1. Compensation fund for military firefighters (a) Program and fund established Not later than two years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall establish a program and fund to be known as the Military Firefighters Compensation Fund . (b) Purpose of program The purpose of the compensation program is to provide for timely, uniform, and adequate compensation to current and former military firefighters and, where applicable, survivors of such employees, suffering from illnesses incurred by such employees in the performance of duty for the Department of Defense and certain of its contractors and subcontractors due to exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. (c) PFAS exposure Current and former military firefighters shall, in the absence of substantial evidence to the contrary, be determined to have been exposed to PFAS in the performance of duty for the purposes of the compensation program if such firefighter was employed at a military installation, facility of the National Guard, of formerly used defense site during a period when PFAS would have been present at such facility. (d) Compensation provided A current or former military firefighter, or the survivor of such firefighter if the firefighter is deceased, shall receive compensation for the disability or death of that employee from that employee’s occupational illness. (e) Payments in the case of deceased persons (1) Claim filed In the case of a military firefighter who is deceased at the time of payment of compensation under this section, whether or not the death is the result of the firefighter’s occupational illness, such payment may be made only as follows: (A) If the military firefighter is survived by a spouse who is living at the time of payment, such payment shall be made to such surviving spouse. (B) If there is no surviving spouse described in subparagraph (A), such payment shall be made in equal shares to all children of the military firefighter who are living at the time of payment. (C) If there is no