§ 2229. — Firefighter assistance.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 15USC2229]
TITLE 15--COMMERCE AND TRADE
CHAPTER 49--FIRE PREVENTION AND CONTROL
Sec. 2229. Firefighter assistance
(a) Definition of firefighting personnel
In this section, the term ``firefighting personnel'' means
individuals, including volunteers, who are firefighters, officers of
fire departments, or emergency medical service personnel of fire
departments.
(b) Assistance program
(1) Authority
In accordance with this section, the Director may--
(A) make grants on a competitive basis directly to fire
departments of a State, in consultation with the chief executive
of the State, for the purpose of protecting the health and
safety of the public and firefighting personnel against fire and
fire-related hazards; and
(B) provide assistance for fire prevention programs in
accordance with paragraph (4).
(2) Office for administration of assistance
(A) Establishment
Before providing assistance under paragraph (1), the
Director shall establish an office in the Federal Emergency
Management Agency to administer the assistance under this
section.
(B) Included duties
The duties of the office shall include the following:
(i) Recipient selection criteria
To establish specific criteria for the selection of
recipients of the assistance under this section.
(ii) Grant-writing assistance
To provide grant-writing assistance to applicants.
(3) Use of fire department grant funds
The Director may make a grant under paragraph (1)(A) only if the
applicant for the grant agrees to use the grant funds for one or
more of the following purposes:
(A) To hire additional firefighting personnel.
(B) To train firefighting personnel in firefighting,
emergency response (including response to a terrorism incident
or use of a weapon of mass destruction), arson prevention and
detection, or the handling of hazardous materials, or to train
firefighting personnel to provide any of the training described
in this subparagraph.
(C) To fund the creation of rapid intervention teams to
protect firefighting personnel at the scenes of fires and other
emergencies.
(D) To certify fire inspectors.
(E) To establish wellness and fitness programs for
firefighting personnel to ensure that the firefighting personnel
can carry out their duties.
(F) To fund emergency medical services provided by fire
departments.
(G) To acquire additional firefighting vehicles, including
fire trucks.
(H) To acquire additional firefighting equipment, including
equipment for communications, monitoring, and response to a
terrorism incident or use of a weapon of mass destruction.
(I) To acquire personal protective equipment required for
firefighting personnel by the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration, and other personal protective equipment for
firefighting personnel, including protective equipment to
respond to a terrorism incident or the use of a weapon of mass
destruction.
(J) To modify fire stations, fire training facilities, and
other facilities to protect the health and safety of
firefighting personnel.
(K) To enforce fire codes.
(L) To fund fire prevention programs.
(M) To educate the public about arson prevention and
detection.
(N) To provide incentives for the recruitment and retention
of volunteer firefighting personnel for volunteer firefighting
departments and other firefighting departments that utilize
volunteers.
(4) Fire prevention programs
(A) In general
For each fiscal year, the Director shall use not less than 5
percent of the funds made available under subsection (e) of this
section--
(i) to make grants to fire departments for the purpose
described in paragraph (3)(L); and
(ii) to make grants to, or enter into contracts or
cooperative agreements with, national, State, local, or
community organizations that are recognized for their
experience and expertise with respect to fire prevention or
fire safety programs and activities, for the purpose of
carrying out fire prevention programs.
(B) Priority
In selecting organizations described in subparagraph (A)(ii)
to receive assistance under this paragraph, the Director shall
give priority to organizations that focus on prevention of
injuries to children from fire.
(5) Application
The Director may provide assistance to a fire department or
organization under this subsection only if the fire department or
organization seeking the assistance submits to the Director an
application that meets the following requirements:
(A) Form
The application shall be in such form as the Director may
require.
(B) Information
The application shall include the following information:
(i) Financial need
Information that demonstrates the financial need of the
applicant for the assistance for which applied.
(ii) Cost-benefit analysis
An analysis of the costs and benefits, with respect to
public safety, of the use of the assistance.
(iii) Reporting systems data
An agreement to provide information to the national fire
incident reporting system for the period covered by the
assistance.
(iv) Other information
Any other information that the Director may require.
(6) Matching requirement
(A) In general
Subject to subparagraph (B), the Director may provide
assistance under this subsection only if the applicant for the
assistance agrees to match with an equal amount of non-Federal
funds 30 percent of the assistance received under this
subsection for any fiscal year.
(B) Requirement for small community organizations
In the case of an applicant whose personnel serve
jurisdictions of 50,000 or fewer residents, the percent applied
under the matching requirement of subparagraph (A) shall be 10
percent.
