency medical services (EMS) to prevent, mitigate, prepare
for, and respond to all hazards. Since 1974, the USFA has led
national efforts to reduce the impact of fire and other
disasters on our communities through education, building codes
and standards, fire safety advocacy, and grants. Yet there is
still much to be done.
As millions of Americans have sadly witnessed firsthand,
fire continues to pose a substantial risk across the United
States. On average, there are more than 1.2 million structure
fires, nearly 3,000 deaths, thousands of injuries, and scores
of individuals displaced annually due to fire. And although
disasters such as fires can affect everyone, we know they can
also exacerbate preexisting challenges across the country.
These impacts and--are further compounded by our changing
climate, which is making disasters such as wildfires much more
common, more intense, and more destructive.
These challenges pose heightened risk to the public and to
first responders who safeguard our communities, and the
challenge to our communities continue to evolve. Consider that
1/3 of the U.S. population currently lives within the expanding
wildland-urban interface environment, also known as the WUI.
This is not the wildland. It is forested areas that have been
cleared, and they are still fire-prone. These communities are
unfortunately often built without adequate attention to the WUI
building codes and consideration for ignition-resistant
building materials. That means that when wildfires occur and
reach the populated areas, they spread quickly and can be
devastating. However, despite the challenges such as these,
only five States and 200 jurisdictions in 24 States have
adopted the WUI building codes.
An overlapping challenge facing our communities is that
fire departments across the United States, both career and
volunteer, are experiencing recruitment and retention
challenges, and therefore, personnel shortages. Firefighting is
amongst the most hazardous professions. Both fire and EMS
responders are routinely exposed to incidents involving
devastating injuries and tragic loss of life and property. Our
first responders face challenges that can have both physical
and psychological impact. Finding ways to support their health
and well-being and bolster our recruitment will be a critical
component to our ability to meet the evolving challenges.
One of the ways in which FEMA helps firefighters and
communities to meet these challenges is through our grant
programs. For example, as you've noted, the Staffing for
Adequate Fire and Emergency Response grant program is helping
to address the shortages across the country as it provides
funding directly to our fire departments and volunteer
firefighter organizations to increase the number of
firefighters in the country.
Another tool to help the firefighting community meet the
evolving challenges is the Assistance to Firefighters Grants
program. These grants can be used to enhance a fire
department's capability to protect the health and safety of our
firefighters and the public and to support the research needs
to bolster these efforts. The AFG program also includes the
Fire Prevention and Safety Grants (FP&S), which seek to reduce
the injury and prevent death among high-risk populations.
I would like to thank our congressional partners for their
past support for these programs which help provide firefighting
and community with the tools they need to save lives.
As we look to the future, the USFA is seeking ways to
address the evolving challenges and important element of this
progression is the USFA's ability to collect and analyze and
report relevant information in a timely manner. The USFA is
redesigning the National Fire Incident Reporting System to
develop a modern cloud-based data-capture system and streamline
the data standard for interoperability and maximum efficiency.
This platform will be known as the National Emergency Response
Information System, or NERIS, and will ensure that USFA and the
fire service at large will have access to secure,
interoperable, live data services that contain the outputs of
the most authoritative data sources, local fire departments,
and public officials. Along with our data scientists and
researchers, we'll be able to leverage this data platform to
conduct research, disseminate reports, and inform
decisionmakers at all levels of government. This information
will help get the right emergency resources to the right risk
events in the right timeframe.
As we prepare for the challenges ahead such as those posed
by increasing risk of climate change-driven wildfires and the
continuing struggle we have with structure fires in this
Nation, the USFA looks forward to working with both our
firefighting partners and the Members of this Committee to
build a more resilient nation. And I want to thank you for the
opportunity to address this Committee this afternoon.
[The prepared statement of Dr. Moore-Merrell follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairman Collins. Thank you, Doctor.
I now recognize Chief Donna Black for 5 minutes to present
her testimony.
TESTIMONY OF CHIEF DONNA BLACK,
PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FIRE CHIEFS
Chief Black. Good afternoon. Chairman Collins, Ranking
Member Stevens, Ms. Lofgren, and Members of the Subcommittee, I
am Chief Donna Black, the Fire Chief of the Duck, North
Carolina Fire Department, and the President and Board Chair of
the International Association of Fire Chiefs. On behalf of the
more than 11,000 members of the IFC, I thank you for the
opportunity to discuss the importance of the AFG and SAFER
grant programs in the U.S. Fire Administration.
Your local fire department is the community's all-hazards
response force. Besides structural fires, many fire departments
also respond to emergencies involving EMS, hazardous materials
response, urban search and rescue, and technical rescue. During
the COVID-19 pandemic, firefighters provided EMS response to
patients, administered tests to their communities, and staffed
and managed vaccination centers. As the national public health
emergency ends, it is important to recognize the 307 fire and
94 EMS personnel who succumbed to COVID-19.
Even as the pandemic ends, the fire and emergency service
faces a new set of challenges. The Nation's wildland fire
problem continues to threaten more communities across the whole
Nation. The greater use of lithium batteries has increased the
risks of fires in homes. In addition, fire and EMS departments
continue to respond to the tragic multi-casualty active shooter
incidents that occur in our Nation.
It's important to recognize that the national fire problem
presents a challenge, too. According to the NFPA (National Fire
Protection Association), the number of civilian deaths in fires
rose by 8.5 percent between 2020 and 2021. In fact, the rate of
deaths in home fires in 2021 was higher than the home fire
death rate in 1980.
The Federal Government has long been a longtime partner in
the national effort to reduce fire deaths and property loss. In
response to the ``America Burning'' report, the U.S. Fire
Administration was created in 1974. USFA now provides
leadership and fire prevention campaigns and information about
emerging issues. It also hosts the Nation's premier fire
education center, the National Fire Academy. NFA provides
education to develop fire service leaders to more than 100,000
students per year.
The Federal Government also supports FEMA's AFG and SAFER
grant programs. These programs provide matching grants directly
to local fire departments using a merit-based peer-review
process. The AFG program funds equipment and training for fire
departments. Its Fire Prevention and Safety Grant programs
research to prevent the loss of life and property due to fire.
It also funds public fire prevention campaigns. The SAFER grant
programs help fund career firefighters for 3 years. It also
funds recruitment and retention programs to help volunteer fire
departments maintain their staffing.
As a longtime member of the volunteer fire service, I would
like to highlight their challenges. Approximately 70 percent of
firefighters are volunteers. Volunteer fire departments still
rely upon fundraiser like bingo, fish dinners, and pancake
breakfasts to fund their operations. The AFG and SAFER programs
provide lifelines to these fire departments.
For example, career, combination, and volunteer fire
departments face trouble recruiting members in the wake of the
COVID-19 pandemic. The IFC received a SAFER recruitment and
retention grant to address this problem. Using this grant, the
IFC trained more than 1,000 volunteer fire service leaders
online and in person to improve recruitment of a more diverse
fire service.
