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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,

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Secretary Tells Congress FY ‘09 Budget Reflects Maturing Department
Under Secretary Allen says budget request supports I&A activities

Audit Finds Georgia Mismanaged Millions in Grants

Fire Corps Visits Ohio Rural Fire Council

Department of Homeland Security Releases National Response Framework

DHS Denies OSHA Power to Invoke Emergency Response Plan

First Responder Guide for Space Object (Satellite) Re-entry

The United States Fire Administration (USFA) has received notice of the following firefighter fatalities:

Secretary Tells Congress FY ‘09 Budget Reflects Maturing Department
Under Secretary Allen says budget request supports I&A activities

In testimony before House and Senate committees last week, Secretary Chertoff said the president’s fiscal year (FY) 2009 budget request reflects the maturation of the department. “Six years after September 11, 2001, we are moving beyond operating as an organization in transition to a department diligently working to protect our borders and critical infrastructure, prevent dangerous people and goods from entering our country, and recover from natural disasters effectively,” the secretary said in written testimony submitted to the House Homeland Security and Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committees.
 
In his testimony, the secretary highlighted the department’s accomplishments in FY 2007 under the department’s five priority goals—protecting the nation from dangerous people, protecting the nation from dangerous goods, protecting critical infrastructure, building an effective emergency response system, and strengthening and unifying DHS operations and management. The secretary said that the proposed FY ’09 budget will allow the department to continue to build on those accomplishments by providing additional funds, pointing out that the budget requests an increase in total funding of 7 percent and in gross discretionary budget authority of 8 percent. The secretary’s complete written testimony is available at: http://www.dhs.gov/xnews/testimony/testimony_1203008767192.shtm.
 
Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis (I&A) Charles Allen also testified on the president’s FY 2009 budget request. He told a House subcommittee that the budget supports funding in seven critical areas that will allow I&A to bolster and sustain its core mission and further the DHS Intelligence Enterprise, which seeks to integrate all of the department’s intelligence resources and capabilities. The budget also supports the development of a national fusion center network that will allow the growth of state and local fusion centers and enhance the department’s I&A activities. The under secretary’s complete written testimony is available at: http://www.dhs.gov/xnews/testimony/testimony_1203028466025.shtm.

Source: DHS

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Audit Finds Georgia Mismanaged Millions in Grants

A federal audit has found that the Georgia Emergency Management Agency failed to properly oversee local departments and used a flawed purchasing system to spend more than $100 million in first responder grants coming to the state.

The Associated Press’ Ben Evans says the Department of Homeland Security audit showed the state used different billing and invoice systems that made it unclear just what equipment local jurisdictions received, and in some cases, possibly paying for equipment that vendors never delivered.

But Evans says state officials are disputing many of the findings, even as they admit improvements are needed. Buzz Weiss, a GEMA spokesman, declined to comment, saying the agency had not seen the final version of the report.

“The audit covered $115 million in Homeland Security grants that Georgia received from 2002 to 2004,” Evans says. “GEMA managed the program, distributing the money to local fire departments and emergency agencies for training, equipment and other expenses.”

The audit found the state did not require some local recipients to file progress reports keeping track of how the grants were being used. The state also did not require some local agencies to use competitive purchasing.

To read the full article, click here: http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/stories/2008/02/08/gema_0209.html

Source: Disaster Resource Guide

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Fire Corps Visits Ohio Rural Fire Council

Fire Corps Program Coordinator Lori Moon attended the Ohio Rural Fire Council (ORFC) meeting at the Ohio Fire Academy on January 12. Over 60 representatives from rural departments across Ohio attended the meeting, which focused on fire and EMS department retention and recruitment. Moon spoke about the challenges of retaining and recruiting first responders and presented Fire Corps as an important solution to these challenges.

“Fire Corps supports our nation’s fire and emergency service departments. These community volunteers help with retention by performing non-emergency tasks, allowing first responders to focus on the emergency functions and training they came there to do,” Moon explained. “It is also a great way to introduce community members to the fire and emergency medical services and recruit additional members who may want to pursue training beyond Fire Corps’ non-emergency activities.”

Other guest speakers included Ohio State Fire Marshall Michael Bell; Volunteer Firemen’s Insurance Services representative Jeff Moore; First Vice President of the Ohio State Firefighters Association Captain Mark Roberts; and Certified Fire Protection Specialist and Medina Township Fire Department Staff Support Officer Parker Brown.

While in Ohio, Moon also attended the Ohio State Firefighters Association (OSFA) quarterly business meeting. She distributed Fire Corps materials and encouraged members to advocate for Fire Corps throughout the state.

The ORFC’s mission is to provide a unified voice for fire services to improve and increase information, education, and assets for the protection of life, property, and natural resources in and around rural communities and regions of Ohio. Learn more about the ORFC.

Source: Fire Corps

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Department of Homeland Security Releases National Response Framework

On January 22, National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) Chairman Philip C. Stittleburg participated in a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) press conference to announce the National Response Framework (NRF). The stated purpose of the NRF is, “To ensure that government executives, private-sector and nongovernmental organization leaders, and emergency management practitioners across the nation understand the domestic incident response roles, responsibilities, and relationships in order to respond more effectively to any type of incident.”

