[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 65 (Tuesday, May 11, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5232-S5236]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. DODD (for himself, Mr. DeWine, Mr. Daschle, Mr. McCain, 
        Mr. Hollings, Mr. Warner, Mr. Levin, Ms. Collins, Mr. Sarbanes, 
        Mr. Specter, Mr. Biden, Ms. Snowe, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Graham of 
        South Carolina, Mr. Rockfeller, Mr. Smith, Mr. Harkin, Mr. 
        Gregg, Mr. Lieberman, Mr. Jeffords, Mr. Durbin, Ms. Mikulski, 
        Mr. Baucus, Mr. Schumer, Mr. Reid, Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Inouye, 
        Mr. Leahy, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Kerry, Mr. Bingaman, Mr. 
        Lautenberg, Mr. Corzine, Mr. Reed, Mr. Carper, and Mr. Dayton):
  S. 2411. A bill to amend the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act 
of 1974 to provide financial assistance for the improvement of the 
health and safety of firefighters, promote the use of life saving 
technologies achieve greater equity for departments serving large 
jurisdictions, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Commerce, 
Science, and Transportation.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I rise today with Senator DeWine and 34 co-
sponsors to introduce the Assistance to Firefighters Act of 2004, which 
will revitalize the FIRE Act grant program for an additional six years.
  Senator DeWine and I authored the original FIRE Act four years ago. 
It has been a tremendous success, helping fire departments throughout 
our Nation purchase firefighting equipment as well as train 
firefighters. Nationwide, nearly $2 billion has been appropriated for 
FIRE Act grants throughout the country.
  A report last year by the Federal Government found that 99 percent of 
grant recipients were satisfied with the FIRE Act's ability to meet the 
needs of their department. In addition, 97 percent of the participants 
reported that it had ``a positive impact on their ability to handle 
fire and fire-related incidents.'' The report concluded that ``overall, 
the results of our survey and our analysis reflect that the Assistance 
to Firefighters Grant program was highly effective in improving the 
readiness and capabilities of firefighters across the Nation.'' The 
FIRE Act grant initiative is truly a success story.

[[Page S5233]]

  It is important to remember that the defenders of our Nation are not 
dressed only in combat fatigues. They wear firefighter uniforms. They 
risk their lives to keep us safe just like our troops overseas, and we 
all appreciate their efforts greatly.
  The fire service has men and women who are willing to do whatever it 
takes to get their jobs done. As a country, we are fortunate to have 
first-rate firefighters throughout the Nation, but they are 
underfunded, understaffed, undertrained, and underequipped to deal with 
many emergencies that may arise. According to a national Needs 
Assessment study of the U.S. Fire Service published in December 2002, 
most fire departments lack the necessary resources and training to 
properly handle terrorist attacks and large-scale emergencies. A June 
2003 Council of Foreign Relations report authored by former Senator 
Warren Rudman further underscored this issue when it concluded that 
``if the Nation does not take immediate steps to better identify and 
address the urgent needs of emergency responders, the next terrorist 
incident could have an even more devastating impact than the September 
11 attacks.''
  The responsibilities of America's firefighters have also changed. 
They have certainly come a long way from the ``bucket brigades'' in 
colonial America, where two rows of people would stretch form the town 
well to the fire, passing buckets of water back and forth until the 
fire was extinguished.
  Today, firefighters must do more. They still have their traditional 
responsibilities of extinguishing fires, delivering emergency medical 
services, and ensuring that fire codes are obeyed. Now the fire service 
has new homeland security responsibilities, such as responding to 
biological and chemical threats.
  The reality, however, is that cash-strapped States and cities simply 
do not have the resources needed to single-handedly safeguard their 
populations. Nor do they have the fiscal reserves necessary to deal 
with heightened warning levels for any extended period of time.
  According to the aforementioned U.S. Fire Service's 2002 national 
Needs Assessment study, most fire departments lack the necessary 
resources and training to properly handle terrorist attacks and large-
scale emergencies. The study found that: Using local personnel, only 11 
percent of fire departments can handle a rescue at a collapse of a 
building with 50 occupants. Nearly half of all fire departments 
consider such an incident beyond their scope.
  Using local personnel, only 13 percent of fire departments can handle 
a hazardous material incident involving chemical and/or biological 
agents with 10 injuries. Only 21 percent have a written agreement to 
direct the use of non-local resources to handle the situation.
  An estimated 40 percent of fire department personnel involved in 
hazardous material response lack formal training in those duties, most 
of them serving smaller communities.
  Finally, an estimated 60 to 75 percent of fire departments do not 
have enough fire stations to achieve widely used response time 
guidelines. Many fire departments often fail to respond to fires with 
sufficient personnel to safely initiate an interior attack on a 
structural fire.
  These statistics are startling. The threats to which firefighters are 
expected to respond have far outgrown the ability of local governments 
to equip firefighters to do what these dangerous times require them to 
do. This situation demands continued action by the Senate to address 
these concerns, which is why Senator DeWine and I are introducing this 
legislation to further strengthen the FIRE Act grant initiative for the 
future.
  Our bill builds on the recommendations given to us last February by 
the paid and volunteer fire services. First, we are authorizing $5.85 
billion over the next six years for FIRE Act grant assistance. This 
amount represents a substantial increase over current law.