The AFG program also can be used to address emerging
challenges. For example, the IFC received an FP&S grant to help
more than 250 at-risk communities prepare for wildland fires
and educate their citizens about protecting their homes. It
also created a fire department exchange program for fire
departments to share ideas on addressing the wildland fire
problem. The IFC thanks the Committee for starting work on
legislation to reauthorize the AFG and SAFER grant programs and
the USFA.
The IAFC recommends that the Committee authorize the AFG
and SAFER programs through FY 2030 to ensure long-term funding
for these programs, authorize the USFA through FY 2030 so that
it can continue to provide transformative education to the fire
and emergency service, increase the USFA's authorization to $95
million per year to fund the new cloud-based real-time data
system that Dr. Moore-Merrell proposed. This funding also will
support the examination of major fires as Congress authorized
last year, Extend the sunset date for the AFG and SAFER grants
to September 30, 2032, to protect them. It is important to get
future Congresses time to reauthorize the programs without
sunsetting them.
I thank the Subcommittee for your time today. As the fire
and emergency service faces new challenges, we are grateful for
Congress' continued assistance. The AFG and SAFER programs help
fire departments protect their communities from all hazards
while the USFA provides critical education and policy
leadership. We look forward to working with you to protect
these important programs, and I look forward to answering any
questions that you may have. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Chief Black follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairman Collins. Thank you, Chief.
I now recognize Mr. Kevin O'Connor for 5 minutes to present
his testimony.
TESTIMONY OF MR. KEVIN B. O'CONNOR,
ASSISTANT TO THE GENERAL PRESIDENT,
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FIRE FIGHTERS
Mr. O'Connor. Thank you very much. I appreciate it,
Chairman Collins, Ranking Member Stevens, distinguished Members
of the Subcommittee. I'm Kevin O'Connor, and it's my honor to
be here today representing the International Association of
Fire Fighters, our General President Ed Kelly, and the 335,000
firefighters, officers, and paramedics who comprise our
organization. We're very proud to protect communities in all
435 congressional districts across the Nation.
My written testimony has been provided.
It's literally impossible to describe the dramatic impact
these two programs have had on the American fire service, and
it's equally as impossible to fathom our industry functioning
without them or the vital resources they provide. This issue is
deeply personal to me. I lobbied the original legislation
beginning in the mid-1990's when it was still called the FIRE
Act. At that point, the founder of the congressional Fire
Caucus, Curt Weldon, teamed up with his colleague Bill Pascrell
to conceive this original idea.
As someone who served as both a volunteer and career
firefighter, I understood even back then that our local
resources were woefully inadequate. As a result, pressing needs
like PPE (personal protective equipment), apparatus, and
training were often neglected. AFG was the Federal Government's
first acknowledgement that it had a duty to partner with the
fire service to ensure public safety and emergency response, as
it had done for law enforcement, public health, and education
over many years.
The tenacity of the fire service and our congressional
partners paid off. During the 106th session in which the
original legislation was passed, over 270 bipartisan co-
sponsors were amassed for the legislation. Money finally
started to flow to purchase equipment and other needs. Three
years later, recognizing a national staffing shortage on the
career side and a major recruitment retention problem for the
volunteers, Congress authorized SAFER to address those
shortfalls.
The complimentary AFG-SAFER programs have been a source of
bipartisan, bicameral cooperation in Congress in these
intervening years. They have also drawn all the diverse
components of the fire service together, career and volunteer,
management and labor on every reauthorization over the last two
decades. What sets these programs apart from a plethora of
other Federal grant programs is the direct participation of the
fire service in every aspect of AFG-SAFER. First and foremost,
local fire departments themselves submit the grants, not
municipal or State government. Fire departments know their own
needs, and they make the direct ask.
Each year, nine fire service organizations, which we call
the nine sisters, come together to collectively and
cooperatively establish grant guidelines, prioritizing what the
pressing needs are then and how the grants should be rated and
evaluated. These meetings work. I was at the very first one in
most sense, and they really provide the fire service with a
voice.
Over the years, we've ensured that money was fairly divided
between career and volunteer. We limited how much money any
single jurisdiction could receive. We established microgrants
so smaller fire departments could compete among themselves and
had a better shot at getting grant money. And the list goes
ever on. But what really makes AFG-SAFER unique and effective
is its peer-review process. Panels of firefighters from the
nine sisters convene, they review all the grants, and they make
a determination on which jurisdictions received the awards.
It's actual firefighters, not bureaucrats making the call. AFG-
SAFER is truly a program for the overall American fire service.
I would like to briefly associate our organization with the
comments made by Dr. Moore-Merrell on the U.S. Fire
Administration. USFA is a vital resource to the overall fire
service. We desperately need them to set direction, provide
education and leadership. Data in the fire service is
abhorrent. We need USFA to collect and analyze data on
emergency response, disaster loss statistics, fire service
capabilities, and the causes of line-of-duty firefighter death
and injuries, including occupational diseases like the cancer
that was mentioned in Ranking Member Stevens' opening comments.
This is especially crucial now with a never-ending series of
WUI fires, the greater prevalence of superstorms, more deadly
tornadoes, earthquakes, and regrettably, acts of terror. It's
incredulous that an agency with such responsibility has such a
small authorization and even less money during the
appropriation process. USFA literally operates on budget cuts.
They, too, must be reauthorized. They are a necessary agency.
I thank the Members of the Committee for your time and my
co-panelists for the opportunity to do this. At the appropriate
time, I'm happy to take any questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. O'Connor follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairman Collins. Thank you, Mr. O'Connor.
I now recognize Mr. David Bullard for 5 minutes to present
his testimony.
TESTIMONY OF MR. DAVID BULLARD,
GEORGIA DIRECTOR, NATIONAL VOLUNTEER FIRE COUNCIL
Mr. Bullard. Good afternoon. Good afternoon, Chairman
Collins, Ranking Member Stevens, Ranking Member Ms. Lofgren,
and distinguished Members of the Subcommittee. My name is David
Bullard. I am Georgia Director for the National Volunteer Fire
Council, or NVFC. The NVFC serves national volunteers,
representing 760,000 firefighters around our Nation, which
covers 75 percent of the population of this country. Through
their service and donating time, they save municipalities and
counties roughly $47 billion through the time they donate. On
behalf of the NVFC, I thank the Subcommittee for holding this
important hearing.
AFG and SAFER grants are by far the most significant
sources of assistance the Federal Government provides to local
fire departments. The funding is particularly important to
small rural fire departments, which are almost exclusively
volunteer or volunteers offset with minimal career staffing.
From 2010 to 2020, the volume of fire department service calls
increased by 23 percent, while the number of volunteer
firefighters dropped by 12 percent during the same time period.
Meanwhile, in the last 5 years, the average cost of turnout
gear, the protective clothing we wear, and SCBAs (self-
contained breathing apparatuses) that we wear to provide safe
breathing air in a fire increased by 30 to 40 percent on
average. A national needs assessment study of the Nation's fire
service consistently show that small volunteer agencies had the
most difficult time affording up-to-date equipment, training,
and apparatus. This is primarily for economic reasons. Many
smaller departments have to fundraise to afford essential
equipment because there is not support from the local tax base
or the tax base cannot support them.
