Homeland Security Funds Finally Reaching First Responders

COLCHESTER, Vt. (AP) -- Emergency workers in this small Vermont town are dazzled by their new high-tech rescue trailer, paid for with a $58,000 grant from the federal Department of Homeland Security.

Its drill can bore through concrete, and it has a camera designed for finding survivors in collapsed buildings. ``This is truly spectacular,'' said rescue squad member Mike Cannon.

But some people are questioning the wisdom of sending so much anti-terrorism money to such seemingly improbable targets as Colchester, a town of about 18,000 along Lake Champlain, one of many places starting to receive the billions of dollars promised by the federal government after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

New York officials complained in March that the $26.5 million in grants they had received up to that point came out to about $1.40 per resident, the second lowest rate in the country behind California, which received $1.33 per person. At that point Vermont had received $5 million, or about $8.15 per resident.

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge has since called for changes in the way the government distributes federal aid so more goes to states that face the greatest threat of attack.

But such changes, like the arrival of the anti-terrorism funds themselves, take time.

Significant sums of money didn't reach first responders until this year, even though the first congressional appropriation came in late 2001. And smaller states may resist any changes in the current formula, such as the elimination of a minimum amount of funding for each state.

``Every state has basic needs in preventing and responding to terrorism, and this program ensures at least basic help to each state,'' said Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont.

Officials in rural areas say their needs are often as acute as the needs of cities with established emergency systems. Tom Walker, emergency management coordinator for Sheridan County, Wyo., said his area's new communications equipment that will be paid for by the federal government will make a huge difference for first responders.

``We've always got by with the two tin cans and the string,'' Walker said. ``In the county where I live, we're 100-miles wide and 40 miles deep with mountains and big hills, and without communications towers and repeaters, you just don't talk to first responders.''

Arizona officials are also preparing to buy communication equipment that will help them talk to each other across large distances.

In Montana, officials have bought decontamination shelters to protect emergency personnel responding to hazardous material. In Florida, the money has bought protective equipment and paid for training.

``At this point, we are starting to see the spigot open,'' said George Burke, a spokesman for the Washington-based International Association of Fire Fighters, which represents 260,000 firefighters across the country.

The Department of Homeland Security approved a separate $700 million appropriation for high-risk urban areas like New York and Los Angeles earlier this month.

``I think that what we've been fortunate enough to do is to change the focus in Washington of how they distribute monies for homeland security from a population-based one, which they did before, to a risk basis,'' said New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. ``And New York City should do reasonably well with this latest amount of money.''

Despite the funds now flowing into states, some say the federal money leaves other needs unmet.

``There is a paradox that's developing,'' said Vermont Public Safety Commissioner Kerry Sleeper. ``We are enhancing some very sophisticated and technical capabilities, (but) we are unable to sustain the ability to respond to a heart attack, a car accident or a house fire.''

Others say too much emphasis is being put on equipment over people.

``There are too many places in America where there are fire departments where the lights are on but there isn't anybody home,'' Burke said. His organization is pressing Congress to create a program to hire firefighters, similar to the Clinton-era COPS program that helped communities hire police officers.

The critics also complain that more needs to be done to cover the costs of overtime and expenses associated with the federal government's terror alerts.

``We are continually tapping the coffers of local police, fire and rescue units to counter these threats, and many of them are being tapped out,'' Leahy said.

Burke, of the firefighters' association, said the kinks will be worked out, and the federal funds have made emergency workers better prepared to cope with whatever comes their way.

``We have a way to go,'' Burke said, but ``the money is starting to get into the hands it's supposed to.''