CAREN BENJAMIN
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Firefighters deserve the same kind of federal support to battle blazes as police get for busting bad guys, two senators said Thursday in proposing a huge increase in funding.
These men and women ``don't lack courage, they don't lack bravery, they don't lack commitment, but they do lack resources to be better firefighters,'' said Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn.
Dodd and Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, are pushing a bill that would authorize $5 billion in grants over five years for volunteer and paid fire departments. That's a fraction of the $11 billion the federal government spent in 1999 on law enforcement initiatives, but a big jump from the $32 million spent on fire prevention and training.
So far, 16 senators have signed on to the bill. The House version of the measure, introduced by Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., has broad support, with more than half the members co-sponsoring it.
The bill stipulates that $500 million be earmarked for grants to local programs dedicated to prevention and public education. The idea, DeWine said, ``is to stop fires before they ever happen.''
Grants from the remaining money could go for salaries, training and equipment ranging from fire trucks and protective gear for firefighters to high-tech thermal-imaging cameras. The cameras, which cost about $25,000, help firefighters make rescues in thick smoke and might have saved the lives of six Worcester, Mass., firefighters who died last December, said Prince George's County, Md., Fire Chief Ronald Siarnicki.
High-tech devices like the cameras are too expensive for many local governments already struggling to pay for salaries and basic equipment. As for other funding sources, ``there's just so many bake sales you can have,'' Pascrell said.
The lack of up-to-date equipment also has made it more difficult for volunteer fire departments to recruit people, said Pascrell, who called the measure ``a form of property tax relief.''
Under the bill, state or local governments would have to match 10 percent of any federal grant.
