[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 19 (Monday, January 30, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4927-4928]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-1064]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Federal Emergency Management Agency


Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission for OMB 
Review; Comment Request

AGENCY: Federal Emergency Management Agency, Department of Homeland 
Security.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has submitted 
the following information collection to the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) for review and clearance in accordance with the 
requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. The submission 
describes the nature of the information collection, the categories of 
respondents, the estimated burden (i.e., the time, effort and resources 
used by respondents to respond) and cost, and includes the actual data 
collection instruments FEMA will use.
    Title: National Fire Department Census.
    OMB Number: 1660-0070.
    Abstract: Many data products and reports exist that contain 
fragmented or estimated information about fire department demographics, 
and capabilities, but there is no single reference source today that 
aggregates this data to provide a complete and accurate profile of fire 
departments in the United States. The U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) 
\1\ receives many requests for information related to fire departments, 
including total number of departments, number of stations per 
department, population protected, apparatus and equipment status. The 
USFA is working to identify all fire departments in the United States 
to develop and populate a national database that will include 
information related to demographics, capabilities and activities. The 
database will be used by USFA to guide programmatic decisions, provide 
the Fire Service and the public with information about fire 
departments, to produce mailing lists for USFA publications and other

[[Page 4928]]

materials. In the first year of this effort, information was collected 
from 16,000 fire departments. Since the first year of the collection, 
an additional 8,000 departments have registered with the census for a 
total of 24,000 fire departments. This leaves an estimated 9,000 
departments still to respond. Additionally, fire departments already 
registered with the census will be contacted once every five years to 
provide updates or changes to their census data so that USFA can keep 
the database as current as possible. Fire departments are able to 
complete the census form on-line through the USFA Web site, or by 
filling out a paper census form and faxing the completed form, or 
sending it in a return envelope.
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    \1\ The U.S, Fire Administration is currently being transferred 
to the newly created Preparedness Directorate of the Department of 
Homeland Security. During this transition FEMA, also part of the 
Department of Homeland Security, will continue to support this 
program as the new Directorate stands up. Ultimately this data 
collection will be transferred to the Preparedness Directorate.
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    Affected Public: Federal, State, local, government, volunteer and 
industrial fire departments.
    Number of Respondents: 9,000.
    Estimated Time per Respondent: 25 minutes.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 3,750 hours.
    Frequency of Response: Once.
    Comments: Interested persons are invited to submit written comments 
on the proposed information collection to the Office of Information and 
Regulatory Affairs at OMB, Attention: Desk Officer for the Department 
of Homeland Security/FEMA, Docket Library, Room 10102, 725 17th Street, 
NW., Washington, DC 20503, or facsimile number (202) 395-7285. Comments 
must be submitted on or before March 1, 2006.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or 
copies of the information collection should be made to Chief, Records 
Management, FEMA, 500 C Street, SW., Room 316, Washington, DC 20472, 
facsimile number (202) 646-3347, or e-mail address [email protected].

    Dated: January 19, 2006.
Darcy Bingham,
Branch Chief, Information Resources Management Branch, Information 
Technology Services Division.
 [FR Doc. E6-1064 Filed 1-27-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 9110-17-P