FAQs for Title III-County Funds

Updated: September 24, 2009

Authorized Uses

To what extent may a county authorize a Fire Safe Council to use funds that it receives under title III of the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000 (Public Law 110-343, October 3, 2008)?

A Fire Safe Council may utilize funds received by a county under title III of the Secure Rural Schools Act to the extent the Council is implementing the Firewise Communities program or developing a community wildfire protection plan.

Section 302(a) of title III of the reauthorized Act specifies that a county that has allocated money for title III projects shall use the county funds as follows:

... in accordance with this title [III], only-

(1) to carry out activities under the Firewise Communities program to provide homeowners in fire-sensitive ecosystems education on, and assistance with implementing, techniques in home siting, home construction, and home landscaping that can increase the protection of people and property from wildfires;

(2) to reimburse the participating county for search and rescue and other emergency services, including firefighting, that are-

(A) performed on Federal land after the date on which the use was approved under subsection (b);

(B) paid for by the participating county; and

(3) to develop community wildfire protection plans in coordination with the appropriate Secretary concerned.

Under section 302(a)(1), fire prevention activities are limited to those activities “under” the Firewise Communities program.  This language requires a direct link to the Firewise Communities program, as opposed to more general language that, for instance, could have required activities to be “consistent with” or “in accordance with” the program.

A community wildfire protection plan is defined in section 101(3) of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (Public Law No. 108-148, December 3, 2003), with specific content and a process for development.

Have the allowable expenditures under Title III for fire prevention and county planning activities have been significantly narrowed?

Yes. Under title III of the original Act (P.L. 106-393), there were six authorized uses, one of which, fire prevention and county planning activities (sec. 302(b)(5)), was written very broadly, without reference to specific programs or plans.

A comparison of the current Secure Rural Schools Act (P.L. 110-343) to the original Act shows that a number of changes were made to the fire prevention and community planning uses of title III funds. In addition to replacing the general language describing fire prevention and planning efforts with specific references to the Firewise Communities program and community wildfire protection plans, the language authorizing efforts to educate homeowners about the “consequences of wildfires” is no longer included, and language that authorizes providing homeowners with “assistance with implementing” techniques in protecting people and property has been added.

The changes to the fire prevention and community planning uses indicate that Congress intended to authorize some different uses of title III funds for fire prevention and community planning.

What activities may be carried out under the Firewise Communities program?

The Firewise Communities program has provided the following information regarding its activities:
The Firewise Communities program (www.firewise.org) is a cooperative, non-regulatory program administered by the National Fire Protection Association and sponsored by the USDA Forest Service, the US Department of the Interior, and state forestry organizations. It is designed to reach beyond the fire service by involving homeowners, community leaders, planners, developers, and others in the effort to protect people, property, and natural resources from the risk of wildland fire - before a fire starts. The Firewise Communities approach emphasizes community responsibility for planning in the design of a safe community as well as effective emergency response, and individual responsibility for safer home construction and design, landscaping, and maintenance.

Activities under the Firewise Communities Program include assisting individuals, neighborhoods, subdivisions, small towns and similar private residential communities with implementing actions to help prevent the potential for home ignitions from wildfire. These include techniques in home siting and development, home construction, and home landscaping and maintenance. Activities also include assisting residential communities in becoming recognized Firewise Communities/USA sites. While counties are not eligible entities for recognition, counties can successfully support small communities in their jurisdictions in the recognition process. To become recognized, communities undertake the following five actions:

1. Complete a community assessment and create a plan
2. Form a Firewise Board or Committee
3. Hold a Firewise Day event
4. Invest a minimum of $2/capita in local wildfire mitigation projects. (Volunteer hours, equipment use, time contributed by agency fire staff, and grant funding can be included)
5. Submit an application to the Firewise Communities Program via their state liaison.

May a county use title III funds to implement activities under the Firewise Communities program without utilizing a Fire Safe Council?

Yes, the Secure Rural Schools Act does not limit the implementation of activities under the Firewise Communities program to a Fire Safe Council.  A county may decide how to utilize title III funds to implement activities under the Firewise Communities program.

Do Title III county funds that were not obligated by the county by September 30, 2008, remain available to be expended by the county for the 6 uses identified in section 302(b) of the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000 (“old Secure Rural Schools Act”), as originally enacted by P. L. 106-393 and amended by section 5401 of P.L. 110-28? OR, can those county funds be expended by the county for the 3 uses in section 302(a) of the new SRS Act, as reauthorized and amended by P.L. 110-343?

Title III county funds that were not obligated by the county by September 30, 2008, remain available to be expended by the county for continuing projects that had been initiated by September 30, 2007, only for the 6 uses in section 302(b) of the old Secure Rural Schools Act.  In general, these are 1) search, rescue, and emergency services; 2) community service work camps; 3) easement purchases; 4) forest related educational opportunities; 5) fire prevention and county planning; and 6) community forestry.  The old Act specified that "a project under this title shall be approved by the participating county only following a 45-day public comment period..."

Can title III funds be spent to reimburse a participating county for search and rescue or other emergency services performed on National Park Service or Bureau of Land Management lands?

Title III funds may be used to reimburse a participating county for emergency services on Federal land as defined in the Act. The Act's definition of Federal lands does not include National Park Service or Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands except for revested Oregon and California Railroad (O&C) and reconveyed Coos Bay Wagon Road grant lands administered by the BLM in the State of Oregon. 

Can title III funds be spent on planning protection of communities not directly adjacent to national forest lands but adjacent to other federal lands?

