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U.S. Code as of:
01/19/04
Section 2207. Fire technology
(a) Development
The Administrator shall conduct a continuing program of
development, testing, and evaluation of equipment for use by the
Nation's fire, rescue, and civil defense services, with the aim of
making available improved suppression, protective, auxiliary, and
warning devices incorporating the latest technology. Attention
shall be given to the standardization, compatibility, and
interchangeability of such equipment. Such development, testing,
and evaluation activities shall include, but need not be limited to
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(1) safer, less cumbersome articles of protective clothing,
including helmets, boots, and coats;
(2) breathing apparatus with the necessary duration of service,
reliability, low weight, and ease of operation for practical use;
(3) safe and reliable auxiliary equipment for use in fire
prevention, detection, and control, such as fire location
detectors, visual and audio communications equipment, and mobile
equipment;
(4) special clothing and equipment needed for forest fires,
brush fires, oil and gasoline fires, aircraft fires and crash
rescue, fires occurring aboard waterborne vessels, and in other
special firefighting situations;
(5) fire detectors and related equipment for residential use
with high sensitivity and reliability, and which are sufficiently
inexpensive to purchase, install, and maintain to insure wide
acceptance and use;
(6) in-place fire prevention systems of low cost and of
increased reliability and effectiveness;
(7) methods of testing fire alarms and fire protection devices
and systems on a non-interference basis;
(8) the development of purchase specifications, standards, and
acceptance and validation test procedures for all such equipment
and devices; and
(9) operation tests, demonstration projects, and fire
investigations in support of the activities set forth in this
section.
(b) Limitation on manufacture and sale of equipment
The Administration shall not engage in the manufacture or sale of
any equipment or device developed pursuant to this section, except
to the extent that it deems it necessary to adequately develop,
test, or evaluate such equipment or device.
(c) Management studies
(1) The Administrator is authorized to conduct, directly or
through contracts or grants, studies of the operations and
management aspects of fire services, utilizing quantitative
techniques, such as operations research, management economics, cost
effectiveness studies, and such other techniques and methods as may
be applicable and useful. Such studies shall include, but need not
be limited to, the allocation of resources, the optimum location of
fire stations, the optimum geographical area for an integrated fire
service, the manner of responding to alarms, the operation of
citywide and regional fire dispatch centers, firefighting under
conditions of civil disturbance, and the effectiveness, frequency,
and methods of building inspections.
(2) The Administrator is authorized to conduct, directly or
through contracts or grants, research concerning the productivity
and efficiency of fire service personnel, the job categories and
skills required by fire services under varying conditions, the
reduction of injuries to fire service personnel, the most effective
fire prevention programs and activities, and techniques for
accuracy measuring and analyzing the foregoing.
(3) The Administrator is authorized to conduct, directly or
through contracts, grants, or other forms of assistance,
development, testing and demonstration projects to the extent
deemed necessary to introduce and to encourage the acceptance of
new technology, standards, operating methods, command techniques,
and management systems for utilization by the fire services.
(4) The Administrator is authorized to assist the Nation's fire
services, directly or through contracts, grants, or other forms of
assistance, to measure and evaluate, on a cost-benefit basis, the
effectiveness of the programs and activities of each fire service
and the predictable consequences on the applicable local fire
services of coordination or combination, in whole or in part, in a
regional, metropolitan, or statewide fire service.
(d) Rural assistance
The Administrator is authorized to assist the Nation's fire
services, directly or through contracts, grants, or other forms of
assistance, to sponsor and encourage research into approaches,
techniques, systems, and equipment to improve fire prevention and
control in the rural and remote areas of the Nation.
(e) Assistance to other Federal agencies
At the request of other Federal agencies, including the
Department of Agriculture and the Department of the Interior, the
Administrator may provide assistance in fire prevention and control
technologies, including methods of containing insect-infested
forest fires and limiting dispersal of resultant fire particle
smoke, and methods of measuring and tracking the dispersal of fine
particle smoke resulting from fires of insect-infested fuel.
(f) Technology evaluation and standards development
(1) In general
In addition to, or as part of, the program conducted under
subsection (a) of this section, the Administrator, in
consultation with the National Institute of Standards and
Technology, the Inter-Agency Board for Equipment Standardization
and Inter-Operability, the National Institute for Occupational
Safety and Health, the Directorate of Science and Technology of
the Department of Homeland Security, national voluntary consensus
standards development organizations, interested Federal, State,
and local agencies, and other interested parties, shall -
(A) develop new, and utilize existing, measurement techniques
and testing methodologies for evaluating new firefighting
technologies, including -
(i) personal protection equipment;
(ii) devices for advance warning of extreme hazard;
(iii) equipment for enhanced vision;
(iv) devices to locate victims, firefighters, and other
rescue personnel in above-ground and below-ground structures;
(v) equipment and methods to provide information for
incident command, including the monitoring and reporting of
individual personnel welfare;
(vi) equipment and methods for training, especially for
virtual reality training; and
(vii) robotics and other remote-controlled devices;
(B) evaluate the compatibility of new equipment and
technology with existing firefighting technology; and
(C) support the development of new voluntary consensus
standards through national voluntary consensus standards
organizations for new firefighting technologies based on
techniques and methodologies described in subparagraph (A).
(2) Standards for new equipment
(A) The Administrator shall, by regulation, require that new
equipment or systems purchased through the assistance program
established by section 2229 of this title meet or exceed
applicable voluntary consensus standards for such equipment or
systems for which applicable voluntary consensus standards have
been established. The Administrator may waive the requirement
under this subparagraph with respect to specific standards.
(B) If an applicant for a grant under section 2229 of this
title proposes to purchase, with assistance provided under the
grant, new equipment or systems that do not meet or exceed
applicable voluntary consensus standards, the applicant shall
include in the application an explanation of why such equipment
or systems will serve the needs of the applicant better than
equipment or systems that do meet or exceed such standards.
(C) In making a determination whether or not to waive the
requirement under subparagraph (A) with respect to a specific
standard, the Administrator shall, to the greatest extent
practicable -
(i) consult with grant applicants and other members of the
fire services regarding the impact on fire departments of the
requirement to meet or exceed the specific standard;
(ii) take into consideration the explanation provided by the
applicant under subparagraph (B); and
(iii) seek to minimize the impact of the requirement to meet
or exceed the specific standard on the applicant, particularly
if meeting the standard would impose additional costs.
(D) Applicants that apply for a grant under the terms of
subparagraph (B) may include a second grant request in the
application to be considered by the Administrator in the event
that the Administrator does not approve the primary grant request
on the grounds of the equipment not meeting applicable voluntary
consensus standards.
(g) Coordination
In establishing and conducting programs under this section, the
Administrator shall take full advantage of applicable technological
developments made by other departments and agencies of the Federal
Government, by State and local governments, and by business,
industry, and nonprofit associations.
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