§2208 National Fire Data Center

Summary

The Administrator must run a National Fire Data Center that collects, studies, and shares information about all types of fires. The Center’s job is to give a clear picture of fire problems across the country, find major trouble spots, help set priorities, suggest solutions, and track progress in cutting fire losses. It gathers data on how often fires happen, their causes, how they spread and are put out, injuries and deaths (with causes and types), property loss, firefighter job hazards (including doctor-treated injuries, deaths during fitness tests or while preparing to work, vehicle and aircraft accidents), firefighting activities and inspections, building and material fire info, foreign fire laws and methods, other fire types like wildfires and oil fires, and any other useful data. The Administrator must create common reporting methods, help other agencies report data, and use existing public and private data groups. The Center must share its information widely and keep the National Fire Incident Reporting System usable and updateable on the Internet in real time. Any medical data collected must follow the privacy rules under section 264(c) of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (42 U.S.C. 1320d–2 note; Public Law 104–191) and parts 160, 162, and 164 of title 45, Code of Federal Regulations as of March 12, 2019.