AFG funds are used to obtain critically needed equipment
and essential resources. Among AFG's successes are grants
awarded to the Oconee County Fire Department in Georgia. The
department protects the largest population of an all-volunteer
fire department in our State, and they received funds to
replace 54 outdated SCBAs and other crucial equipment.
Demand for AFG funding is strong. In FY 2022, approximately
$2.4 billion were requested through AFG for only $324 million
awarded in the available funding. The SAFER grant program helps
to increase or maintain the number of firefighters in the
United States, including recruitment or retention of
volunteers. Similar to AFG, the demand for SAFER funding is
strong. In Fiscal Year 2022, approximately $2.8 billion were
requested in SAFER funding through applications for only $360
million in available funds.
Volunteer fire departments are facing significant staffing
challenges. Some of the largest factors impacting recruitment
and retention of volunteer firefighters are a relative lack of
opportunities for young people to remain working or living in
rural areas. Increased training demands and demands on
firefighters for their time, which is time away from their
families, and increased mental and physical fatigue from higher
call volumes. Among SAFER's successful grants in my State are
city of Statesboro and Bulloch Counties. These two departments
received SAFER grants this year to recruit more firefighters to
meet the emergency response needs of their significantly
growing populations. Elsewhere, Oregon's Stayton Fire
Department used two SAFER grants over a 7-year period to
recruit 80 new firefighters and led to the establishment of the
Oregon Firefighter Recruitment Network.
State and national organizations use SAFER funds to create
retention and recruitment programs that reach much larger
audiences. The NVFC receives SAFER grants to establish and
expand our national Make Me a Firefighter campaign. This is a
web-based tool that provides departments with information about
establishing recruitment programs and offers an online portal
for volunteer position listings. To date, there are more than
16,250 registered users signed up in the campaign, representing
more than 9,000 fire departments. More than 5,300 volunteer
opportunities are listed, and nearly 34,000 applications have
been submitted through the portal.
Another vital entity to the Nation's volunteer fire service
is the U.S. Fire Administration each year, as said before, the
USFA trains approximately 100,000 fire emergency service
personnel throughout the Nation. Access to training is a
significant challenge in many rural and volunteer fire
departments. USFA makes their training accessible by delivering
training directly to individuals on campus in Emmitsburg and
remotely through online course offerings. USFA also makes
courses available to State fire training academies, many of
which are delivered in rural areas. I'm a staunch advocate for
attending training provided by the National Fire Academy. In
Georgia, the number of instate-delivered courses is remarkable
and meets a critical need for fire departments.
On behalf of the NVFC, I request that the House of
Representatives pass an AFG, SAFER, and USFA reauthorization
bill like the one that passed the Senate by a vote of 92 to 5
last month before these programs authorizations lapse at the
end of the fiscal year. At a time when fire departments are
facing historic economic pressures, it is crucial that AFG and
SAFER and their current language, including annual adjustments
for CPI (Consumer Price Index), are retained. We additionally
request that USFA's authorization be increased from
approximately $76 million to $95 million to enable the needed
data collection that is mentioned before, curriculum updates
and adjustments, and the investigation of major fires. Passage
of these critical reauthorizations is a top legislative
priority for the NVFC.
Thank you again for the opportunity to speak today, and I
look forward to any questions you have.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Bullard follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairman Collins. Thank you, Mr. Bullard.
The Chair now recognizes Mr. Kevin Reardon for 5 minutes to
present his testimony.
TESTIMONY OF MR. KEVIN REARDON,
STATE FIRE MARSHALL, STATE OF OHIO
Mr. Reardon. Good afternoon, Chair Collins, Ranking Member
Stevens, and distinguished Members of the Committee.
Representative Sykes, thank you for that gracious introduction.
My name is Kevin Reardon, and I've been a member of the
fire service for over 4 decades, and currently I serve as the
Fire Marshal for the great State of Ohio. It is my pleasure and
honor to be with you today to support the reauthorization of
the budget for the United States Fire Administration.
The impact that the USFA has on States such as Ohio is very
significant. In Ohio, there are 1,180 fire departments serving
a population of 1,100--or, I'm sorry, a population of 11.5
million people, and the majority of the fire departments that
we have in Ohio are volunteer departments, much like the rest
of the Nation. We estimate that number to be about 70 percent.
Like many States, the fire service in Ohio is struggling
with retention and recruitment problems that are challenging
and urgent. I've talked with many Fire Chiefs that expressed
frustration and a sense of urgency because without a consistent
influx of new personnel, they know the delivery of emergency
services will be impacted by not having an adequate number of
responding firefighters. For career departments, this will
create an overtime issue, which can lead to firefighter burnout
if that remains in place for an extended period of time. The
very same issue was even more challenging and more critical for
volunteer departments who rely on community members to support
their operations.
This is why the SAFER grant is so important. Recently, Ohio
had 22 departments, large and small, receive SAFER funding.
This funding gives the receiving communities the opportunity to
add personnel to instantly make a difference. These communities
know that the addition of new personnel will keep the fire
department staffed with an adequate number of trained
firefighters now and into the future.
Another longstanding concern I hear frequently focuses on
the issue of equipment. Having the proper equipment is
necessary for any fire department because it helps them
accomplish their mission. Everything from forcible entry tools
to advanced vehicle extrication tools and a host of other
equipment helps fire departments be successful and ultimately
save lives.
Providing the proper tools and equipment for some fire
departments is a major investment and a major fundraising
effort. The cost of a new pumper truck can be $600,000 or more.
A ladder truck can cost as much as $1 million dollars or more.
For the years 2020 and 2021, 649 Ohio fire departments received
AFG funding. These grants provided millions of dollars to fire
departments for apparatus and various other types of equipment
to help increase their capabilities to serve their citizens.
Without funding from the AFG program, these communities would
be left on their own to fund equipment that in some cases
simply would not be purchased. The usefulness of the equipment
or the need for the equipment is never a concern, but the cost
always is a concern.
As you can tell from the examples provided, the SAFER and
AFG grants make a significant difference to fire departments
large and small throughout the State of Ohio and our Nation.
For the years 2021 and 2022, the total grant funding provided
by AFG and SAFER grant to Ohio is almost $55 million dollars.
This funding is critical to States like Ohio. This funding is
not only an investment in communities, but also an investment
in promoting and maintaining the safety of our citizens.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the
USFA for conducting the summit on fire prevention and control
and for sharing the outcome of that summit with the fire
service. The outcome of the summit and its recommendations have
become the foundation of the fire service national strategy
that has been promoted by the USFA. As the Fire Marshal for the
State of Ohio, I believe this is a logical and reasonable
approach to begin addressing some of the longstanding issues
that are continuing to gain the attention of our profession and
policymakers in every State.
The issue of behavioral health and the continued increase
in the rate of firefighter, EMT (emergency medical technician),
and paramedic suicides is shocking. We continue to see these
numbers outpace those who are lost in the line of duty.
