[Senate Report 110-99]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



                                                       Calendar No. 229
110th Congress                                                   Report
                                 SENATE
 1st Session                                                     110-99

======================================================================
 
                WILDLAND FIREFIGHTER SAFETY ACT OF 2007

                                _______
                                

                 June 26, 2007.--Ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

   Mr. Bingaman, from the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, 
                        submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                         [To accompany S. 1152]

    The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was 
referred the bill (S. 1152) to promote wildland firefighter 
safety, having considered the same, reports favorably thereon 
with an amendment and recommends that the bill, as amended, do 
pass.
    The amendment is as follows:

    Strike section 1 and insert the following:

``SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    ``This Act may be cited as the `Wildland Fire Safety and 
Transparency Act of 2007'.''.

                         PURPOSE OF THE MEASURE

    The purpose of S. 1152 is to promote wildland firefighter 
safety and facilitate agency and congressional oversight of the 
Federal agencies' wildland firefighter safety practices and 
policies.

                          BACKGROUND AND NEED

    Wildland firefighting has long been a dangerous activity. 
For example, the National Wildfire Coordinating Group reports 
945 fatalities resulting from wildland fire accidents since 
1910. In recent years, wildfire behavior has become more 
extreme, the wildland-urban interface has grown rapidly, and 
the number and size of wildfires has increased significantly. 
Despite improvements in wildfire fighting technologies, these 
and other factors combine to make wildland firefighting more 
complex today than ever before.
    Between 1910 and the late 1970s and early 1980s, the number 
of Federal wildland fire fatalities was trending downward, but 
that trend has reversed, with the number of Federal fatalities 
slowly increasing since then. The deaths of fourteen Forest 
Service firefighters on Storm King Mountain in 1994, four in 
the Thirtymile Fire in 2001, two in the Cramer Fire in 2003, 
five in the Esperanza Fire in 2006, and many others, 
particularly highlight the need for continual improvement in 
and oversight of safety policies and practices.
    A number of recent reports have identified serious concerns 
with the agencies' safety practices. The Occupational Safety 
and Health Administration found ``serious and willful'' 
violations of safety standards by the Forest Service in its 
investigation of Thirtymile Fire fatalities, noting that a 
number of them were similar to failures which occurred at the 
Storm King Mountain fire. It also found willful, serious and 
repeated violations of safety regulations during its 
investigation of the Cramer Fire.
    The agencies' growing reliance on contract wildfire 
fighting crews also has presented safety challenges. A report 
by the Department of Agriculture's Office of Inspector General 
(Report No. 08601-42-SF, March 2006) identified significant 
problems with oversight and administration of the Forest 
Service contracts and agreements for these private crews. The 
report's ``findings confirm the need to address serious control 
weaknesses with respect to the firefighting contract crews,'' 
which led the Inspector General to recommend, among other 
things, improving oversight of contract crews' qualifications 
and training.
    These and other reports highlight the need for Congress and 
the Federal agencies to improve oversight in the area of 
wildfire safety. The agencies indicated at a recent Committee 
oversight hearing on wildfire that they are working on making 
some major changes to their training and other safety programs, 
which further highlights the need for Congress to keep abreast 
of the agencies' wildfire safety program.
    Ensuring timely and sufficient information on the agencies' 
safety practices and policies is critical to that effort. For 
example, the Federal agencies currently do not specifically 
track the portion of their wildfire-related funding that is 
expended for wildland firefighter safety and training, making 
oversight of safety program funding difficult. The annual 
report to Congress required by S. 1152 will help to ensure that 
information that is critical to improving oversight is 
available.

                          LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

    S. 1152 was introduced by Senator Cantwell on April 18, 
2007. A similar bill, S. 906, was introduced by Senator 
Cantwell and Senator Murray on April 26, 2005. The Subcommittee 
on Public Lands and Forests held a hearing on S. 906 on May 10, 
2006 (S. Hrg. 109-518).

                        COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION

    The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in an 
open business session on May 23, 2007, by voice vote of a 
quorum present, recommends that the Senate pass S. 1152, if 
amended as described herein.

                          COMMITTEE AMENDMENT

    During the consideration of S. 1152, the Committee adopted 
an amendment to the short title.

                         SUMMARY OF THE MEASURE

    S. 1152 requires the Secretaries of Agriculture and the 
Interior to jointly submit to Congress an annual report on 
their agencies' wildland firefighter safety practices and 
policies, including training programs and other safety-related 
activities for fire suppression, prescribed burning, and 
wildland fire use. The report will describe wildland 
firefighter safety practices and policies, statistics and trend 
analyses, estimates of expenditures on safety practices, the 
status of implementing recommendations to improve safety, and 
specific information relating to wildland firefighters that are 
utilized pursuant to a Federal contract (such as the Forest 
Service's National Firefighter Crew Contract) or agreement 
(such as the Pacific Northwest Wildfire Coordinating Group's 
Interagency Firefighting Crew Agreement). The definition of 
``wildland firefighter'' makes clear that the report must 
address safety practices not only for Federal firefighters 
directly employed by the agencies, but also any other 
firefighters--including contractors and volunteers--that 
participate in any wildland firefighting activities under the 
direction of the Federal agencies.