Community wildfire protection plans (CWPPs) have various footprints and often address lands not directly adjacent to national forests that share the same "fireshed" as national forest lands.  The Act requires that the community wildfire protection plans be prepared in coordination with the Secretary concerned or designee of that Secretary.  If Forest Service personnel are involved in the development of a community wildfire protection plan that addresses national forest lands and other federal, state, county, municipal, tribal or private lands, all within the same fireshed, title III funds could be used to fund the planning.

The following Q&As were added September 23, 2009

Are title III funds authorized for the following uses?

• capital equipment such as purchase of a fire engine, a search-and-rescue snow-mobile, or other emergency response equipment?
• capital improvements such as construction of a fire station or emergency services dispatch center?
• purchase of land (real estate) such as for an airport to be used primarily for fire suppression on national forest and other nearby forested lands?
• maintenance or upgrade of an airport or other facility used primarily for emergency services?
• expenses of training personnel to respond to emergencies on national forests?
• expenses of equipment and supplies to be kept on hand for response to emergencies on national forests?
• purchase of communication equipment for emergency 911 system?
• development of an emergency 911 system including mapping of county roads, naming roads, locating structures and improvements on mapping system, developing data bases for emergency 911 system?

Title III funds become county funds after the federal government makes payments to the state which, in turn, makes payments to the county.  County officials should confer with county legal counsel when making decisions about expenditure of title III county funds.

The Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act as reauthorized in Public Law 110-343 specifically narrowed the authorized uses of title III as compared to the earlier Act in Public Law 106-393.  The Act now authorizes the use of title III only to carry out activities under the Firewise Communities program; to reimburse for emergency services such as search and rescue or firefighting paid for by the county and performed on Federal land; and, to develop community wildfire protection plans.  (See Act, Section 302(a)).

Section 302 of the Act does not explicitly authorize title III funds for the following uses:  construction of facilities; purchase of real property; purchase of vehicles and other capital equipment such as fire engines or aircraft in anticipation of responding to emergencies on national forests; training of emergency services personnel; purchase of equipment and supplies in anticipation of responding to emergencies on national forests.

Reimbursement for the purchase of replacement equipment, material and supplies expended, damaged or destroyed during an emergency response on national forests and paid for by the county may be authorized.  Salary and maintenance of vehicles, equipment, and facilities in proportion to their actual use for emergency services performed on federal land may be authorized under the Act.

Planning, designing, developing, or partially developing an emergency 911 system may be authorized if it is an activity conducted as part of a Firewise Communities program community assessment or as part of the development of a community wild fire protection plan in coordination with the Forest Service.  For more information on the relationship of authorized uses of title III funds and Firewise Communities activities please see the Firewise Communities fact sheet at http://www.firewise.org/usa/files/SRS_Act_facts.pdf

Section 302(a)(3) authorizes title III funds for developing a community wildfire protection plan.  Does “developing” include monitoring and updating the community wildfire protection plan? 

Monitoring and updating of an existing community wildfire protection plan is a reasonable interpretation of “developing” a plan in a dynamic environment where vegetation and other landscape conditions are continuously changing through natural processes or through human activity.  To remain effective, community wildfire protection plans need to be monitored and updated.  In contrast, implementing a community wildfire protection plan is a separate activity taken after the development or updating of the plan.  Activities to implement a community wildfire protection plan are not authorized uses of title III funds, unless done under the Firewise Communities program activities authorized in section 302(a)(1).  Many activities to implement community wildfire protection plans are appropriate for consideration by resource advisory committees to recommend funding with title II.

The following Q&A was added September 24, 2009

How can a county participating in title III comply with publication requirements in section 302(b) when the proposed use is for emergency services that are unplanned events and cannot be predicted?

Section 302(a)(2) authorizes , among other uses, the use of  title III funds...

 "(2) to reimburse the participating county for search and rescue and other emergency services, including firefighting, that are--

(A) performed on Federal land after the date on which the use was approved under subsection (b);

(B) paid for by the participating county; ..."

Section 302(b) of the Act requires a participating county to publish a proposal before using title III funds.

“(b) Proposals- A participating county shall use county funds for a use described in subsection (a) only after a 45-day public comment period, at the beginning of which the participating county shall--

(1) publish in any publications of local record a proposal that describes the proposed use of the county funds; and

(2) submit the proposal to any resource advisory committee established under section 205 for the participating county.”

The county can publish its intention to reserve title III funds to reimburse for qualifying emergency services and the amount it will reserve, estimated from past experience.  Title III funds may be carried over from one fiscal year to the next through the life of the Act, allowing opportunity for annual adjustments through September 2012.  Title III county funds not obligated by September 30, 2012 shall be returned to the Treasury of the United States.

Certification of Title III Expenditures

Is a participating county required to inform the federal government in advance of its expenditure of title III funds?

The Secure Rural Schools Act does not require the county to notify the federal government of its plans to use title III funds before the actual expenditures.  A county participating in title III is required to report, after the fact, the expenditure of title III funds in an annual certification.  See more detail for proposed certification procedures at http://www.fs.fed.us/srs/Title-III-certification.shtml

The Act requires a participating county to notify the public and any resource advisory committee operating in the county.  The resource advisory committee does not have a specific role in approving proposed uses of title III.  The notification is useful in helping coordinate title II and title III projects that may be more efficient or effective if coordinated.  Following is the specific language from Section 302(b) about proposals to use title III, county funds:

(b) Proposals- A participating county shall use county funds for a use described in subsection (a) only after a 45-day public comment period, at the beginning of which the participating county shall--

(1) publish in any publications of local record a proposal that describes the proposed use of the county funds; and

(2) submit the proposal to any resource advisory committee established under section 205 for the participating county.

How will a participating county certify its title III expenditures?