These are just a few examples of the fire service national
strategy that are needed and will serve to save the lives of
current and future first responders. I am honored to be here,
and I appreciate the opportunity to offer my support for the
reauthorization of the budget for the U.S. Fire Administration.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Reardon follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairman Collins. Thank you, Mr. Reardon, and I thank the
witnesses for each of your testimony.
At this time, the Chair recognizes himself for 5 minutes.
Mr. Bullard, in your testimony, you pointed out that
between 2010 and 2020, there was a 23 percent increase in
service calls resulting in fire response, but the number of
volunteer firefighters dropped by 12 percent during the same
period. Given volunteer fire departments serve the majority of
our Nation's communities and most of Georgia, this is putting a
severe strain on our fire response capabilities. What are some
of the driving factors unique to volunteer fire departments
that are leading to this drop, and what are some of the things
that Congress can do to help reverse the trend?
Mr. Bullard. I think time constraints are a big thing and
also availability of jobs. If you're not working in the town,
traditionally, in small town USA, you worked in town, and you
had employers that would let you leave work and go respond to
emergencies. As jobs moved out of town or employers changed,
you lost that ability. The demands of life are more. There are
more events, they are more ballgames, they are more social
activities, and it's pulling at time. So we're trying to
balance the time to train somebody, the time to respond, and
the stresses that go with it with their everyday life and their
family.
And I think some of the successful places that are doing
well with their recruitment and retention of volunteers is they
are taking an approach where they look at the family. Can the
whole family have something to do with the department? It's not
just running emergency calls. There are administrative things.
There are things around the station to be done. And there's a
department in Alabama that has done very well in their program
because they're taking that approach to the whole family.
I think the big thing that can be done congressionally is
the funding for SAFER for the recruiting and retention programs
and use that to provide recruitment and retention training.
Within NVFC, we do a recruitment and retention summit. We've
combined it with our training summit this year to give tools on
how to recruit members, how to recruit the populations around
you. In the past, a lot of organizations relied on a, hey,
we're here, show up and join us. And in today's times, we're
realizing that doesn't work. You've got to go out and greet
people and meet them and--right? If it's a church or a civic
club or whatever, you've got to engage them and give them the
tools how to engage the people in our community, and maybe we
can reverse those numbers.
Chairman Collins. Thank you.
My next question is basically for all witnesses. Or time
constraints, we may just--if any of you want to answer it. It's
clear from your testimonies and from my conversations with
firefighters in my own district, the AFG and SAFER programs are
currently a lifeline keeping fire departments across America
functional. And, as Mr. Bullard said in his testimony, the goal
of these programs is to bring all departments in the U.S. to a
baseline level of readiness. However, the Federal Government is
already trillion dollars and--trillions of dollars in debt, and
we don't have the resources to fund the operation of all 29,000
fire departments across the country. So how can Congress
incentivize more local investment in fire prevention and fire
departments to reach that baseline of readiness?
Chief Black. Make sure that's on. Thank you. I'll take a
stab at that first. These programs are important, and if you
think about it, the expectation of every citizen the Nation
right now is if they need help, what are they going to do?
They're going to call 911. So whether you're a large metro
department or you're the smallest volunteer department in
anywhere in this country, the expectation is the same. Our gaps
come in what each individual department may or may not be able
to provide, whether it's staffing, whether it's proper
equipment, whether it's proper training. The importance of AFG
and SAFER give us the tools to try to bring some of those
departments up to baseline. We're peer-reviewed, so we're
looking at that. So our departments are getting prioritized
based on their need. That's one of the major things we're
looking at. So these programs are important.
Two, awareness. We need to do a better job of not just as
the fire service make sure that we're making our leaders aware
of what our needs are and what we're doing, but also our
citizens. Our citizens have to take some responsibility to be
better at home, be more fire safe, help us. You know, we use a
public information saying fire is everyone's fight, and we need
to do more on the home front to make sure we're helping
ourselves at home, whether it be a disaster, a weather disaster
or a fire, to help our responders. And I think it's a group
effort. And I'll leave my comments at that.
Chairman Collins. Thank you.
Mr. Reardon. I'll take a stab. I think the fire service is
a very traditional profession. We don't like change too much,
and we do things the way they are because that's the way
they've always been done. That's a mindset that we clearly have
to get away from when we're talking about, you know, funding,
recruitment, retention, fire prevention, safety efforts, all of
those things. We have to overcome that traditional way we've
always done things and be innovative. We need to be asking how
to better reach our citizens, our populations. We need to be
asking, as a Fire Marshal, how to better serve the fire
departments in our States.
Fire Marshals have a very unique role in the fire service.
My role and the role of every other State Fire Marshal in this
Nation is to hover around at that 30,000 foot level over every
State and be the visionary in the big picture. And that's
unique, but it's also given me the opportunity to see the
magnitude of some of these problems. Funding is huge.
Recruitment and retention, we've heard that over and over
again. Those are tremendous problems not only for full-time
departments, but for volunteers.
And the volunteer issue is near and dear to us in Ohio
because we just completed a report for Governor DeWine. He
established a task force to look at the volunteer fire service
issue last year. That report was presented to him. We met with
the volunteer community all over Ohio. We heard the same
things. But we make it hard to be a volunteer, not just in
Ohio, in just about every State, and here's how we do it.
Volunteers, they have to have training. You just can't put on a
coat and become a firefighter. You got to have training. Some
volunteers have to pay for that training. Depending on where
you're doing it, that can be $1,500 to $2,000 or more just to
get the training to be a volunteer that they're paying for
themselves. Some departments do pay. Volunteers pay some as
well. Then you've got the issue of personal protective gear.
That can be $3-$4,000. If your department doesn't provide that,
you've got to do that yourself for a job that pays you nothing.
Then we have recertification requirements, but aren't--
they're not a major deal. They're easily accommodated, but it's
something else to do. Then we're asking them to drop everything
at a moment's notice, leave their family at holidays, family
events, et cetera, to go help someone in their community, and
then oh, by the way, on a bad day, you could get killed, again,
for a job that pays nothing.
So being a volunteer is so much more difficult than the 33-
year career I had as a career firefighter. There are so many
demands, so many challenges there, and so many of these issues
that we've all talked about come back to funding. And here
again, those are good reasons why SAFER and the AFG programs
are critical to the fire service. They're critical, and, you
know, personally, I support any increase in funding for those--
both of those programs because I've seen it. I've witnessed the
benefits of those grants. Thank you.
Chairman Collins. Thank you.
The Chair now recognizes Ms. Stevens of Michigan for 5
minutes.
Ms. Stevens. Well, thank you. And it's great to hear the
State Fire Marshal of Ohio, as a Member of Congress from
Michigan, talk about the importance of volunteer firefighters.
On I-75 in Troy, Michigan, about 18 months ago we had a gas
truck, you know, carrying--hit this median in the road. Troy is
a volunteer firefighter department, 36 hours around the clock
putting that thing out. Again, multiple firefighters stepped
in. And I know my Chairman knows a little bit about the
trucking industry as well.
So thank you, and just allow me to recognize from this post
that we hear you on the volunteers and on workforce
considerations and how much more we need to go. Ms. Bonamici
and I are both on the Education and Workforce Committee and are
working on pensions and a variety of other workforce
considerations.
