Chapter 49, Section 2229a, Subsection (a) · 15 U.S.C. Chapter 49 — FIRE PREVENTION AND CONTROL

Contents

(a)

(1)

(A)The Administrator of FEMA shall make grants directly to career fire departments, combination fire departments, and volunteer fire departments, in consultation with the chief executive of the State in which the applicant is located, for the purpose of increasing the number of firefighters to help communities meet industry minimum standards and attain 24-hour staffing to provide adequate protection from fire and fire-related hazards, and to fulfill traditional missions of fire departments that antedate the creation of the Department of Homeland Security.

(B)Grants made under this paragraph shall be for 3 years and be used for programs to hire new, additional firefighters or to change the status of part-time or paid-on-call (as defined in section 2229(a) of this title) firefighters to full-time firefighters.

(C)In awarding grants under this subsection, the Administrator of FEMA may give preferential consideration to applications that involve a non-Federal contribution exceeding the minimums under subparagraph (E).

(D)The Administrator of FEMA may provide technical assistance to States, units of local government, Indian tribal governments, and to other public entities, in furtherance of the purposes of this section.

(E)The portion of the costs of hiring firefighters provided by a grant under this paragraph may not exceed—

(i)75 percent in the first year of the grant;

(ii)75 percent in the second year of the grant; and

(iii)35 percent in the third year of the grant.

(F)Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any firefighter hired with funds provided under this subsection shall not be discriminated against for, or be prohibited from, engaging in volunteer activities in another jurisdiction during off-duty hours.

(G)All grants made pursuant to this subsection shall be awarded on a competitive basis through a neutral peer review process.

(H)At the beginning of the fiscal year, the Administrator of FEMA shall set aside 10 percent of the funds appropriated for carrying out this paragraph for departments with majority volunteer or all volunteer personnel. After awards have been made, if less than 10 percent of the funds appropriated for carrying out this paragraph are not awarded to departments with majority volunteer or all volunteer personnel, the Administrator of FEMA shall transfer from funds appropriated for carrying out this paragraph to funds available for carrying out paragraph (2) an amount equal to the difference between the amount that is provided to such fire departments and 10 percent.

(2)In addition to any amounts transferred under paragraph (1)(H), the Administrator of FEMA shall direct at least 10 percent of the total amount of funds appropriated pursuant to this section annually to a competitive grant program for the recruitment and retention of volunteer firefighters who are involved with or trained in the operations of firefighting and emergency response. Eligible entities shall include volunteer or combination fire departments, and national, State, local, or tribal organizations that represent the interests of volunteer firefighters.

United States Government work; public domain under 17 U.S.C. § 105.

