On Thursday, April 3, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation reauthorizing the U.S. Fire Administration by a vote of 412–0. The U.S. Fire Administration Reauthorization Act (H.R. 4847), was introduced by Reps. Harry Mitchell (D-Ariz.) and Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) in December and was approved by the House Science and Technology Committee in February.

H.R. 4847 would:

• Authorize funding for the USFA from $70 million in fiscal year 2009 to $76.5 million in FY 2012.
• Include $5 million to improve the National Fire Incident Reporting System and make it an Internet-based, real-time reporting database.
• Authorize the National Fire Academy to teach courses related to fires in the wildland-urban interface, hazardous materials incidents and advanced EMS training and to complete a report every three years on updates to NFA curricula.
• Promote the adoption of national voluntary consensus standards, including standards related to firefighter operations, training, staffing and fitness.
• Authorize the U.S. fire administrator to coordinate USFA’s fire prevention and EMS-related activities with other federal, state and local government agencies.

The House accepted three amendments to this bill:

• An amendment by Rep. James Langevin (D-R.I.) was a nonbinding resolution supporting the installation of sprinklers in commercial buildings and educational programs to raise awareness of the importance of installing fire sprinklers in residential buildings.
• An amendment by Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) would clarify that the NFA should teach courses on “terrorist-caused national catastrophes and incidents that involve weapons of mass destruction.”
• An amendment by Rep. Bill Sali (R-Idaho) would direct the U.S. fire administrator to develop and provide information and training to relevant federal departments and agencies about “the importance of clearing biomass in wildland areas of [f]ederal lands to promote the safety of firefighters.”

The bill was sent to the U.S. Senate for consideration. The Senate companion bill is S. 2606, which was introduced by Sens. Christopher Dodd (D-CT), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Joe Biden (D-Del.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.).