A bill in both the U.S. House and Senate, The Firefighting Research and Coordination Act, was open for testimony in the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation last week.
Fire service leaders spoke in reference to the bill before committee last week and their testimony, which covers the major issues of the fire service can be read below.
S. 321 Introduced by Senator John McCain (AZ) on 2/5/03 H.R. 545 Introduced by Congressman Dave Camp (MI) on 2/5/03.
Description: The legislation directs certain federal agencies, in cooperation with national voluntary consensus standards organizations, to develop a scientific basis for the private sector development of standards for new fire fighting technology. The legislation also directs the United States Fire Administration (USFA) to provide technical assistance and training to state and local jurisdictions in developing state, regional and national mutual aide agreements. In addition, the bill gives the National Fire Academy more latitude in the types of terrorism training programs it conducts for our nation's first responders and authorizes USFA to study the issue of a national credentialing system.
- Arden L. Bement, Jr., Director NIST
- Chief Randy R. Bruegman, President, IAFC
- R. David Paulison, Director of Preparedness Division Emergency Preparedness and Response Directorate
- Kevin O'Connor, Assistant to the General President, IAFF
- Chief Philip C. Stittleburg, Chairman NVFC
- James M. Shannon, President and CEO, NFPA