Defined terms · 44

Show every defined term

Academy
means the National Academy for Fire Prevention and Control;
Administration
means the United States Fire Administration established pursuant to section 2204 of this title;
Administrator
means, except as otherwise provided, the Administrator of the United States Fire Administration, within the Federal Emergency Management Agency;
Administrator of FEMA
means the Administrator of FEMA, acting through the Administrator.
affordable cost
means the cost to a Federal agency of leasing office space in a building that is protected by an automatic sprinkler system or equivalent level of safety, which cost is no more than 10 percent greater than the cost of leasing available comparable office space in a building that is not so protected.
agency
has the meaning given to it under section 5701(1) of title 5.
arson
includes all incendiary and suspicious fires.
authorized technician
means a technician who has been certified by the manufacturer of fire control or fire rescue equipment to inspect such equipment.
automatic sprinkler system
means an electronically supervised, integrated system of piping to which sprinklers are attached in a systematic pattern, and which, when activated by heat from a fire—
career fire department
means a fire department that has an all-paid force of firefighting personnel other than paid-on-call firefighters.
combination fire department
means a fire department that has—
emergency response personnel
means personnel responsible for mitigation activities in a medical emergency, fire emergency, hazardous material emergency, or natural disaster.
equivalent level of safety
means an alternative design or system (which may include automatic sprinkler systems), based upon fire protection engineering analysis, which achieves a level of safety equal to or greater than that provided by automatic sprinkler systems.
Federal employee office building
means any office building in the United States, whether owned or leased by the Federal Government, that is regularly occupied by more than 25 full-time Federal employees in the course of their employment.
fire control or fire rescue equipment
includes any fire vehicle, fire fighting tool, communications equipment, protective gear, fire hose, or breathing apparatus.
fire service
means any organization in any State consisting of personnel, apparatus, and equipment which has as its purpose protecting property and maintaining the safety and welfare of the public from the dangers of fire, including a private firefighting brigade.
firefighter
has the meaning given the term “employee in fire protection activities” under section 203(y) of title 29.2
firefighting personnel
means individuals, including volunteers, who are firefighters, officers of fire departments, or emergency medical service personnel of fire departments.
governmental authority having jurisdiction
means the Federal, State, local, or other governmental entity with statutory or regulatory authority for the approval of fire safety systems, equipment, installations, or procedures within a specified locality.
hazardous areas
means those areas in a building referred to as hazardous areas in National Fire Protection Association Standard 101, known as the Life Safety Code, or any successor standard thereto.
Indian tribe
has the meaning given that term in section 5304 of title 25 and “tribal” means of or pertaining to an Indian tribe;
institution of higher education
has the meaning given such term in section 1001 of title 20.
local
means of or pertaining to any city, town, county, special purpose district, unincorporated territory, or other political subdivision of a State;
multifamily property
means—
newly constructed multifamily property
means a multifamily property of 4 or more stories above ground level—
nonaffiliated EMS organization
means a public or private nonprofit emergency medical services organization that is not affiliated with a hospital and does not serve a geographic area in which the Administrator of FEMA finds that emergency medical services are adequately provided by a fire department.
Office
means the Office of Fire Prevention and Arson Control of the United States Fire Administration.
person
includes any governmental or other entity.
place of public accommodation affecting commerce
means any inn, hotel, or other establishment not owned by the Federal Government that provides lodging to transient guests, except that such term does not include an establishment treated as an apartment building for purposes of any State or local law or regulation or an establishment located within a building that contains not more than 5 rooms for rent or hire and that is actually occupied as a residence by the proprietor of such establishment;
prefire plan
means specific plans for fire fighting activities at a property or location.
public safety officer
means a person serving a public agency, with or without compensation, as—
qualified fire control or rescue equipment
means fire control or fire rescue equipment that has been recertified by an authorized technician as meeting the manufacturer’s specifications.
rebuilding
means the repairing or reconstructing of portions of a multifamily property where the cost of the alterations is 70 percent or more of the replacement cost of the completed multifamily property, not including the value of the land on which the multifamily property is located.
rebuilt multifamily property
means a multifamily property of 4 or more stories above ground level—
renovated
means the repairing or reconstructing of 50 percent or more of the current value of a Federal employee office building, not including the value of the land on which the Federal employee office building is located.
Secretary
means, except as otherwise provided, the Secretary of Homeland Security;
smoke detector
means an alarm that is designed to respond to the presence of visible or invisible particles of combustion.
smoke detectors
means single or multiple station, self-contained alarm devices designed to respond to the presence of visible or invisible particles of combustion, installed in accordance with the National Fire Protection Association Standard 74 or any successor standard thereto.
State
has the meaning given the term in section 101 of title 6.1
tribal
means of or pertaining to an Indian tribe;
United States
means the States collectively.
volunteer fire company
means an association of individuals who provide fire protection and other emergency services, where at least 30 percent of the individuals receive little or no compensation compared with an entry level full-time paid individual in that association or in the nearest such association with an entry level full-time paid individual.
volunteer fire department
means a fire department that has an all-volunteer force of firefighting personnel.
wildland-urban interface
has the meaning given such term in section 6511 of title 16.