LON SLEPICKA
Firehouse.Com News
Is President George Bush proposing the combining FEMA's First Responder
Funding and funding for the Fire Investment and Response Enhancement (FIRE)
grant program? Is the FIRE grant program going to survive at all? Those
questions are being asked by groups who are questioning the wording that
came out of the White House and the FY2003 budget proposal.
The White House proposed through the Office of Homeland Defense, giving $3.5
billion in federal aid to state and local first-responders, America's
frontline soldiers police officers, firefighters, and emergency medical
teams to prepare for terrorist actions.
FEMA would disperse the money through state agencies for equipment and
training. FEMA also administers the funds ($360 million in FY2002) for FIRE
grants.
The concern is that bureaucrats will see the two programs as working toward
the same end and therefore, one should go. Wording in the White House budget
proposal could lead to this assumption: "The First Responder program also
would encompass the recently created FEMA Fire Investment and Response
Enhancement (FIRE) grant program (funded at $360 million in 2002)."
Because of this concern, the International Association of Fire Fighters
(IAFF), the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), and the
National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) have together signed a letter to
President Bush. "The nation's 1.1 million fire fighters are disappointed
that you have once again proposed abolishing the FIRE Act." "On behalf of
America's fire fighters - both career and volunteer - we strongly urge you
to fully fund this vital program at $900 million and keep it as a distinct
program under the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)."
Losing the FIRE grant program has been a concern since the First Responder
funding was first announced. Leaders see the two as distinctly different in
purpose; getting money directly to departments large and small for basic
needs such as equipment and training, and supplying specialized equipment
and training to larger urban departments where the greater possibility of
terrorist acts exists.
But leaders in the Bush administration have clearly stated that the two
programs are separate and distinct and will survive and be funded. Steve
Austin in his recent Firehouse.com column reported: "At a briefing at the
Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute just days ago [FEMA Director Joe] Allbaugh went on the record
opposing merging the Fire Grant Program with the $3.5 Billion first
responder Homeland Defense funding in the federal budget year that begins
October 1, 2002."
Austin wrote that Allbaugh noted the two programs separate missions, calling
them "apples and oranges".
R. David Paulison, U.S. Fire Administration Administrator who is very much
on the front line of getting funding to fire departments, told
Firehouse.com, "I'm pleased to see the president put that kind of money into
the terrorism for first responders. It focuses on large municipal areas, and
rightfully so be cause of the very nature of the threat."
"But I am afraid we are going to lose that basic firefighting need concept
if they are purged together into one lump sum." "My wishes are they keep
them separate so that we can continue to work on the basic firefighting
needs," Paulison said.
Alan Caldwell, IAFC Director of Government Relations said in part, the
letter sent to the President was due to the actions last year when the
administration sought to eliminate all funding for the FIRE grant program.
And looking at the budget this year with the First Responder program being
introduced, he said, "What we noticed however, was that this money would be
all folded in, they would take the DOJ program, the terrorist program and
the FIRE grant program and pull this all into one."
"We looked at that and then we looked at the President's budget ... there was
no money in the fiscal year 2003 for the FIRE grant program," he said. "The
thought occurs to us that they are zeroing this thing out. They say they are
not and we are not convinced."
"Those of us who have been around for a long time and saw what the President
and the administration did last year, zeroing it out, we leave nothing to
chance and we are very very concerned about a very good program. ... We don't
want to make an assumption that everything is just fine when indeed it not
necessarily is. There is enough language there to make us concerned."
What seems to remain constant are those supporters in Congress, particularly
members of the Fire Caucus, who have kept funds coming for the FIRE grant
program. Last week, Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), the Chair of a key
subcommittee with jurisdiction over the FIRE grant program, pledged to work
to fully fund the FIRE grant program at $900 million in FY 2003. Her
statement came in her concluding remarks at a hearing of a Senate
Appropriations subcommittee in Washington.
"We're here to help you,"
Mikulski told firefighters. "We're here to be your resource, and we are
going to start by working to fund the FIRE Act at a minimum of $900
million." That is the full amount authorized for the innovative grant
program in the last Congress.
