In April, I attended the Congressional Fire Services Institute’s (CFSI) Annual Dinner in Washington, D.C. More than a thousand firefighters, manufacturers and fire service supporters spent a week discussing the past, present and future of the fire service. The theme around most of the meetings, like any other gathering inside the Beltway, was on funding. However, the culmination of these meetings was to rally support for the backbone of communities from coast to coast, with a focus on the fire and emergency services.
For the second time, I took part in the Fire and Emergency Manufacturers and Services Association (FEMSA)/Fire Apparatus Manufacturers’ Association (FAMA) Hill Day event. It pairs manufacturers and service providers to attend meetings with members of Congress and their staff, to discuss the critical needs for support of the fire and rescue services in their districts. Although we addressed aging equipment, vital infrastructure needs, and the effect of employment in the fire/rescue manufacturing and services, firefighters and fire chiefs also went to the table in meetings to discuss where they are having challenges and successes or need local and federal support.
Over two days, the group that I was a part of met with more than a dozen elected officials. The often-two-way discussions were very engaging and encouraging. Many U.S. representatives and senators and their staffers have at least a basic understanding of what the fire service does and needs. However, these meetings served as a reminder that fire departments must pursue elected officials to raise awareness.
As it was said in several of our meetings, “The firefighters are the helpers and rarely seek out help to support their mission. This is a chance for you to help those who are there for your community, day in and day out, and don’t ask for anything in return.”
Hits close to home
In one of our visits with a staff member for a Tennessee official, that person discussed how his small community has barebones equipment and relies on aging tankers to supply water. He knew some of the costs of equipment along with the hours that are needed to keep the department running. Beyond that, he was proud of the small town’s fire department and the fact that several members left to battle the wildfires in Sevier County, TN.
During that conversation, we shared the story of a firefighter whose life was saved by a grant-funded thermal imaging camera that allowed him to find his way out of the fire and seek refuge in a blackened, charred area. That set the tone for the rest of the meeting. Coupled with that incident, several apparatus were damaged or destroyed by the fire, leaving communities without a first-out engine or a tanker that serves as a water supply for the town.
That elevated the discussion to the fact that every department is part of the national framework for response to disasters, whether natural or human-made, and those are examples of the need to encourage the feds to increase support and funding for FEMA’s Assistance to Firefighter Grants (AFG) and Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant programs; and to heed the calls from FEMSA, FAMA and the firefighters in D.C. to support additional funds for the National Fire Academy and the nationwide urban search and rescue (USAR) resources.
The proof is in the pudding when it comes to the fire/rescue service’s commitment to communities. Look at the effort in regard to the COVID-19 pandemic: Fire departments provided medical response, transport, vaccine clinics and testing in many communities.
Activate
Even if your fire department doesn’t apply for or receive grant funding, it often is positively affected by it, including through mutual-aid responses via grant-funded equipment or the findings of multiple FEMA-sponsored programs.
I encourage each of you to contact the office of your member of the House of Representatives or U.S. Senator to raise awareness of the importance of supporting the fire service—to create a unified message to increase local and federal funding and to support America’s Bravest. Visit CFSI’s website, cfsi.org, to learn more about your officials and to find talking points that you can use in your communications.
