[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 163 (Wednesday, November 17, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S14704-S14705]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. DODD (for himself and Mr. DeWine):
  S. 1941. A bill to amend the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act 
of 1974 to authorize the Director of the Federal Emergency Management 
Agency to provide assistance to fire departments and fire prevention 
organizations for the purpose of protecting the public and firefighting 
personnel against fire and fire-related hazards; to the Committee on 
Commerce, Science, and Transportation.


          Firefighter Investment and Response Enhancement Act

 Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I rise today with my colleague and 
friend, Senator DeWine of Ohio, to introduce legislation that would 
represent our nation's first comprehensive commitment to fire safety. 
The Firefighter Investment and Response Enhancement Act (the FIRE 
bill), will, for the first time, provide volunteer and professional 
firefighters with the resources they need to protect the people and 
property of their towns and cities.
  In communities throughout America, firefighters are almost always the 
first to respond to a call for help. They respond to a fire alarm. They 
are on the scene of traffic accidents and construction accidents. 
Emergency medical technicians, who often belong to fire departments, 
each day answer tens of thousands of calls for medical assistance. And, 
when a natural or manmade calamity strikes--from hurricanes to school 
shootings to bombings--firefighters are there without fail, restoring 
order and saving lives.
  Given all that they do, it should surprise no one that, across the 
Nation, fire departments struggle to find resources to help keep our 
communities safe. As the demands placed on fire departments have grown 
in volume and magnitude, the ability of local residents to support them 
has been put to a severe test. As a result, towns and cities throughout 
the country are struggling mightily to provide the fire departments 
with the resources they require.
  The FIRE Act will help localities meet that critical objective. It 
will provide grants to help localities hire more firefighters, train 
new and existing personnel to handle the volume and intensity of 
today's tragedies, and purchase badly needed equipment.
  This legislation will also provide critical resources to communities 
to fund fire prevention and education programs so that they can 
anticipate disasters and respond appropriately. Such programs are 
critical means of preventing tragedies from occurring in the first 
place. Eight out of ten fire deaths occur in a place where people feel 
the safest--their homes. Tragically, our children and the elderly 
account for a disproportionate number of these deaths. Indeed, 
preschool children face a risk of death from fire that is more than 
twice the risk for all age groups combined. While we can and should 
ensure that the fire equipment and personnel are available to respond 
to these tragedies, our best defense remains education and prevention. 
Yet, it is a painful irony that when resources are scarce, education 
and prevention efforts are often the first to be put on the budgetary 
chopping block. The legislation Senator DeWine and I are introducing 
will help ensure that no locality is put in the painful position of 
choosing between prevention and responding to emergencies.
  This legislation will enable our fire departments to worry more about 
saving lives and less about finding dollars. It will enable communities 
to better prevent disasters, and better train firefighters.
  I look forward to working with Senator DeWine to successfully advance 
this legislation in the Senate. It is our shared hope that our 
colleagues will come to realize that this bill is one whose time has 
come. Our Nation's firefighters deserve the support that this bill will 
provide, and I hope that we will give it to them before the end of this 
Congress.
 Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, each day, we entrust our lives and 
the safety of our families, friends, and neighbors to the capable hands 
of the brave men and women in our local police and fire departments. 
These individuals have decided that they are willing to risk their 
lives and safety out of a dedication to their citizens and their 
commitment to public service.
  In Congress, we have recognized the dangers inherent in police work 
by

[[Page S14705]]

dedicating federal resources to help local police departments. In fact, 
this year, Fiscal Year (FY) 1999, the federal government spent $11 
billion on law enforcement initiatives, such as the COPS program, to 
help local law enforcement face the daily challenges of their 
communities. In contrast, though, the federal government spent only $32 
million on fire prevention and training.
  We ask local firefighters to risk no less than their lives every time 
they respond to a fire alarm. We ask them to risk their lives 
responding to the approximately two million reports of fire that they 
receive on an annual basis. We expect them to be willing to give their 
lives in exchange for the lives of our families, neighbors, and friends 
once every 71 seconds while responding to the 400,000 residential 
fires--fires which represent only about 22% of all fires reported. We 
count on them to protect our lives and the lives of our loved ones.
  I believe the Federal Government needs to show a greater commitment 
to the fire services. So, today, along with my colleague and friend 
from Connecticut, Senator Dodd, I rise to introduce the Firefighter 
Investment and Response Enhancement Act--or, FIRE bill. This bill is 
very simple. It authorizes, over five years, $5 billion in grants to 
local fire departments. These grants can be used for just about any 
purpose--training, equipment, hiring more firefighters, or education 
and prevention programs. A new office, established by this bill under 
the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), would be responsible 
for distributing grants to local departments based on a competitive 
process, involving needs assessment. To ensure that the funding is not 
spent solely on brand new state-of-the-art fire trucks, it mandates 
that no more than 25% of the grant funding can be used to purchase new 
fire vehicles. Finally, it requires that at least 10% of the funds are 
used for fire prevention programs.
  Our bill is supported by the National Safe Kids Campaign, the 
International Association of Fire Fighters, International Association 
of Fire Chiefs, national Volunteer Fire Council, International 
Association of Arson Investigators, International Society of Fire 
Service Instructors, and the National Fire Protection Association. It 
is also a companion measure to legislation introduced in the House by 
Congressmen Pascrell and Weldon, where almost 200 members of the House 
of Representatives have cosponsored it. I am proud to introduce this 
bill with my friend from Connecticut and look forward to working to 
ensure that the federal government increases its commitment to the men 
and women who make up our local fire departments. We owe it to 
them.
                                 ______