  Second, we are both increasing the size of the awards and making the 
grants more equitable. Presently, the maximum amount of an award is 
$750,000, regardless of the size and type of department. For a large 
department, this cap has caused some difficulties because departments 
in smaller communities get a substantially larger share of the funds 
per capita. Our legislation will increase the size of the awards for 
large jurisdictions to $2.25 million, a threefold increase. For 
jurisdictions between 500,000 and one million people, the cap will be 
$1.5 million. For jurisdictions less than 500,000, the maximum award 
will be $1 million. The bill also empowers the Secretary of Homeland 
Security to waive these caps in instances of extraordinary need.
  Third, we have restructured the matching requirements of current law. 
We have heard from the fire services that the current matching 
requirement imposed on local jurisdictions in many instances exceeds 
the funds available in their budgets. Our bill will reduce the non-
Federal matching requirement from 30 percent to 20 percent for 
departments serving populations of more than 50,000 people. It will 
also cut the match by one-third for departments serving communities 
between 20,000 and 50,000 people, and by one-half for departments 
serving 20,000 or fewer residents.
  Finally, we have enhanced the fire safety and fire prevention 
programs under the FIRE Act, and we have made volunteer, non-profit 
emergency medical service (EMS) providers that serve municipalities 
with separate fire and EMS departments eligible for FIRE Act grants. In 
addition, we tackle the leading cause of firefighter death in the line 
of duty--heart attacks--by creating an incentive for fire departments 
to acquire life-saving automated external defibrillator equipment for 
every first-due emergency vehicle.
  These are some of the provisions in the legislation that Senator 
DeWine and I are introducing. We look forward to working constructively 
with the other body in the coming months to fashion legislation that 
the entire fire service can support.
  I am concerned, however, about a provision in the House bill that 
would seem to disadvantage paid fire departments over volunteer fire 
departments. This provision would prohibit a paid fire department from 
receiving FIRE Act assistance if it includes in its collective 
bargaining agreement a clause prohibiting its firefighters from serving 
as volunteer firefighters in another jurisdiction.
  This provision would needlessly put Congress in the awkward position 
of dictating to local fire departments not only how to manage 
themselves, but what issues they can and cannot bargain over in their 
contract. The consequences of such a provision would be far-reaching. 
In fact, I am unaware of any other Federal grant initiative that 
imposes a limitation of such as this on collective agreements.
  Of course, there are larger issues also at stake--namely, the fact 
that the Federal government does not provide for firefighters to 
bargain collectively. Where bargaining does occur, it exists because 
firefighters have won the right at the state or local level. In fact, I 
have strongly supported separate legislation currently pending before 
Congress that would grant each and every firefighter the right to 
discuss workplace issues with their employer. It would therefore be 
inconsistent if firefighters are told what issues over which they can 
or cannot bargain at the same time that it is the current policy of the 
Federal Government that it is up to the states whether they can bargain 
in the first place. How can collective bargaining rights be restricted 
when they are not even granted?
  The legislation that Senator DeWine and I are introducing does not 
include the House provision, because we are committed to ensuring that 
all firefighters are treated fairly, and have an equal opportunity to 
obtain the assistance they need to do their jobs safely.
  In closing, it is important to recall the vital role that 
firefighters have played in American history since its earliest days. 
In fact, firefighting can be linked to some of our Nation's most 
illustrious personages. Benjamin Franklin established the first 
volunteer fire department in Philadelphia in 1735. George Washington 
himself was a volunteer firefighter across the Potomac River in 
Alexandria, Virginia, and he imported the first fire engine from 
England in 1765.
  Of course, on September 11, 2001, 343 members of the New York Fire 
Department made the ultimate sacrifice in their efforts to save 
thousands of lives trapped in the World Trade Center. The role played 
by those firefighters who

