NEW FIREFIGHTING TECHNOLOGY.

SEC. 202. NEW FIREFIGHTING TECHNOLOGY. Section 8 of the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 (15 U.S.C. 2207) is amended—(1) by redesignating subsection (e) as subsection (g); and (2) by inserting after subsection (d) the following: “(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), 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 the first section 33 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. 117 STAT. 2038“(B) If an applicant for a grant under the first section 33 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.”.