But as I mentioned in the opening statement, we're talking
about the Guaranteeing Equipment Safety for Firefighters Act of
2020 that we're so delighted that this Committee helped enact,
which is directing NIST to conduct a study on PFAS and turnout
gear. And NIST just released this study last week, and they
found that selecting optimal combinations of fabric for each
layer could significantly reduce the amount of PFAS present in
turnout gear.
And so Dr. Lori Moore-Merrell, do you think you could just
provide us an update on the USFA's work to protect firefighters
from potential impacts from PFAS?
Dr. Moore-Merrell. Absolutely. Thank you for that question.
Yes, the USFA is highly engaged, first of all, based on the
PFAS bill that was just signed in December of last year that
has some very direct task for us, not the least of which is
identifying the best practices today for preventing exposure
for firefighters, making sure that we are updating our
curriculum to include those best practices for all firefighters
and disseminating that across the Nation, but also standing up
a listening session for gathering all baseline data because we
have a lot of disparate information across the Nation regarding
PFAS, and understanding that that is only one of the
carcinogenic exposures----
Ms. Stevens. Right.
Dr. Moore-Merrell. [continuing]. That we have. And so we
want to gather that in the context of the other exposures that
firefighters have. So we're actively pursuing the task that we
were assigned within that bill, along with our other Federal
colleagues like the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), the
DOD (Department of Defense), the FAA (Federal Aviation
Administration) because this PFAS is not just in our gear, it's
also in fire suppressant foam, and so we're all having to deal
with that as well. So this is an across-the-government
approach, and USFA is very much in those conversations and will
be leading the listening session in fact, on May 18, next week,
on this matter.
Ms. Stevens. That's great, and we want to make sure that
you are fully empowered to, you know, have the best resources
and also not encountering a lot of bureaucracy. And I mentioned
that--the Empowering the U.S. Fire Administration Act, which
became law late last year, expanding the USFA's statutory
authority to allow the agency to conduct onsite postfire
investigations. We're very happy to have you at the table, and
I know our localities likely appreciate it, too.
And so, Chief Black, I just was wondering if you could
speak to, if you happen to have, you know, anything you can
share about the benefits from USFA's expanded ability to
participate in onsite postfire investigations?
Chief Black. Absolutely. As you heard from the testimonies
today, we're a complicated service, right? We have volunteer
fire departments that are small in small parts of the country.
We have great metropolitan departments, New York, Phoenix, L.A.
We're very different. And what the USFA provides for the entire
fire service--Dr. Moore-Merrell here sits as our Nation's Fire
Chief in a way, right?
Ms. Stevens. Yeah.
Chief Black. It's the ultimate dissemination of information
coming in but also giving us the resources going out, whether
it's educational classes at the Fire Academy, whether it's the
information they're gathering, the research done, that is
helping us----
Ms. Stevens. Yeah.
Chief Black [continuing]. But we need her to look at this
stuff and report back. Not every Fire Chief in this country has
the ability to do it 24/7, 365----
Ms. Stevens. Right.
Chief Black [continuing]. Right? So we need this
clearinghouse----
Ms. Stevens. And we need to get in front of these fires----
Chief Black. Yes. Yes.
Ms. Stevens [continuing]. You know? I mean, they're
increasing. Why is that? And I've scratched my head with my
local fire departments, why? You know, people just spending too
much on their phones, not recycling their batteries enough.
And, Dr. Merrell, do you happen to have any examples yet
from the legislation we passed last year with investigating the
deadly fires and the ways you've been able to work with the
local fire departments?
Dr. Moore-Merrell. So that--as you know, that bill was
based on a fire, a very deadly fire in the Bronx.
Ms. Stevens. Yes.
Dr. Moore-Merrell. Based on what happened in that building
and the crux of that bill is that we'll be able to look at how
the building failed long before firefighters arrived. This is
not a cause-and-origin investigation. It is an investigation of
the fire safety attributes of any given building, and so that
would have been----
Ms. Stevens. And do the codes, do we affect the----
Dr. Moore-Merrell. Absolutely.
Ms. Stevens. OK.
Dr. Moore-Merrell. And all of those fire safety features
that we think are important, self-closing doors, making sure
that we have sprinklers, or tamper-resistant smoke alarms, all
of these things, particularly in public housing, and so looking
at that kind of--that research, what we can glean from that,
and then applying that to other like buildings, that's how we
get in front of it. How many more buildings are like that one
in the Bronx across this Nation? And how could informing what
went badly in that building and all the things that were
missing, the dampers in the HVAC system, the insulation in the
walls, all of these things that allowed smoke to move freely
throughout that building, and that's what killed people on the
upper floors----
Ms. Stevens. Yes.
Dr. Moore-Merrell [continuing]. Not on the fire floor, and
so that's how we'll apply this going forward, and we're looking
now at rulemaking and being able to budget for that.
Ms. Stevens. Yes. Thank you. And thank you for the extra
time, Mr. Chair. I yield back.
Chairman Collins. Thank you. The Chair now recognizes Mr.
Kean of New Jersey for 5 minutes.
Mr. Kean. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to all of
our witnesses for being here today.
Mr. O'Connor, in your testimony, you point out that the
SAFER program is designed to work so the Federal share of
employing a firefighter decreases over a period of several
years so that local governments have time to increase their
share of the cost. It seems like a good way to incentivize
State and local investment in the fire services. Is there any
data on whether or not State and local governments are actually
increasing their funding for firefighter employment after the
grant period ends? And how can we build on this model and make
it more effective or more scalable?
Mr. O'Connor. When it was originally conceived, it was a 5-
year program that started at the Federal Government taking 100
percent of the cost the first year.
Mr. Kean. Right.
Mr. O'Connor. Through the panels, the nine sisters where we
do grant guidance, we kind of worked around that. That's more
just a 3-year, steadier program. Most of the departments--and
no one is here from FEMA to speak to this, so I'm--I will get
you the information, but anecdotally, we're not hearing any
situations in which departments are gaming the system, hiring
people, and then not continuing their employment subsequently.
The IFF happily represents probably 90 percent of the
career firefighters in the country. They all join voluntarily
and remain members. For us, if we--if that were occurring, we
would hear from them that firefighters were hired, and after
the duration of the SAFER period, they were let go. That isn't
happening.
I should also note that--Ms. Lofgren said it earlier--for a
period of time when the recession first hit, we ended up
morphing the program into something to keep firefighters from
getting laid off, and that was the example with Local 230 in
San Jose.
So the program has had a couple of iterations. It was
originally designed to make sure that communities came up to
compliance standards, just as the AFG program was, and they do
work very complementary and effectively. I will actually ask
our contacts at FEMA and our grant department to see if we can
provide you with that data to the extent that it exists.
Mr. Kean. Thank you. A number of people have talked about
applying for certain Federal grant programs as complex, and the
importance of the AFP and SAFER programs are--cannot be
understated. What are some of the barriers that fire
departments must overcome when applying for these grant
programs, and how can Congress make them more accessible?
Anybody who wants to answer that question, what would you
recommend?