                   COST AND BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS

    The following estimate of costs of this measure has been 
provided by the Congressional Budget Office:

S. 1152--Wildland Fire Safety and Transparency Act of 2007

    S. 1152 would direct the Secretaries of Agriculture and the 
Interior to submit an annual report regarding the wildland fire 
safety practices of designated agencies, such as the Forest 
Service and the Bureau of Land Management. The reports would 
provide information on policies, statistics, trends, and 
progress made on wildland fire safety.
    Based on information provided by the affected agencies and 
assuming appropriation of the necessary amounts, CBO estimates 
that implementing S. 1152 would cost $2 million over the 2008-
2012 period. This amount would be spent on data collection and 
report preparation expenses over the five-year period. Enacting 
this legislation would not affect revenues or direct spending.
    The legislation contains no private-sector or 
intergovernmental mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates 
Reform Act and would not affect the budgets of state, local, or 
tribal governments.
    The CBO staff contacts for this estimate are Tyler Kruzich 
and David Reynolds. The estimate was approved by Peter H. 
Fontaine, Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.

                      REGULATORY IMPACT EVALUATION

    In compliance with paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee makes the following 
evaluation of the regulatory impact which would be incurred in 
carrying out S. 1152.
    The bill is not a regulatory measure in the sense of 
imposing Government-established standards or significant 
economic responsibilities on private individuals and 
businesses.
    No personal information would be collected in administering 
the program. Therefore, there would be no impact on personal 
privacy. Little additional paperwork would result from the 
enactment of S. 1152.

                        EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS

    Because S. 1152 is similar to legislation considered by the 
Committee in the 109th Congress, the Committee did not request 
Executive Agency views on S. 1152. The views of the 
Administration were included in testimony received by the 
Committee at a hearing on S. 906 on May 10, 2006.

  Statement of Joel Holtrop, Deputy Chief for National Forest System, 
               Forest Service, Department of Agriculture

