The United States Fire Administration Reauthorization: Addressing the Priorities of the Nation's Fire Service

Opening Statement By Chairman David Wu

Good morning. I would like to welcome everybody to this morning's hearing on the United States Fire Administration.

There are few issues more important than standing up for our Nation’s first responders.

The Science and Technology Committee has historically been one of the fire service communities strongest backers through our support for and oversight of the U.S. Fire Administration. I’m eager to hear today’s testimony from our prestigious group of witnesses, who represent a broad group of stakeholders in the fire service community.

USFA was formed by Congress in 1974 in response to America Burning, a report by the President's Commission on Fire Prevention and Control that found there were over 12,000 deaths due to fire in this country and over 300,000 fire injuries each year. Through the hard work of USFA and others, we have fortunately seen that number drop dramatically.

We are now a much safer nation, thanks to improved awareness of fire safety practices and increased use of smoke detectors and sprinklers, and other fire safety measures. Still, however, over 3,000 people die each year in fires and 10,000 more are injured.

In addition, approximately 100 firefighters lose their lives annually in the line of duty, as we saw tragically this past June in South Carolina. In looking around the globe though, our high numbers are an anomaly in the industrialized world. In Europe, their fatality rate per capita is 70 percent lower than ours. So truly we have a lot more work to do.

USFA supports local fire departments in a variety of manners. They offer training and career development to thousands of mid-level firefighters, fire chiefs, and other emergency management officials. Through the National Fire Data Center they collect and manage data on the millions of fires and other emergencies fire departments respond to each year- data that can then be used to manage trends and set policy. USFA develops fire education and awareness curriculum material to be used across the country. They aim these messages at groups who suffer the highest fire casualties, such as the young, the elderly, and firefighters, as well as others.

And in fact, my home state of Oregon was one of the first states to begin reporting fire data to USFA and also is one of the highest users of USFA training programs

Lastly, in partnership with the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST); the Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate; other federal agencies; and private organizations, USFA conducts and directs research on a variety of fire related topics, from technology like thermal imaging cameras and protective clothing to assist firefighters in the line of duty, to studies of behaviors that cause fires.

As I am sure we will hear today, USFA's programs are incredibly important to the Nation's fire service who must meet an increasing number of challenges from preparedness for terrorist attacks and catastrophic hurricanes to the everyday, but still scary, house fire.

Standards are also an essential part of the work of USFA and its many partners. Our witnesses today will no doubt discuss USFA’s role in the fire safety standards development process, as well as the important contributions of NIST.

As many of you know, fire was the inspiration for some of the original standards work carried out by NIST. In 1904, a large fire broke out up in Baltimore. Fire companies from around the region responded, but found that they were unable to fit their hoses onto the Baltimore hydrants because they were not built to standard sizes, and the fire burned for an additional 30 hours in spite of the wide regional response.

Following the fire, NIST, which was then called the National Bureau of Standards, was tasked by Congress to work with NFPA set a standard that would avert similar future tragedies. To me this story exemplifies the challenge in coordinating a truly local service, performed by over 30,000 different fire departments, at the Federal level.

These 30,000 different departments serve a variety of communities from the biggest to the smallest and an overwhelming number of those who serve as firefighters do so on a volunteer basis. One asset the Federal Government can offer these departments is the U.S. Fire Administration.

As we look forward to reauthorizing the Fire Administration, I am very interested to hear from our witnesses today, who I believe represent a broad collection of the fire community, what USFA is doing right and what they need to be doing to meet the needs of the fire community more effectively.

Witnesses

Panel

1 - Mr. Gregory B. Cade
Administrator U.S. Fire Administration U.S. Fire Administration
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2 - Dr. Shyam Sunder
Director, Building and Fire Research Laboratory National Institute of Standards and Technology National Institute of Standards and Technology
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3 - Dr. John R. Hall
Assistant Vice President Fire Analysis and Research National Fire Protection Association Fire Analysis and Research National Fire Protection Association
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4 - Chief Steven P. Westermann
President and Chief Fire Officer International Association of Fire Chiefs International Association of Fire Chiefs
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5 - Captain Robert Livingston
Salem Fire Department Oregon State Council of Firefighters of the International Association of Firefighters Oregon State Council of Firefighters of the Internat
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6 - Chief Gordon Henderson
Vice President Georgia State Firefighters' Association Georgia State Firefighters' Association
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