Dr. Moore-Merrell. Kevin, do you want to go?
Mr. O'Connor. Yeah, I'll just answer for the career side,
and we do have some more resources. Lieutenant Bullard was very
eloquent in his discussion of some of the issues in the
volunteers. Most fire departments aren't like law enforcement
in which they have dedicated grant staffs, so the ability to
look at the documents and try to fashion something, a lot of
particularly smaller and mid-sized departments--and our
organization has got 3,500 affiliates. A lot of folks think
we're just the big cities, and we have small departments of
seven, eight people. They just don't have the knowhow, the
time, and the expertise to make the applications. I think Dr.
Moore is probably better positioned, though, to answer it in
totality than I.
Dr. Moore-Merrell. So thank you very much for that question
because it is something that we hear quite frequently. One of
the things that was mentioned earlier, and you heard it in some
of the opening statements and certainly in mine, is the new
data system that we are going to be constructing. That data
system in and of itself will enable profiles of fire
departments to be added, including their risk profile, not just
how many stations, how many apparatus, how the apparatus is
staffed, though that's incredibly important on the grant
application, when was their last purchase of gear, all of those
things that we gather.
The issue is that every time they fill out a grant
application, we're asking for that over and over and over. This
new data system is going to be intended to capture that one
time. It will also build in that risk environment that becomes
part of the scoring matrix for these grant applications because
they're to be scored and awarded based on the greatest need or
the greatest risk and compare the resources to that risk. And
so this new data system, we anticipate having this profile,
having it accessible then at all times, so they would simply
enter their ID into the application, and that would auto-
populate or become the reference for their profile. And so that
will streamline the applications greatly along the way, and so
we feel like that'll be a better accessible and help us along
the way for that data-gathering process as well.
Mr. Kean. OK. And for any member of the panel as well,
how's--how do academic researchers translate their work for
fire chiefs and firefighters in the field or the ways that
Congress can help incentivize research of interest to the fire
services and translate such research into useful outcomes that
are tangible to firefighters?
Chief Black. Thank you. Absolutely continue funding the
ability to do research. There's some great researchers we all
work with out there that are translating the data for us and
working with us so that it gets down to my level. Again, I just
want to turn to my firefighter and say, don't wear your gear
unless you need to be in your gear. I just want to know the
Cliff Notes. I want to use the researchers through funding
mechanisms where they can do the work for us, whether it's fire
behavior, cancer prevention, better use of our gear. So
continuing to fund these programs, allowing for research and
development, and let them translate for us and working with us
best to help our firefighters.
Mr. Reardon. Representative, I think it's also important to
note that now more than ever, the fire service is depending on
data in ways that we've never used it before. Ten years ago, we
were asking basic questions we thought were relevant. We
thought it was good information, and I think, over time, we
figured out we were asking the wrong questions, looking at the
wrong data. So the fact that we have the ability to collect a
lot of data now, Ohio, for example, every year we send it to
the U.S. Fire Administration through the NFIRS system about 1
million to 1.5 million fire reports from all fire departments
in Ohio. We have a mandatory reporting requirement for fire
incidents in Ohio, so we have about 98 percent compliance. So
we're getting very, very good data.
But moving forward, I think the key is when we get into new
systems that the Administrator has talked about, we need to
look at making sure we're asking the right questions to get to
the right data because community risk reduction is so important
to everyone, whether you're large, small department, township
department, volunteer, career pay, combination, whatever, it is
critical that you get that modeling to help understand your
community's risk and how you can prevent fires.
We have fires happening now that--I'll pick an example,
smoking fires, careless smoking fires are the leading cause of
fires in Ohio right now. We have a tremendous spike in fires
caused by people smoking while on oxygen, which years ago was a
small blip. Now it's a huge spike. And it's baby boomers
getting older on oxygen, chronic smokers. That's an issue, but
we need to take that data a little bit farther.
So I think while we're talking about data, we need to
understand we're looking at data much differently today than we
did 10 years ago, and probably 2 years from now we'll look at
it differently. But the key is we've got the tools, we've got
the ability, and we have the partnership of the States with the
U.S. Fire Administration to share the data back and forth, to
get to those right answers.
Chairman Collins. Thank you, Mr. Reardon.
Mr. Kean. I yield back.
Chairman Collins. The gentleman's time is expired.
Mr. Kean. I know. Thank you.
Chairman Collins. The Chair now recognizes Ms. Lofgren of
California for 5 minutes.
Ms. Lofgren. Well, thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and
thanks to each one of you. Listening to you is really
inspiring, and I think of all of the efforts that each one of
you has made to keep our country safer and all of the men and
women in the departments around the country. Really, it's been
a treat to listen to you, and I want to thank you for all of
your work.
Just a couple of questions. We've been talking about data,
and I'm wondering, Dr. Moore-Merrell, how the new data system
is going to be incorporated into assessing the climate-driven
increases and the frequency and the severity of wildfire and
the operations and trainings. I was at a--not a seminar, but a
group meeting at NASA (National Aeronautics and Space
Administration) Ames last month where all of the--you know,
California has had horrible wildfires, and all of the agencies,
State and Federal were they're trying to figure out how do we
do predictions? How do we use science to get ahead of it, to
fight, to predict, and the like. We did identify some gaps
actually being able to access the data. Are you connected with
that multiagency group?
Dr. Moore-Merrell. Yes, ma'am. That's an excellent
question, very insightful. And yes, we are in fact working
across with all of our Federal partners in this space. That
capability exists to be able to leverage data from multiple
data sources, to be able to mine out those insights about
conditions being right for. And so today, just like our
National Weather Service does with the red flag warnings, that
is a substantial amount of data that goes in to set those red
flag warnings. What we'd like to do is to be able to give more
information about not just the red flag warning, but be more
specific about the--have the specificity of the exact locations
or much narrower locations of where the conditions exist. We'll
be able to do that by using a lot of the data that already
exists, as I said, in other Federal organizations, pulling it
from a siloed area where it was intended for one purpose. But
if I couple it with data from another area, if I have the built
environment, the street grid, plus the weather data, all of
these things together begin to allow us to mine them for
intelligence that we've not had before.
Ms. Lofgren. Right.
Dr. Moore-Merrell. And so adding to that some very narrow
machine learning to be able to train these models from past
incidents where the conditions were right and led to an event,
we'll be able to look then and have much better predictive
capability. It won't be as granular as we'd like, but it will
be a start and give us a lot better chance for pre-positioning
resources and anticipating an event that may occur.
Ms. Lofgren. One of the issues--and I don't want to
overstate this--but we have more data than we're able to use,
and part of the problem is accessing that data, and the sense
was that we needed not to micromanage or top-down, but there
needed to be a trusted partner to be the repository of data
that would then be very accessible. And I'm hoping that you are
actively involved in those discussions with NASA and the
private sector people also have data that need to feed into
that.