The NRF is an updated version of the National Response Plan (NRP) which has been in place since 2004. The NRF incorporates input from stakeholders, lessons learned, and best practices developed since the NRP was implemented. The NRF will go into effect on March 22.

Emergency response is primarily a local function. When a local jurisdiction exhausts its available resources it can request additional assistance. This most commonly comes in the form of mutual aid from neighboring jurisdictions. When catastrophic incidents occur, state and federal resources can be deployed. The NRF establishes the roles and responsibilities of the various entities involved in different types of responses. Under the NRF, incident command remains a local function even when federal resources are deployed except in rare incidences where local entities are temporarily unable to lead the response.

The NRF document is available for download at www.fema.gov/NRF. Additional materials such as annexes, appendixes, partner guides, and other reference documents are also available on this web site.

Source: NVFC

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DHS Denies OSHA Power to Invoke Emergency Response Plan

The Department of Homeland Security has updated the National Response Framework (NRF); however, some officials are angry the department failed to elevate the status of a worker safety and health annex.

According to an article by Katherine Torres on the Occupational Hazards website, officials wanted the annex elevated so the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) could immediately respond to an emergency.

“As a successor to the National Response Plan released in 2005, NRF focuses on response and short-term recovery and facilitates all-hazard preparedness from local communities to all levels of government,” Torres says. “It contains 23 annexes, including 15 emergency support function and eight support annexes. The worker safety and health annex provides guidelines for worker safety and health functions during national incidents, including acts of terrorism, major natural disasters or man-made emergencies.”

However, Torres says lawmakers have been questioning whether OSHA has a relevant role in the framework since it lacks the authority to independently implement the support annex.

OSHA Administrator Edwin Foulke Jr. had presented a proposal to elevate the status of the annex to the Domestic Readiness Group, an interagency emergency response oversight group coordinated by the White House. The proposal, however, was not accepted.

The worker safety and health annex supports the following activities:

Assessing needs and risk through response and recovery worker site monitoring;

Identifying sources for response-and-recovery worker safety and health needs;

Providing expert technical assistance, including industrial hygiene, occupational safety and health, engineering and occupational medicine;

Implementing and coordinating health and safety plans of various responders to ensure worker protection through consistency and uniformity;

Managing, monitoring and providing exposure monitoring for chemical, biological and physical stressors;

Managing, monitoring and/or providing technical assistance for an incident personal protective equipment program;

Providing support and technical assistance for response and recovery worker exposure and injury and illness data;

Communicating information and coordinate training for response and recovery workers; and

Providing technical assistance and support to maintain response and recovery worker psychological resiliency.

To read the full article, click here: http://www.occupationalhazards.com/News/Article/78366/
DHS_Denies_OSHA_Power_to_Invoke_Emergency_Response_Plan_Official_Says.aspx

Source: NVFC

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First Responder Guide for Space Object (Satellite) Re-entry

First Responder Guide for Space Object (Satellite) Re-entry

February 21, 2008 -- Given the events of last evening and the activities surrounding the destruction of an orbiting satellite, the USFA would like to share with the Fire Service the recommendations of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for handling debris. While no debris is expected to land on the ground, we desire to ensure all firefighters are prepared in the unlikelihood of such an event occurring. Additional information is available at www.fema.gov.

Source: FEMA

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The United States Fire Administration (USFA) has received notice of the following firefighter fatalities:

Name: Jack Lockhart
Rank: Firefighter
Age: 69
Gender: Male
Status: Volunteer
Years of Service: 49
Date of Incident: 02/17/2008
Time of Incident: 19:55hrs
Date of Death: 02/17/2008

Fire Department: Dayton District Volunteer Fire Department
Address: 125 State Street, Dayton, PA. 16222
Fire Department Chief: Barry Lockhar

Incident Description: Firefighter Lockhart was responding to a furnace explosion when he stated that he was not feeling well. He asked to have someone else take over the wheel and he would run radio for the call. Inside the radio room he collapsed and was taken to Armstrong County Memorial Hospital where he died of an apparent heart attack.


Funeral Arrangements: 02/21/2008

Memorial Fund Contact and Address: Pending

Tribute is being paid to Firefighter Jack Lockhart at http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/fireservice/fatalities/

Name: Michael J. Hays

Rank: Fire Chief

Age: 64

Gender: Male

Status: Volunteer

Years of Service: 9

Date of Incident: 02/19/2008

Time of Incident: 1213hrs

Date of Death: 02/19/2008

Fire Department: Brazos Canyon Volunteer Fire Dept

Address: HC-75, BOX 92, Chama, NM 87520

Fire Department Chief: T.J. Allard

Fire Department Website: brazoscanyonfire.org

Incident Description: Fire Chief Hays passed away from injuries received after an explosion at his fire station. Fire Chief Hays was at the station working on duties related to transition of his fire chief duties to a new departmental chief who was elected only three days earlier. The cause of the explosion is still under investigation.

Funeral Arrangements: Pending

Memorial Fund Contact and Address: Pending

Tribute is being paid to Fire Chief Michael J. Hays at http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/fireservice/fatalities/

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