(7) Maintenance of expenditures
The Director may provide assistance under this subsection only
if the applicant for the assistance agrees to maintain in the fiscal
year for which the assistance will be received the applicant's
aggregate expenditures for the uses described in paragraph (3) or
(4) at or above the average level of such expenditures in the two
fiscal years preceding the fiscal year for which the assistance will
be received.
(8) Report to the Director
The Director may provide assistance under this subsection only
if the applicant for the assistance agrees to submit to the Director
a report, including a description of how the assistance was used,
with respect to each fiscal year for which the assistance was
received.
(9) Variety of fire department grant recipients
The Director shall ensure that grants under paragraph (1)(A) for
a fiscal year are made to a variety of fire departments, including,
to the extent that there are eligible applicants--
(A) paid, volunteer, and combination fire departments;
(B) fire departments located in communities of varying
sizes; and
(C) fire departments located in urban, suburban, and rural
communities.
(10) Grant limitations
(A) Recipient limitation
A grant recipient under this section may not receive more
than $750,000 under this section for any fiscal year.
(B) Limitation on expenditures for firefighting vehicles
Not more than 25 percent of the funds appropriated to
provide grants under this section for a fiscal year may be used
to assist grant recipients to purchase vehicles, as authorized
by paragraph (3)(G).
(11) Reservation of grant funds for volunteer departments
In making grants to firefighting departments, the Director shall
ensure that those firefighting departments that have either all-
volunteer forces of firefighting personnel or combined forces of
volunteer and professional firefighting personnel receive a
proportion of the total grant funding that is not less than the
proportion of the United States population that those firefighting
departments protect.
(c) Audits
A recipient of a grant under this section shall be subject to audits
to ensure that the grant proceeds are expended for the intended purposes
and that the grant recipient complies with the requirements of
paragraphs (6) and (7) of subsection (b) of this section.
(d) State defined
In this section, the term ``State'' includes the District of
Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
(e) Authorization of appropriations
(1) In general
There are authorized to be appropriated $900,000,000 for each of
the fiscal years 2002 through 2004 for the purposes of this section.
(2) Administrative expenses
Of the funds appropriated pursuant to paragraph (1) for a fiscal
year, the Director may use not more than three percent of the funds
to cover salaries and expenses and other administrative costs
incurred by the Director to operate the office established under
subsection (b)(2) of this section and make grants and provide
assistance under this section.
(Pub. L. 93-498, Sec. 33, as added Pub. L. 106-398, Sec. 1 [[div. A],
title XVII, Sec. 1701(a)], Oct. 30, 2000, 114 Stat. 1654, 1654A-360;
amended Pub. L. 107-107, div. A, title X, Sec. 1061, Dec. 28, 2001, 115
Stat. 1231.)
Codification
Another section 33 of Pub. L. 93-498 is classified to section 2230
of this title.
Amendments
2001--Subsec. (b)(3). Pub. L. 107-107, Sec. 1061(b), (c),
substituted ``the grant funds for one or more of the following
purposes:'' for ``the grant funds--'' in introductory provisions,
capitalized the initial letter of the first word of each of subpars. (A)
to (N), substituted a period for the semicolon at end of each of
subpars. (A) to (L) and a period for ``; or'' at end of subpar. (M),
inserted ``(including response to a terrorism incident or use of a
weapon of mass destruction)'' after ``emergency response'' in subpar.
(B), substituted ``, monitoring, and response to a terrorism incident or
use of a weapon of mass destruction'' for ``and monitoring'' in subpar.
(H), and inserted ``, including protective equipment to respond to a
terrorism incident or the use of a weapon of mass destruction'' after
``equipment for firefighting personnel'' in subpar. (I).
Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 107-107, Sec. 1061(a), reenacted heading
without change and amended text generally. Prior to amendment, text read
as follows: ``There are authorized to be appropriated for the purposes
of this section amounts as follows:
``(1) $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2001.
``(2) $300,000,000 for fiscal year 2002.''
Transfer of Functions
For transfer of functions, personnel, assets, and liabilities of the
Federal Emergency Management Agency, including the functions of the
Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency relating thereto, to
the Secretary of Homeland Security, and for treatment of related
references, see sections 313(1), 551(d), 552(d), and 557 of Title 6,
Domestic Security, and the Department of Homeland Security
Reorganization Plan of November 25, 2002, as modified, set out as a note
under section 542 of Title 6.
