FIRE Cancer Act of 2025
The Firefighter Investments to Recognize Exposure to Cancer Act of 2025 (FIRE Cancer Act) would expand the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) program to fund cancer prevention efforts for firefighting personnel. Specifically, it requires the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to support cancer prevention programs under the AFG, including multi-cancer early detection testing and other preventative tests. The bill authorizes $700 million in grants for these programs and sets a cap of $1,750 per test funded under this provision. It also creates a voluntary, anonymized data-sharing program between FEMA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to identify cancer trends or causes among firefighters, while protecting personal privacy. In addition, the act makes a few technical changes to the statute to implement these new provisions.
Key Points
- 1Establishment of cancer prevention programs under the Assistance to Firefighters Grant program, including multi-cancer early detection testing and other preventative tests for firefighting personnel.
- 2Funding authorization: There is an authorized pool of $700,000,000 for grants under the cancer prevention provision (c)(3)(F).
- 3Cost cap for testing: No more than $1,750 from available grant funds may be obligated and expended for each multi-cancer early detection test or other preventative test.
- 4Data-sharing program: FEMA and the CDC would jointly run a voluntary program allowing firefighting personnel to share results of tests in a de-identified, anonymized form to help identify trends or causes of cancer, with strong protections for personally identifiable information.
- 5Technical amendments: The bill makes related conforming changes to the statute (including renaming certain subparagraphs and adding a new subsection dedicated to cancer research and the data-sharing effort).