Support Fire Training Legislation

[exmrvfc 0]

Ray Kiernan (Chief of New Rochelle FD for those outside of Westchester) has published a commentary in last months issue of Firehouse magazine calling for Federal money to provide additional training to firefighters through the states (such as OFPC in NY). The money would be used to provide National Fire Academy type classes in each state. I have attached a link to to the commentary in Firehouse and also a sample letter that can be sent your local members of Congress. I was hoping to use the widespread members of EMTBravo to support this legislation. For those in Southern Westchester, Nita Lowey is already the sponsor of the legislation and a big supporter of the fire service. If members could post this to the New England and other Bravo sites that would be great. The more members of congress who support the bill, the better the chance of it passing.

http://cms.firehouse.com/content/article/a...16&id=58161

Training_Letter.doc

[DCJPells 29]

This needs to have a House of Representatives co-sponsor and a Senator sponsor and co-sponsor so make sure both Houses of Congress are contacted.

[Guest alsfirefighter]

Hopefully we can get a good turnout of support for this issue that affects us all!

Get off your duffs and make a call, write a letter and ensure that any fire service organizations you are members of are working their fingers to support this cause.

[helicopper 1,050]

This needs to have a House of Representatives co-sponsor and a Senator sponsor and co-sponsor so make sure both Houses of Congress are contacted.

It would be a good time to hit up a certain senator from NY with an especially high public profile right now to sponsor such a bill. Maybe she and another Senator on the campaign trail will co-sponsor it!

Better yet, get Schumer to do it since he's the only Senator from NY actually in Washington these days.

[helicopper 1,050]

Having thought about this some more, let me play devil's advocate for a minute here. Why should we, NY taxpayers who are already saddled with some of the highest taxes in the nation, pay more to subsidize fire training in other parts of the country? If you look at how they whacked up counter-terrorism funding, the formula was absurd - North Dakota received more per capita than we did here in New York (no disrespect to North Dakota). This formula is a little bit better but still doesn't guarantee that those who need the training will receive it.

Everyone argues about the unbelievable growth of governments that is not always reflected in the services received by the constituents. The use of the requested funds for overtime and backfill results in major expenses and the return on the investment cited is not always realized. For example, if Department X sends five members to a 5 day course on overtime and also has to pay five members to backfill their positions at home (also on overtime), they're eating up a massive chunk of the funding. In this example, this single weeklong course costs $20,000 for just the members of Department X. If all 30 people in the class are in the same situation, the cost of that one course is $120,000. A better mechanism for course funding needs to be established rather than the "all overtime all the time" that exists today.

Furthermore, why should a state like Florida or California - or even New York for that matter - that have well established training programs for the fire service receive more funds. Perhaps all that is needed is a gap analysis to determine what training is lacking, what services are needed (not what classes are more fun to take) and what agencies need that training and focus the funding there.

Perhaps some regionalization of these courses is in order as well. Might we better served by 2-3 strategically located courses on a given topic for those who require it instead of 10-12 courses for anyone who's remotely interested?

Again, I'm playing devil's advocate here - don't kill the messenger!!!