    Mr. Chairman and members of the Subcommittee:
    Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to 
provide the Department's views on S. 906--Wildland Firefighter 
Safety Act of 2005. * * * I am Joel Holtrop, Deputy Chief for 
the National Forest System, USDA Forest Service.
S. 906 Wildland Firefighter Safety Act
    Since the Department of the Interior and the Department of 
Agriculture work closely together in fire management, the two 
Departments are providing a joint statement on S. 906, the 
Wildland Firefighter Safety Act. The bill would require the 
Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior to 
track funds expended for firefighter safety and training 
programs and activities and to include a line item for such 
expenditures in annual budget requests. This bill would also 
require the Secretaries to jointly submit a report on the 
implementation and efficacy of wildland firefighter safety and 
training programs and activities to Congress each year. In 
addition, the bill would direct the Secretaries to ensure that 
any Federal contract or agreement with private entities for 
firefighting services requires the entity to provide 
firefighting training consistent with qualification standards 
set by the National Wildfire Coordinating Group. The 
Secretaries would be further directed to develop a program to 
monitor and enforce compliance with this contracting 
requirement.
    The Departments are concerned that a budget line item may 
not achieve the desired oversight of safety efforts and would 
carry unnecessary administrative complexities. The Departments 
do not consider training costs an effective means of 
determining a firefighter's ability to perform safely.
    Furthermore, section 2(a)(1) of the bill applies only to 
the Secretary of the Interior with respect to public land 
managed by the Bureau of Land Management. It's important to 
recognize that wildland fire occurs not only on public lands 
but also on the other Federal lands administered by the 
Secretary of the Interior through the various other agency 
heads.
    Required training, recurrent training, required experience, 
and job performance cross multiple budget activities and are 
extremely difficult to track at the budget line item level. 
Federal and state agencies provide funding for national and 
advanced training academies as well as training at more local 
levels. Virtually every firefighting training course includes 
some element of fire safety. For these reasons, the Departments 
do not support S. 906 in its present form.
    Rather than focus upon budget structure, the Departments 
suggest that an annual report, which would focus on measurable 
firefighter performance and the efficacy of our safety and 
training practices and activities, would better assist the 
Departments' continual improvement of safety and performance 
and would provide information to Congress in its oversight 
capacity. Indeed, actions are already underway to report to 
Congress. For fiscal year 2007, the Forest Service will report 
to Congress (as part of the national performance measures) the 
accident frequency rate for firefighter injuries during the 
suppression of fires under Forest Service jurisdiction. The 
Department of the Interior tracks and reports the number of 
firefighter injuries and the amount of time lost from 
firefighter injuries as a proportion of all time spent 
firefighting. This information is reported as part of the 10-
Year Comprehensive Strategy Implementation Plan for Reducing 
Wildland Fire Risks.
    We are taking additional action to improve tracking of 
firefighter safety and training measures.
    As this Subcommittee is aware, after the investigations of 
fatal fires in the last 10 years, we re-examined our safety and 
training policies, practices, and performance and implemented 
numerous significant changes. These changes have been developed 
in cooperation with the Occupational Safety and Health 
Administration, the Department of the Interior and other 
interagency partners through the National Wildfire Coordinating 
Group. In addition, an audit by the USDA Office of Inspector 
General (OIG) in 2004 of the Forest Service firefighter safety 
program and in 2006 of firefighting contract crews provided 
recommendations that assisted the Forest Service and the 
Department of the Interior agencies in identifying areas for 
improvement. We have made significant progress in improving 
safety, training, certification, accountability, and reporting.
    The National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG), made up of 
representatives from the Forest Service, Department of the 
Interior agencies, Tribes, and State forestry agencies, 
establishes minimum requirements for training, experience, 
physical fitness level, and currency standards for wildland 
fire positions. All participating agencies must meet these 
requirements for national mobilization. All firefighters--
federal, tribal, state, local, or contract--carry a position 
qualifications document (known as a Red Card) that shows the 
firefighter has met all the training, experience, and physical 
fitness requirements to perform a specific job under NWCG 
standards. The Forest Service has augmented these standards to 
meet specific safety requirements for the Forest Service.
    Certification of each firefighter is the responsibility of 
the employing agency. Firefighters must successfully complete 
coursework and multiple training assignments before they are 
certified for positions. Individual firefighters are trained to 
meet unit, regional and national needs. Performance based 
qualification standards, training courses, annual training to 
maintain currency, drills, and demonstrated successful 
performance prepare firefighters for conditions they may 
encounter.
    I would like to give you an update of items we have 
improved in safety, training, certification, accountability, 
and reporting for firefighters and contract firefighting crews.
    The Incident Qualifications Certification System (IQCS), 
now fully operational, responds to the need for accurate 
tracking of qualifications and centralized records as 
recommended in the 2004 USDA OIG report on firefighter safety. 
Training, on-the-job experience, and certification of each 
firefighter are documented and then added to the IQCS. Every 
federal firefighter must be qualified and in the system before 
they can be assigned by fire managers. State, local, and 
contract firefighters use different tracking systems.
    The 2006 OIG review of crew contract firefighting programs 
reported the need for program oversight and gave several 
recommendations for improvements. As a result, experience 
requirements have been included in the 2006 crew contracts and 
qualification records were reviewed prior to contract awards. 
The Forest Service is working with the Pacific Northwest 
Coordinating Group to establish a process to ensure contract 
associations' training meets the National Wildfire Coordinating 
Group standards. Also included in the 2006 crew contracts is a 
provision for standardized language assessment to ensure that 
there are no communication barriers that would contribute to 
unsafe conditions. The Forest Service is coordinating with 
other Federal agencies to identify counterfeit documents used 
to obtain employment on contract crews. In addition, temporary 
workers--that is, workers hired on a short-term basis during an 
emergency--must also meet agency certification requirements.
    The interagency Wildland Fire Leadership Development 
Program trains firefighters and managers in leadership values 
through a curriculum of courses designed to span the career of 
wildland firefighters from entry level through management and 
leadership levels. Individual firefighters and managers improve 
their leadership skills through self- directed continuing 
education efforts using the on-line resource 
(www.fireleadership.gov) to prepare themselves for the 
decision-making demands of firefighting.
    The Federal Interagency Firefighter Medical Qualifications 
and Standards program was developed by the Interagency Medical 
Standards Team under the direction of the National Fire and 
Aviation Executive Board. This program established medical 
qualifications, standards, and procedures to ensure that 
firefighters have an appropriate level of health and not be at 
unnecessary risk, or put others at risk, in performing arduous 
firefighter duties. The program is intended to ensure that 
sufficient information is available to make a medically sound 
judgment of whether an individual could safely perform the 
firefighter duties.
    Mr. Chairman and members of the Subcommittee, we believe 
that examining firefighter performance and safety as a whole, 
rather than simply tracking training costs, helps us to better 
assess overall quality and effectiveness of our programs. We 
welcome continuing oversight from Congress to help us make 
further progress in this area, and we believe that providing 
Congress an annual report on the performance and efficacy of 
our overall firefighting program would produce the desired 
outcome.

                        CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

    In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee notes that no 
changes in existing law are made by the bill S. 1152 as ordered 
reported.

                                  
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