| Having trouble reading this newsletter? Click here to print or to view in your web browser. You are receiving this newsletter because you signed up from our web site. Click here to unsubscribe. |
 |
Governmental Affairs Committee |
 |
 |
|
US FIRE GRANT SUPPORT GAC Resources For GAC documents, announcements, and information please click here to visit the microsite. Home Day 2007 Toolkit To download the Home Day 2007 Upcoming Events
HELP THE GAC!
Dear FAMA/FEMSA member: In January, you received an e-mail from the FAMA/FEMSA Governmental Affairs Committee (GAC) asking you to complete a survey that will help the GAC and its consultants learn what congressional relationships FAMA/FEMSA member companies have established. This information is essential to the GAC’s work to increase FAMA/FEMSA’s dialogue with federal government agencies in an effort to educate key officials on the important role our industry plays in providing equipment and services to the nation’s first responders. To help us enhance these efforts, we once again ask you to take a few moments to complete the enclosed survey. Specifically, this survey will help the GAC compile a comprehensive list of FAMA/FEMSA members’ locations and the congressional senators and representatives for those locations, an important step in establishing an educational network with the members of Congress and the administration. Please note that the survey can be conveniently completed online here. We also ask that the survey be completed as soon as possible. We have tried to keep this survey as simple and straightforward as possible. We thank you in advance for your assistance in this important effort. Sincerely, FAMA/FEMSA Governmental Affairs Committee
Subscribe to the Fire Grant Data website Success Stories RSS (Real Simple Syndication) news feed. Click here.
|
|
Firefighters Get Trained to Spot Terrorism NVFC Receives Grant from Dunkin' Brands Community Foundation DHS Officials Address CAO Forum Participants Canadian Response Teams Take Part in Country’s Largest Drill Omaha Buys Response Gadgets with Homeland Security Funds
Firefighters Get Trained to Spot Terrorism As some of the nation’s top first responders, firefighters have access to hundreds of thousands of American homes and buildings per year. Now the Department of Homeland Security is training New York City firefighters to detect and report potential acts of terrorism. Why is the move causing privacy experts to sound the alarm? The Associated Press’ Eileen Sullivan says the training is “raising concerns of eroding [firefighters’] standing as American icons and infringing on people’s privacy. Unlike police, firefighters and emergency medical personnel don’t need warrants to access hundreds of thousands of homes and buildings each year, putting them in a position to spot behavior that could indicate terrorist activity or planning.” Still, Sullivan says organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union are worried firefighters may become nothing more than another government tool to infringe on our privacy. Mike German, a former FBI agent who is now national security policy counsel to the ACLU, told Sullivan the concept is dangerously close to the Bush administration’s 2002 proposal to have workers with access to private homes - such as postal carriers and telephone repairmen - report suspicious behavior to the FBI. Sullivan says the DHS program, currently in a test phase, is allowing the New York City fire department to share intelligence information so firefighters are better prepared when they respond to emergency calls. The DHS also trains the New York City fire service in how to identify material or behavior that may indicate terrorist activities. If the program is successful, the government intends to expand it to other major metropolitan areas. To read the full article, click here:
Source: Disaster Resource Guide NVFC Receives Grant from Dunkin' Brands Community Foundation Grant Will Expand National Junior Firefighter Program The grant was announced at an event at the Dunkin' Brands headquarters in Boston on November 30. NVFC’s Executive Director Heather Schafer, Massachusetts Director Mike Bird, and Massachusetts Alternate Joe Maruca attended the event. "We are thrilled to be among the recipients of the Dunkin' Brands Community Foundation grants,” said Heather Schafer, Executive Director of the NVFC, as she spoke at the event. "The National Junior Firefighter Program is an important recruitment tool for departments, and it is a great way to introduce youth to the fire service and strengthen community preparedness. With this grant, we can expand the program in many exciting ways. We look forward to working with the Foundation to involve even more communities in this effort." In total this year, the Dunkin' Brands Community Foundation awarded more than $700,000 in grants to help emergency response organizations better serve the nation's communities. In addition to the NVFC, grants were awarded to America's Second Harvest, the largest network of food banks in the nation, and the Leary Firefighters Foundation. "The Dunkin' Brands Community Foundation exists to serve an often overlooked goal - supporting emergency responders before a crisis arises," said Stephan Shelton, chairman of the Dunkin' Brands Community Foundation and a franchisee of both Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin-Robbins. "These grants will greatly assist three important organizations to build the talent and infrastructure they need to support our communities when they need them the most." The NVFC launched the National Junior Firefighter Program in July. The grant will support database/web site development, program promotion, an annual award, scholarships to junior firefighters, and more. Learn more about the NVFC and the National Junior Firefighter Program at www.nvfc.org.