I--you know, California has a Citizens Redistricting
Commission, and it's completely nonpartisan, although they did
some odd things this year. And for many years, I've represented
San Jose, California, a city of close to 1 million people. This
year, there were some adjustments, so I have--half my district
is rural and half is very urban, and so I've had the great
pleasure of meeting some wonderful people in small towns who
have volunteer fire departments. And, for example, a King City,
a wonderful city. I love the people down there, about 13,000
people, they don't have a big tax base.
I'm wondering, as you assess grant applications, you want
to look at fire but do you look at anything else? For example,
there's a huge housing shortage in California, and the Silicon
Valley didn't build the housing for their workers and they're
spilling out to--adjacent communities are overwhelmed. This
city, for example, wanted--and some other cities wanted to
build three- or four-story apartments that were suitable for
their downtown, but they couldn't do it because they didn't
have a fire truck with a ladder that went high enough. Would
you factor in that kind of information as you look at grant
applications?
Dr. Moore-Merrell. You know, on a go-forward basis, the
answer to that is absolutely yes. Today, we're limited because
all that data doesn't exist in one place, nor can we pull it
together in a timely manner or we would have to expand even
further the grant applications. And so going forward, that is
exactly what we want to do. We want to make sure that we're
assessing risk appropriately. That includes the built
environment and includes the climate change impact that we can
now identify. It includes the population migration. It includes
all of the vulnerabilities that would be in a community, much
like you just described. As they continue to grow, as they
build additional infrastructure, then this adds to the risk
profile. These things we'll be able to know and capture in a
much more real-time capability. That will give us a good risk
profile that can now be compared to the resources that that
fire department may or may not have. If we can match resources
to risk and we have the science to do so, then we can identify
those vulnerability gaps because when we have vulnerability
gaps, we know that we are far more likely to have firefighter
injury and death, civilian injury and death, and property loss.
That's why we need the resource match to the risk environment.
And so this data system, that is really the premise. How do we
leverage information that is available, we need it in the right
place, and to be able to use the right analytics to answer
these questions.
Ms. Lofgren. Well, I'll just end, whether it's career fire
departments or volunteer, the firefighters need to be able to
live in the community they serve, and that's one of the issues
we're addressing.
My time is up, Mr. Chairman.
Dr. Moore-Merrell. Thank you.
Ms. Lofgren. I yield back.
Chairman Collins. Thank you. Hey, I'm sorry to have to ask,
but because the conversation and answers to questions are so
good, but I want to make sure that I flag--we may have votes in
15 to 20 minutes, so I'd like to ask the witnesses be aware of
the 5-minute marker there so that we can get through all of our
Members and their questions.
The Chair now recognizes Ms. Salinas of Oregon for 5
minutes.
Ms. Salinas. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
So Dr. Moore-Merrell, our Full Committee recently held a
hearing to understand the research needs around the use of
uncrewed aircraft systems and advanced air mobility, and we
discussed the significant contributions these technologies can
offer to firefighting. Teledyne FLIR, which has manufacturing
operations in my district in Oregon 6, produces UAS (unmanned
aircraft systems) and advanced imaging equipment for
firefighters. So I'm particularly interested in this
intersection of advanced technology and wildfire response. So
can you talk a little bit about how USFA is supporting research
in these kinds of cutting-edge technologies to improve fire
response?
Dr. Moore-Merrell. Absolutely. Thank you for that question.
We are working right now with the Wildland Fire Mitigation
Commission that, as you all know, passed well over a year ago.
That commission is coming together primarily led by USDA
(United States Department of Agriculture), DOI (Department of
the Interior), and FEMA. And so I sit as one of the co-Chairs
on behalf of the FEMA Administrator on that commission, and
this is exactly what we're addressing together. And so we are
considering--the aviation report was released in January that
considered some of this from the commission, but we'll have
further data science and technology recommendations that will
come forward in September of this year from that commission. So
all of these things are very actively being discussed across
the Federal agencies that are participating in that commission,
and so I would like to defer to that question, if we may, to
September for that report.
Ms. Salinas. I love it. Thank you. And then just as a quick
follow up, so does USFA coordinate with other Federal research
agencies to help to advance and deploy some of these new
technologies? And is there more that Congress can do to
facilitate that kind of interagency cooperation?
Dr. Moore-Merrell. We actively work with the Department of
Homeland Security Science and Technology (S&T) on many
different research projects. So USFA has, in our legislation, a
mandate to conduct research, but often we work across the
boards because of our program funding and our extension to
reach, so we are able to reach some funding in other agencies
like S&T. So we have recently worked with them on a wildfire
sensor that can be deployed. That's under testing right now.
We're also looking at and have developed an app that can be
used in the interface to be able to hold this app. It uses
augmented reality. You literally download it. It's free. It is
already active in the app stores. You hold it up to your home,
and it will show you where you have vulnerabilities, whether
it's vegetation, the wrong windows, the wrong roofing
materials. And so these are some of the projects that have been
deployed even now. There's also something called TAK (Team
Awareness Kit), which is a firefighter tracking capability that
has been deployed.
One of our deficiencies, I'll be very frank, is we're not
marketing these well enough. We know how to do them. We know
how to prepare them, make sure that they are accurate and
usable. We have to do a better job of getting them in front of
our firefighters for use on the ground.
Ms. Salinas. Thank you. And then this question is directed
to Mr. Reardon. I appreciate the attention that you and others
brought to the basic equipment needs of our smaller local fire
departments. I recently met with members of the McMinnville
Fire Department back home, and they raised some of the same
concerns. Last year, there were over 600 times that McMinnville
did not have an ambulance available for its residents and had
to call for outside agencies to assist, leading obviously to
longer response times. Two of their fire engines are aging to
the point where they need to be removed from service.
So if the Assistance to Firefighters Grant and SAFER
programs were to see funding cuts, and I believe that our
findings really do reflect our priorities, how would that
affect our small and rural communities' ability to respond in a
timely manner to fires and medical emergencies? And even just
some illustrative stories might be helpful.
Mr. Reardon. Thanks for that question. Obviously, the
smaller communities will feel the biggest brunt. In Ohio, we
have communities that they have fundraising efforts for fuel,
things like that, a LifePak, a fundraising effort to buy a new
LifePak to help their citizens.
So on a larger scale, if you're talking about reducing
grant programs of this magnitude to all the States, those
smaller communities--and again, most likely volunteer fire
departments, they're going to feel the push. They're going to
feel the stress and the tension. And the--being able to not
respond, that problem is sadly only going to get worse. As runs
have increased in every sector of the fire department since
COVID, it's just hard to imagine a time when we're going to go
backward and see a decrease. I just don't see it. Most fire
departments, 85 to 90 percent of their runs are EMS runs. So
that's the critical thing is EMS. That's the thing that fire
departments do the most of. So we have to consider that, but
those smaller communities will feel the pain first.
Mr. O'Connor. If I may, representing both smaller and
larger departments, I'm talking now in my role as the
commissioner in Baltimore City, we have medic units that are
out of service for 2 hours, and part of it is problems in the
hospital. So it's a pervasive problem not just in small
counties. The city is actually purchasing used equipment, one
because of supply chain issues, two because of cost. But the
real issue is the staffing, both on the career and volunteer
side. If you don't have enough firefighters, mandatory overtime
is a huge issue in most career departments. You either have to
hire if you want to maintain a level of service or pay the
overtime. That contributes to the stress.
