IAFF Says Federal First Responder Support Is Inadequate

March 9, 2007 – Blaming a lack of commitment by the Bush administration, IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger testified before a U.S. House Homeland Security Subcommittee hearing March 9 on “Preparing for Disasters, Natural or Otherwise” that the United States is not much better prepared to respond than before the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

In his testimony, President Schaitberger urged members of the Subcommittee to demand that federal grants are allocated on the basis of risk, as recommended by the 9/11 Commission, and to fully fund programs designed to ensure baseline capabilities for local fire departments.

“The federal government needs to do a better job of assuring that local fire departments can fulfill their most basic obligations,” he said, “because any effort to prepare them to deal with terrorism or other disasters will be for naught.”

President Schaitberger said the allocation formula for state homeland security grants encourage the misuse of funds by requiring localities with little homeland security need to use or lose appropriations. “The result is such infamous purchases as the seven security cameras to protect a remote Alaskan fishing village,” he testified.

“The single more effective thing the federal government can do to enhance local preparedness and protect Americans against all hazards – natural and manmade – is to fully fund the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grants and the Assistance to Firefighter grants,” Schaitberger continued. The SAFER program is only funded at 11 percent of its authorized level.

President Schaitberger also pointed to the Hurricane Katrina response efforts along the Gulf Coast as a prime example of the failure of federal emergency response, noting that 23 of the 32 firehouses in New Orleans remain uninhabitable 18 months after the hurricane. He urged Congress to amend the Stafford Act, requiring local matches to receive federal funds, to allow such devastated areas as St. Bernard Parish to rebuild emergency service infrastructure.

Read General President Schaitberger’s full, written testimony.   Watch Video...

Also testifying were: Homeland Security and Justice Issues/Government Accountability Office Director William Jenkins; International Association of Emergency Managers President Mike Selves; Former President of the National Emergency Management Association Bruce Baughman; International Association of Fire Chiefs President James Harmes; Operations Coordination/Department of Homeland Security Director Roger Rufe; and Federal Emergency Management Agency and Undersecretary of Homeland Security for Federal Emergency Management David Paulison.