Create federal grant support for local fire departments to combat thermal runaway, including a competitive PHMSA grant program and FEMA Fire Prevention and Safety Grant eligibility for related projects.

[The bill] creates a new competitive grant program at PHMSA to test methods for combatting thermal runaway. The Firefighter Lithium Awareness and Readiness Enhancement (FLARE) Act would make projects to combat thermal runaway eligible for FEMA’s Fire Prevention and Safety Grants.

Titus backs federal funding streams for fire departments and related projects aimed at fighting thermal runaway.

Rep. Dina Titus Introduces Legislation to Reduce Harmful Fires Caused by Thermal Runaway | U.S. Congresswoman Dina Titus
primary · press_release · model gpt-5.4-mini

Thermal Runaway Reduction Act (H.R.7928): helps communities prepare for and respond to lithium-ion battery fires by creating a $2 million/year grant program at the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) to test effective strategies to extinguish thermal runaway.

Titus highlighted a provision in the Build America 250 Act to create a $2 million annual PHMSA grant program for strategies to extinguish thermal runaway fires.

Rep. Titus Champions Committee Passage of the Bipartisan Build America 250 Act | U.S. Congresswoman Dina Titus
primary · press_release · model gpt-5.5

The latest listed releases in the lookback window are June 18, 2026 airplane-passenger disability legislation, June 9, 2026 ICE spending statement, and June 5, 2026 public lands legislation; no listed lookback item concerns thermal runaway, PHMSA grants, or FEMA Fire Prevention and Safety eligibility.

No concrete delivery, reversal, or abandonment signal appeared on Titus's official press-release page during the June 7-July 6, 2026 lookback window.

unresolved same_term

News List | U.S. Congresswoman Dina Titus
secondary · model gpt-5.5 · confidence 86%

The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved H.R. 8870, the BUILD America 250 Act, a bipartisan five-year surface transportation reauthorization bill. The release says the bill invests in rail transportation and highway and motor carrier safety programs and is tagged for Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials.

The relevant bill advanced out of committee before the lookback window, but committee approval is not enactment and does not itself create grant support.

unresolved same_term A for effort

T&I Committee Approves BUILD America 250 Act
secondary · model gpt-5.5 · confidence 90%

The table of contents includes Sec. 10612, 'Requirements for safe transport of lithium-ion batteries,' and Sec. 10613, 'Innovative thermal run-away suppression strategies.' Sec. 10613 would add thermal runaway of lithium-ion cells or batteries in commercial transport units to PHMSA research and authorize $2,000,000 annually for FY2027-FY2031 for agreements to carry out that work.

Bill text contains a serious PHMSA-related thermal-runaway provision, but it is framed as research/testing agreements and reports, not enacted competitive grants for local fire departments.

partial same_term A for effort

Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute to H.R. 8870, BUILD America 250 Act
secondary · model gpt-5.5 · confidence 89%

Searches within the committee bill text found no 'fire department' match and no substantive 'Fire Prevention and Safety' eligibility language. The bill text instead addresses PHMSA lithium-ion battery transport requirements and thermal-runaway suppression research.

The official committee bill text does not show the promised FEMA Fire Prevention and Safety Grant eligibility or direct local fire department grant support.

unresolved same_term A for effort

Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute to H.R. 8870, BUILD America 250 Act
secondary · model gpt-5.5 · confidence 82%

PHMSA lists current hazardous materials grants as HMEP, ALERT, HMIT, SPST, Community Safety, and HMSI, plus pipeline grant programs. The page describes broad hazardous-materials and pipeline-safety funding and does not identify a thermal-runaway local fire department grant program.

Current PHMSA grant listings do not show that a new thermal-runaway grant program for local fire departments has been created.

unresolved same_term

Grants | PHMSA
secondary · model gpt-5.5 · confidence 88%

Current law establishes hazmat training grants and community safety grants through competitive processes for nonprofit organizations, including outreach and training for communities responding to hazardous-materials transportation incidents. It does not mention thermal runaway, local fire departments as direct grantees, or FEMA Fire Prevention and Safety eligibility.

Existing statutory authority predates the promise and does not satisfy the specific local fire department thermal-runaway grant commitment.

unresolved same_term

49 U.S.C. 5107: Hazmat employee training requirements and grants
secondary · model gpt-5.5 · confidence 84%