As Marshal Reardon said with respect to PTS (post-traumatic
stress), we lose more firefighters to that than we do to line-
of-duty deaths. It's a problem that will hit everybody. And
it's more than just a SAFER and AFG programs. This is a huge
issue that really needs to be taken a look at holistically, but
it is a problem throughout the entire spectrum of the fire
service.
Chairman Collins. Thank you.
The Chair now recognizes Ms. Bonamici of Oregon for 5
minutes.
Ms. Bonamici. Hi, thank you, Mr. Chairman. And yes, we have
two Members from Oregon on this Subcommittee, which is great.
Thank you so much for your testimony. Thank you to all of
the first responders who are here and listening. Thank you so
much for your work.
I want to just mention--I know Ranking Member Stevens
mentioned PFAS, and it's come up in the conversation today. I
also want to recognize Senator Merkley and I have legislation
to ban asbestos, which most other countries have banned, and we
have not yet in this country. I know, Mr. O'Connor, that the
Chief Medical Officer from IAFF and others testified in the
Senate Committee that Senator Merkley held. It's an incredibly
dangerous substance that, of course, is affecting firefighters
disproportionately. So it's--of course, I'm interested in
addressing the PFAS issue as well, but we also need to address
asbestos.
So being from Oregon, I was listening to the Ranking Member
of the Full Committee Lofgren talk about the district she
represents. I also have suburban areas like Portland, small
towns like McMinnville, which used to be in the district I
represented for a decade, and also a whole heck of a lot of
forest land in addition to small communities on the coast, so
very diverse district.
In 2021, we had a tough time. We lost more than 820,000
acres. The Bootleg Fire in Oregon was the State's largest fire
that year and at the time was the country's largest fire.
Thousands of families had evacuate their homes. It burned
hundreds of homes and outbuildings. Twenty-twenty was even more
damaging, torched about 1.1 million acres, destroyed thousands
of homes, driving hundreds of million dollars in lost economic
output, so serious issue with wildfires.
I was incredibly grateful for the swift and heroic action
of the firefighters and first responders. I went out and talked
to some--several of them during that period of time, and I have
made it a tradition. To me, Labor Day is not about picnics and
sales. I visit my firefighters in the district and thank them
for their work.
So I also want to recognize Ranking Member Lofgren. We
introduced the National Wildland Fire Risk Reduction Program
Act with our Science Committee colleagues last year. We really
want to increase our understanding, of course, of wildfires and
the harmful effects and work on preparedness.
So my first question is for Dr. Moore-Merrell. I want to
talk about the summit. You mentioned that you had the summit to
identify strategies facing the Nation's fire service, and one
strategy was a National Apprenticeship Program. As Ranking
Member Stevens said, we serve on the Education and Workforce
Committee as well, really interested in how we fill these
workforce gaps. So what is the vision for National
Apprenticeship Program, and how do you expect that this will
help with recruitment, retention, and diversification? And have
you taken steps yet to implement it? And how does the SAFER
grant program fit into this effort?
Dr. Moore-Merrell. That's an excellent question. So from
the summit, we did have these six strategies, and one of them
is this workforce issue or recruitment and retention. So right
after the summit, we came together, the whole of the fire
service, in fact, a lot of the leaders at this table to have
this discussion, and we have a workgroup right now that is
actively working all of the options, looking at apprenticeship
programs. There are States who have apprenticeship programs, I
believe yours is one of them----
Ms. Bonamici. Right.
Dr. Moore-Merrell [continuing]. Washington State,
California, and so we're assessing these to see if they are
applicable and can be implemented, much like the Department of
Labor does with industry or trade, apprenticeships, and so
looking into those, see if there's a best practice, also
assessing some of the departments in the Nation that may not
have the same challenges, some that have found a best practice,
D.C. Fire for one as looking at high school and doing mentoring
and literally raising people into the job, helping them to see
it as an option. And so I'm expecting a report out on May 21
from all of our workgroups along these strategies. They'll give
me a midyear report, and then we'll report back at the summit.
And at that point, we'll be ready to release some actionable
items from this workgroup.
Ms. Bonamici. OK. That's terrific. And we have Banks,
Oregon, which is a rural community in Washington County where
they do a great job working with their high school students,
and they're intentional about recruiting young women as well.
So, Mr. O'Connor, the ALERTWildfire, this advanced high-
speed camera system that allows firefighters and first
responders to predict, monitor, prepare, mitigate, particularly
in the West. And University of Oregon, my--I'm an alum so I pay
attention to what they're doing. So they're a partner in the
work, and they collaborate with Federal, State, county
agencies, utilities, and stakeholders. So you mentioned USFA's
data collection efforts, that they've aged and need some
updating. So as Congress reauthorizes the USFA, why is it
crucial to build on the existing partnerships, but also
incorporate emerging technologies and data systems like
ALERTWildfire? And how can we leverage programs like fire to
promote the expansion of advanced technologies?
Mr. O'Connor. Well, speaking generally, in any of the new
technologies, first, prevention is--and resiliency, preparation
are front end. Those are resources now that we have that can
detect fires in their incipient stages, get people out there,
and hopefully catch them very early. So we need to be doing
that. There needs to be coordination, but it needs to be done,
again, I use the word holistically. There's a lot of different
folks, private and Federal, different agencies looking at
things differently, and there needs to be better coordination
with respect to that.
It's a great program. I think that if you look at the
investment--I have not looked at it recently, but I remember
for--I think it was like $230 million could actually have taken
like, I think, the entire State of California with those types
of cameras. I don't know if it was the one from your district.
But the technology, when you look at it in totality, is not
that expensive, just like aerial technology with planes and
helicopters, both in the prevention side----
Ms. Bonamici. Right.
Mr. O'Connor [continuing]. And the extinguishment side.
But I'd like to add just one thing myself. Part of the
problem that we have with respect to the wildfires is training.
At the end of the day, once they start, they're going to be put
out by firefighters.
Ms. Bonamici. Right.
Mr. O'Connor. And the problem that we have is most
structural firefighters--and whether it's your State,
firefighters coming from Portland, firefighters coming to
Seattle, certainly throughout California, Georgia, you're going
to have people coming to those fires who are trained structural
firefighters. They do not have the equipment----
Ms. Bonamici. Yes.
Mr. O'Connor [continuing]. They do not have the training.
And until that's done, there really needs to be an effort,
whether it's using USDA money because they have the most of it,
but to make sure structural firefighters are universally
trained so they're--in wildland disciplines----
Ms. Bonamici. Absolutely.
Mr. O'Connor [continuing]. And provide the right
information.
Ms. Bonamici. We also need to provide the same health
protections and presumptions for the people fighting wildfires
as we do to urban and other fires.
And my time has expired. I yield back. Thank you.
Chairman Collins. All right. Thank you, witnesses, for your
valuable testimony, and thank you to the Members for your
questions.
The record will remain open for 10 days for additional
comments and written questions from Members. This hearing is
adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 3:33 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.]
[all]