Title 15 U.s.c 2229

TITLE 15 > CHAPTER 49 > § 2229

§ 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 throughout the Nation
against fire and fire-related hazards;
(B) provide assistance for fire prevention and firefighter safety research and
development programs in accordance with paragraph (4); and
(C) provide assistance for nonaffiliated EMS organizations for the purpose of
paragraph (3)(F).
(2) Administrative assistance
The Director shall establish specific criteria for the selection of recipients of
assistance under this section and shall 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, maritime firefighting, 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 and
nonaffiliated EMS organizations.
(G) To acquire additional firefighting vehicles, including fire trucks.
(H) To acquire additional firefighting equipment, including equipment for fighting
fires with foam in remote areas without access to water, and 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 and firefighter safety research and development
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 not fire departments and
that are recognized for their experience and expertise with respect to fire prevention
or fire safety programs and activities, and firefighter research and development
programs, for the purpose of carrying out fire prevention programs and research to
improve firefighter health and life safety.
(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 high risk groups from fire, as well as research programs that
demonstrate the potential to improve firefighter safety.
(C) Grant limitation
A grant under this paragraph shall not be greater than $1,000,000 for a fiscal year.
(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 Federal support A list of other sources of Federal funding received by the
applicant. The Director, in coordination with the Secretary of Homeland Security,
shall use such list to prevent unnecessary duplication of grant funds.
(v) Other information Any other information that the Director may require.
(6) Matching requirement
(A) In general
Subject to subparagraphs (B) and (C), the Director may provide assistance under
this subsection only if the applicant for such assistance agrees to match 20 percent
of such assistance for any fiscal year with an equal amount of non-Federal funds.
(B) Requirement for small community organizations
In the case of an applicant whose personnel—
(i) serve jurisdictions of 50,000 or fewer residents, the percent applied under the
matching requirement of subparagraph (A) shall be 10 percent; and
(ii) serve jurisdictions of 20,000 or fewer residents, the percent applied under the
matching requirement of subparagraph (A) shall be 5 percent.
(C) Fire prevention and firefighter safety grants

There shall be no matching requirement for a grant described in paragraph (4)(A)(ii).
(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 limitations
A grant recipient under subsection (b)(1)(A) of this section—
(i) that serves a jurisdiction with 500,000 people or less may not receive grants in
excess of $1,000,000 for any fiscal year;
(ii) that serves a jurisdiction with more than 500,000 but not more than 1,000,000
people may not receive grants in excess of $1,750,000 for any fiscal year; and
(iii) that serves a jurisdiction with more than 1,000,000 people may not receive
grants in excess of $2,750,000 for any fiscal year.
The Director may award grants in excess of the limitations provided in clause [1] (i)
and (ii) if the Director determines that extraordinary need for assistance by a
jurisdiction warrants a waiver.
(B) Distribution
Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), no single recipient may receive more than the
lesser of $2,750,000 or one half of one percent of the funds appropriated under this
section for a single fiscal year.
(C) 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).
(D) Requirements for grants for emergency medical services
Subject to the restrictions in subparagraph (E), not less than 3.5 percent of the
funds appropriated under this section for a fiscal year shall be awarded for purposes
described in paragraph (3)(F).
(E) Nonaffiliated EMS limitation
Not more than 2 percent of the funds appropriated to provide grants under this
section for a fiscal year shall be awarded to nonaffiliated EMS organizations.
(F) Application of selection criteria to grant applications from nonaffiliated
EMS organizations
In reviewing applications submitted by nonaffiliated EMS organizations, the Director
shall consider the extent to which other sources of Federal funding are available to
provide assistance requested in such grant applications.
(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.
(12) Eligible grantee on behalf of Alaska Native villages
The Alaska Village Initiatives, a non-profit organization incorporated in the State of
Alaska, shall be considered an eligible grantee for purposes of receiving assistance
under this section on behalf of Alaska Native villages.
(13) Annual meeting
The Director shall convene an annual meeting of individuals who are members of
national fire service organizations and are recognized for expertise in firefighting or
emergency medical services provided by fire services, and who are not employees of
the Federal Government, for the purpose of recommending criteria for awarding
grants under this section for the next fiscal year and recommending any necessary
administrative changes to the grant program.
(14) Guidelines
(A) Each year, prior to making any grants under this section, the Director shall
publish in the Federal Register—
(i) guidelines that describe the process for applying for grants and the criteria for
awarding grants; and
(ii) an explanation of any differences between the guidelines and the
recommendations made pursuant to paragraph (13).
(B) The criteria for awarding grants under subsection (b)(1)(A) of this section shall
include the extent to which the grant would enhance the daily operations of the
applicant and the impact of such a grant on the protection of lives and property.
(15) Peer review
The Director shall, after consultation with national fire service organizations, appoint
fire service personnel to conduct peer review of applications received under
paragraph (5). In making grants under this section, the Director shall consider the
results of such peer review evaluations.
(16) Applicability of Federal Advisory Committee Act
The Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) shall not apply to activities
under paragraphs (13) and (15).
(17) Accounting determination
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, rule, regulation, or guidance, for
purposes of receiving assistance under this section, equipment costs shall include,
but not be limited to, all costs attributable to any design, purchase of components,
assembly, manufacture, and transportation of equipment not otherwise commercially
available.
(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) Definitions
In this section—
(1) the term “Director” means the Director, acting through the Administrator;
(2) the term “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 Director finds that emergency medical
services are adequately provided by a fire department; and

(3) 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 for the purposes of this section
$900,000,000 for fiscal year 2005, $950,000,000 for fiscal year 2006, and
$1,000,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2007 through 2009. Of the amounts
authorized in this paragraph, $3,000,000 shall be made available each year through
fiscal year 2008 for foam firefighting equipment.
(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 make grants and provide
assistance under this section.