[[Page S5234]]

died in the line of duty on that tragic day made our Nation proud. We 
will never allow their noble sacrifice to be forgotten.
  On that day and on every other day, they are the first ones in and 
the last ones out. They risk their own lives to save the lives of 
others. They stare danger in the face because they know they have a 
duty to fulfill.
  The Congress has a duty to the fire service as well, and to the 
citizens of our Nation who need the protection of the fire service. I 
look forward to working with my colleagues in the coming months to 
ensure that this important bipartisan homeland security legislation is 
enacted into law.
  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 departments. These 
individuals are willing to risk their lives and safety out of a 
dedication to their citizens and their commitment to public service.
  We ask local firefighters to risk no less than their lives, as well, 
every time they respond to an emergency fire alarm, a chemical spill, 
or as we saw on September 11, terrorist attacks. We ask them to risk 
their lives responding to the nearly 2 million reports of fire that 
they receive on an annual basis. Every 18 seconds while responding to 
fires, we expect them to be willing to give their lives in exchange for 
the lives of our families, neighbors and friends. One hundred 
firefighters lost their lives in 2002 in the line of duty, and nearly 
450 lost their lives in 2001. The unyielding commitment these 
individuals have made to public safety surely deserves an equally 
strong commitment from the Federal Government.
  In 2000, Congress affirmed the value of having a properly trained, 
equipped and staffed fire service by passing the Firefighter Investment 
and Response Enhancement (FIRE) Act--legislation that Senator Dodd and 
I introduced, along with Congressmen Pascrell, Weldon, and many others, 
on the House side. In the 4 years since the FIRE Act become law, fire 
departments have made significant progress in terms of filling the 
substantial needs outlined in the National Fire Protection 
Association's ``needs assessment.'' To date, Congress has appropriated 
nearly $2 billion for the FIRE Act program. Virtually every penny of 
that amount has gone directly to local fire departments through FIRE 
grants to provide firefighter personal protective equipment, training 
to ensure more effective firefighting practices, breathing apparatus, 
new firefighting vehicles, emergency medical services supplies, fire 
prevention programs, and other important uses. The direct nature of the 
FIRE Act grant program--funds literally go straight from the Federal 
Government to local fire departments--is an extremely important aspect 
of the law, particularly in light of the difficulties we are seeing 
with other homeland security grant programs getting money to flow 
directly to the intended recipients.
  FIRE Act grants are awarded based on a competitive, peer-review 
process that helps ensure that the most important needs are filled 
first and that funding will be used in an effective manner. I am proud 
to note that 86 of Ohio's 88 counties have received FIRE Act funding up 
to this point and that the fire service in my home State is much better 
prepared to respond to emergencies as a result. The bottom line is 
this: The FIRE Act program has proven to be an extremely valuable tool 
for fire-based first responders.

  The time has come to reauthorize this important legislation--to build 
upon the successes of the original FIRE Act and to refine the program 
where improvements can be made. Just as we did in 2000, Senator Dodd 
and I have come together, along with the support of several national 
fire service organizations, to introduce a bill to reauthorize the FIRE 
Act. Our bill focuses on four central themes. First, we take steps to 
make the grant program more accessible for fire departments serving 
small, rural communities and to eliminate barriers to participation 
faced by departments serving heavily populated jurisdictions. Second, 
we codify changes made in program administration since its transfer to 
the recently created Department of Homeland Security. Third, the bill 
increases the emphasis within the program on life-saving Emergency 
Medical Services and technologies. And fourth, we evaluate the program 
through a series of reports to help ensure that resources are targeted 
to the areas of greatest need. These priorities have been developed 
jointly with the fire service, and represent a means to strengthen the 
FIRE Act program for years to come.
  First, our new legislation would help the FIRE act program be more 
accessible for fire departments serving the very largest and smallest 
jurisdictions in America. Our experience over the past 4 years has been 
that a number of features in the program make participation difficult 
for departments serving these populations. Career fire departments, 
most of which serve populations well in excess of 50,000, have been 
receiving only a small percentage of the total grants thus far. After 
consulting with the fire service organizations, fire chiefs in my home 
State of Ohio, and officials administering the program at the 
Department of Homeland Security, we've found that there are two main 
reasons why this has been the case.
  First, matching requirements for large departments, currently fixed 
at 30 percent, have been particularly difficult to meet. Second, 
current law dictates that departments--whether they serve a large city, 
such as Cleveland and have numerous fire stations, or a small town, 
such as Cedarville, OH and have only one station--are eligible for the 
exact same level of funding each year: $750,000. These two elements of 
the current program have caused a number of large fire departments to 
forego applying for FIRE grants. With respect to smaller, often 
volunteer-based departments serving populations of 20,000 or less, 
budgets are often so limited that meeting the current match is simply 
not possible. Many of these departments struggle with even the most 
basic needs, such as having an adequate number of staff available to 
respond to a structure fire.
  Our bill addresses each of these problems in a simple and 
straightforward fashion. Specifically, the bill would reduce matching 
requirements by one third for departments serving communities of 
50,000, and by the one half for departments serving 20,000 or fewer 
residents in order to encourage increased participation by these 
departments. The bill also would restructure caps on grant amounts to 
reflect population served, with up to $2,250,000 for departments 
serving one million or more, $1,500,000 for departments serving between 
500,000 and one million, and $1,000,000 for departments serving fewer 
than 500,000 residents. Together, these two changes would go a long way 
toward increasing the accessibility of the program for the very largest 
and smallest departments in the United States.
  The second major component of our bill has to do with the transfer of 
the FIRE Act administration from the Federal Emergency Management 
Administration (FEMA) to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). 
When FEMA's functions were transferred into the DHS, the FIRE grant 
program, along with the U.S. Fire Administration, also were transferred 
to DHS. As part of that transfer, formal administration of the FIRE 
grant program has been delegated to the Department to the Office of 
Domestic Preparedness (ODP), which oversees all DHS grant programs. 
While the U.S. Fire Administration--the real fire experts within the 
Federal Govenment--remains involved, we need to take steps to formalize 
the management of the program following the transfer to DHS.
  There are a number of reasons for solidifying program administration 
in law, chief among them being the ability of fire departments across 
our Nation to plan for the future, and the ability to ensure an ongoing 
role for fire experts in the process. First, our bill gives the 
Secretary of Homeland Security overall authority for the program. This 
just makes sense given the Secretary's current home within ODP. 
Additionally, the bill would codify in law practices currently in use 
by ODP--peer review by experts from national fire service 
organizations, a formal role for the U.S. Fire Administration, and 
collaborative meetings to recommend grant criteria.
  These steps would benefit the program for years to come and would 
help bring stability to the increasingly mature FIRE grant program. 
Perhaps