Source: NVFC DHS Officials Address CAO Forum Participants Presentations made on CAO Strategic Plan, H.Q. consolidation Paul Schneider, Under Secretary for Management and Acting Deputy Secretary, and other DHS officials, addressed approximately 600 attendees at the 2008 Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Forum held in Washington, D.C. last week. Administrative services managers and specialists from across the department attended the forum, which focused on topics ranging from records management to continuity of operations planning to the consolidation of the DHS headquarters. Delivering opening remarks, Schneider said that administrative service personnel and functions are critical to the success of the department in carrying out its mission and achieving its goals. Later, Elaine Duke, Deputy Under Secretary for Management, echoed those sentiments, saying that over the next year administrative services will play a key role in helping to unify the department and preparing for the transition to a new administration. “We want to hand over to the new administration good business practices so that they can get on with the business of protecting the nation,” she said. In his opening day remarks, Chief Administrative Officer Donald Bathurst announced that his office had developed a five-year strategic plan, which was developed with input from component CAOs and received approval from DHS leadership. The plan is centered on the following four goals: leverage the capabilities and services across the department, improve communications, increase functional effectiveness, and integrate DHS management. Bathurst said implementation of the strategic plan will begin in January 2008 Throughout the three-day forum, speakers and panelists spoke about different aspects of the CAO strategic plan and its nine supporting objectives. One of those objectives—implement the DHS National Capital Housing Master Plan—involves the consolidation of DHS headquarters personnel to a central location at St. Elizabeths West Campus in Southeast Washington, D.C. While each DHS component will have a presence at the St. Elizabeths facility, another aspect of the plan calls for consolidating all mission support functions to the greatest extent possible. The total number of employees involved in both consolidations will be approximately 28,000, officials speaking at the forum said. In a Leadership Journal entry last week, CAO Bathurst explained more about the planned headquarters consolidation (http://www.dhs.gov/journal/leadership/). Proceedings from the CAO Forum will be made available in approximately two weeks at: http://www.caoforum.org/.
Source: DHS Canadian Response Teams Take Part in Country’s Largest Drill While the United States celebrated the Thanksgiving holiday with turkey and shopping, Canadian emergency response personnel put their skills to the test during one of the country’s largest disaster simulations in Canadian history. The Canadian Press is reporting that hundreds of workers spent last week digging their way through tons of rubble from a ruined high-rise in Toronto. The exercise, designed to look like a car bombing, included rescuing and treating scores of mock victims covered in fake blood or with other injuries. The aim of the test, CP says, was to give frontline rescue personnel as realistic a scenario as possible to allow them to practice their skills, planning and co-ordination. Dogs sniffed out “victims” from beneath twisted cement and steel, while rescuers used jack-hammers to drill their way through concrete walls and built support structures to stabilize the badly damaged building. Teams from across Canada participated in the real-time drill, which CP Says involved almost 1,000 people. An official with Canada’s federal government told CP the hope is that the teams will not be needed very often, but when they are, they will be ready to handle any disaster. To read the full article, click here: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2007/11/23/mock-disaster.html
Source: Disaster Resource Guide Omaha Buys Response Gadgets with Homeland Security Funds When handing out homeland security funds in 2006, the Department of Homeland Security allotted $8.3 million to Omaha, Nebraska. However, a new report says the city is only getting around to spending that money now. In an article in the Omaha World-Herald, staff writer Karen Sloan says the police and fire departments are taking $167,000 of 2006’s grant money to spend on new gadgets and equipment. “Some of the purchases are high-tech, like a bomb-response robot. Others are more utilitarian, like the 500 bedside commodes,” Sloan says. “These equipment purchases are part of a larger plan to improve the area’s ability to respond to security threats.” The Homeland Security grant money will also fund a $53,770 bomb-detecting robot, a $30,705 digital X-ray system, a mobile decontamination tent for $54,883 and $27,500 worth of bedside commodes for the medical response system. But Omaha is still having some trouble disbursing the funds, Sloan reports. Of the $8.3 million the Omaha area was awarded last year, only about $263,000 has been spent so far. Larger cities have criticized Omaha’s grants, some of which have seen their Homeland Security funding cut in recent years. The city won’t be awarded a large grant in 2007, however. Omaha was dropped from the most recent eligibility list. To read the full article, click here: http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10191790
Source: Disaster Resource Guide The United States Fire Administration (USFA) has received notice of the following firefighter fatality: Name: John Curry Rank: Firefighter Age: 30 Gender: Male Status: Career Years of Service: <1 Date of Incident: 11/27/2007 Time of Incident: 1057hrs Date of Death: 11/27/2007 Address: 125 W. New York Ave., Room 220, Deland, FL 32720 Fire Department Chief: James G. Tauber Fire Department Website: http://volusia.org/FireServices/ Incident Description: Firefighter Curry passed away from injuries received when a tree fell on him during a training exercise at the Volusia County Fire Training Center, 3889 Tiger Bay Road (USNG: 17R MN 8507 2431), Daytona Beach. Curry was part of Volusia County’s Wildland Fire Team, which was practicing power and chain saw use at the center. (http://www.volusia.org/11-27c-07.htm) Funeral Arrangements: Pending Memorial Fund Contact and Address: Pending
Source: USFA |
|
|||||||
|
|
|