[[Page S5235]]

more importantly, formalizing the role of the U.S. Fire Administrator 
and national fire service organizations would help resolve a 
fundamental tension between the mission of the FIRE Act program (to 
improve firefighting and EMS resources nationwide for all hazards) and 
the mission of its caretaker, ODP (to focus on terrorism prevention and 
response).
  It makes sense for ODP, as the central clearinghouse for grant 
program within DHS, to manage the FIRE grant program. Equally so, it 
makes sense to build features into the program which would help ensure 
that the FIRE grant program will remain dedicated solely to the fire 
and emergency medical services (EMS) communities and will not be 
diluted over time into a generic terrorism-prevention program. Our bill 
carefully strikes this balance.

  The third major focus of this reauthorization bill is on finding ways 
to improve safety and to save lives. We do this in a number of ways. 
First, we've teamed up with national fire service organizations to 
incorporate firefighter safety research into the fire prevention and 
safety set-aside program. This new research, supported by a 20 percent 
increase in funds for the prevention and safety set-aside, would help 
reduce the number of firefighter fatalities each year and would 
dramatically improve the health and welfare of firefighters nationwide.
  Second, we place an increased emphasis on Emergency Medical Services. 
In most communities, the fire department is the chief provider for all 
emergency services, including EMS. To illustrate this point, a 2002 
National Fire Protection Association study indicates that fire 
departments received more than seven times as many calls for EMS 
assistance as they did for fires. When our family members, neighbors, 
and friends need immediate medical help, we turn to EMS providers, and 
we rely on this help to be as effective and timely as possible. It is 
our duty in structuring the FIRE grant program, then, to do everything 
we can to give EMS squads the assistance they need to carry out this 
important mission.
  Despite the overwhelming ratio of EMS calls to fire calls, the FIRE 
grant program has not adequately reflected the importance of EMS over 
the past few years, with about 1 percent of all grants going 
specifically for EMS purposes. While there is no question that a number 
of other grants have indirectly benefited EMS and that departments do 
invest their own money into this service, more can and should be done 
through the FIRE Act to boost our EMS capabilities nationwide. To 
accomplish this goal, we do a number of things in the reauthorization 
bill, including specifically including fire-based EMS professionals in 
the peer review process and allowing EMS grant requests to be combined 
with those for equipment and training.
  Additionally, we include language to incorporate independent, non-
profit EMS squads into the FIRE grant program for the first time. While 
our work with national fire service organizations on this particular 
provision has been productive and is ongoing, its intent is clear--and 
that is to try to bring the emphasis within the FIRE grant program on 
EMS closer to the level of demand in the field for this life-saving 
service. I am pleased that we have this language in the bill and 
believe that through debate here in committee, and perhaps on the 
Senate floor, we can find an even better solution for increasing 
support for EMS.

  Third, we create a new incentive program within the FIRE Act that 
encourages departments to invest in life-saving automated external 
defibrillator (AED) devices. These devices are capable of dramatically 
reducing the number one cause of firefighter death in the line of 
duty--heart attacks. Our incentive program essentially says to fire 
departments that if you equip each of your firefighting vehicles with a 
defibrillator unit, we'll give you a one-time discount on your matching 
requirement. Congress has expressed, time and again, strong support for 
getting these devices out to communities through various grant 
programs. It is our hope that we can maintain that commitment by 
extending support for life-saving defibrillator technologies to fire 
departments across the country.
  Fourth, we eliminate a burdensome and unintended matching requirement 
for fire prevention grants. These grants generally go to non-profit 
organizations, such as National SAFE KIDS, to provide for fire safety 
awareness campaigns, smoke detector installations in low-income 
housing, and other important prevention efforts. Though no match was 
required in the first few years of the program, a recent legal opinion 
from the Office of Domestic Preparedness has reversed course and 
instituted a 10 percent match for grantees. This unanticipated 
requirement, which is extremely difficult for non-profits with limited 
capital, has had a debilitating effect on the prevention program and 
needs to be eliminated. Our bill does just that.
  Together, these common-sense features of our reauthorization bill 
would dramatically improve the safety of our communities, as well as 
the firefighters who bravely serve them.
  The fourth section of this reauthorization bill centers on a 
comprehensive review of the FIRE grant program. This review, to be 
conducted in part by the National Fire Protection Association, and in 
part by the General Accounting Office (GAO), seeks to evaluate the 
program with an eye toward ensuring that resources are targeted to the 
areas of greatest need. A similar study by the National Fire Protection 
association conducted shortly after passage of the initial FIRE Act was 
extremely helpful as far as identifying the nature of the fire service 
needs. Ultimately, this part of the bill is about making sure that the 
billions of taxpayer dollars authorized by this legislation are used in 
the most responsible and effective manner possible.
  Our bill is a good bill. It is comprehensive and collaboratively 
drafted with input from fire and emergency services experts from across 
the country. The National Safe Kids Campaign, the International 
Association of Fire Fighters, the International Association of Fire 
Chiefs, the National Volunteer Fire Council, the International 
Association of Arson Investigators, the International Society of Fire 
Service Instructors, and the National Fire Protection Association, 
among others, all support our legislation. I am proud to introduce this 
bill with my friend and colleague 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 
them and their service and dedication nothing less than our full 
support.
  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I am pleased to join Senators Dodd and 
DeWine and my other colleagues in introducing the Assistance to 
Firefighters Act of 2004, which will reauthorize the Assistance to 
Firefighters Grant Program. This program, which is also know as the 
FIRE Grant program, addresses a critical need by ensuring that our 
Nation's firefighters have adequate funding for training and equipment 
to deal with the many hazards that they face.
  As Chairman of the authorizing committee of jurisdiction, I am 
familiar with the success of the Assistance to Firefighters Grant 
Program. Funding under the FIRE grant program is provided directly to 
local jurisdictions. Applications undergo a competitive, merit-based 
process, which helps to ensure that funding is spent responsibily and 
productively. The grant program includes a matching requirement to 
ensure that the local community is committed to spending the grant. It 
also includes a ``maintenance of expenditures'' provision to ensure 
that the grant will supplement, not replace, local firefighting funds. 
In addition, the program ensures that new technology that is bought 
with FIRE Grant funds meet standards set by voluntary consensus 
organizations, so that local fire departments will buy effective 
equipment.
  For Fiscal Year 2004, the program received over 20,000 applications 
from local fire departments across the country. These requests totaled 
approximately $2.3 billion. The program also received around 20,000 
applications in 2001, 2002, and 2003, which clearly demonstrates the 
need and importance of this program to the firefighting community.
  The Assistance to Firefighters Grant program recipients use such 
funds to help meet their basic needs. The uses for these grants 
include: personal protection and firefighting equipment;

[[Page S5236]]

training; firefighting vehicles; fire prevention campaigns; fire code 
enforcement; and arson detection and prevention. I would like to 
emphasize that these grants are dedicated to improving the local 
response to ``all-hazards,'' including natural disasters, structural 
fires, and acts of terrorism.
  I thank my colleagues for their leadership on this issue, and urge 
the Senate to support passage of this legislation this year. As we have 
witnessed recently, our Nation's fire services face a myriad of 
threats, and we should work to ensure that they are adequately trained 
and equipped to meet them.

                          ____________________