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Congress Approves Campus Fire Safety Right to Know Act NVFC Supports SAVES Act to Reduce Fuel Costs for Volunteer Fire Departments New Guide Addresses Public Health Emergency Response DHS Releases First National Emergency Communications Plan DHS Conducts First Regional Vendor Outreach Session EMI Conducts Training for State Emergency Management Directors Dozens of Cities To Get Fewer Anti-Terror Dollars Grants Gaining Traction on Reducing Risk, Chertoff Sys FEMA Close to Adopting Standard for Emergency Alerts The United States Fire Administration Announces the 2007 Firefighter Fatalities Report
Congress Approves Campus Fire Safety Right to Know Act On Thursday, July 31st, Congress approved a pivotal piece of legislation aimed at improving fire safety on college campuses across the nation. The Campus Fire Safety Right-to-Know Act was included as part of H.R. 4137, the College Opportunity and Affordability Act. The Campus Fire Safety Right-to-Know Act was originally introduced in the House by Congressman Bill Pascrell, Jr. (NJ-8) and in the Senate by Senator Frank Lautenberg (NJ). Source: CFSI The 2008 wildfire season is proving to be a formidable challenge for firefighters. Still early into the season, fires have raged in Colorado, North Carolina, Virginia, and California, where they continue to cause destruction. More than 2,000 fires have occurred in California since June 20, of which 33 are still active. Thousands of firefighters are battling the blazes that as of July 20 have destroyed 947,151 acres and 123 homes. Robert Roland, a volunteer firefighter from the Anderson Valley Fire Department in Northern California, also died as a result of fighting the fires.
NVFC Supports SAVES Act to Reduce Fuel Costs for Volunteer Fire Departments The National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) has endorsed the Supporting America’s Volunteer Emergency Services (SAVES) Act, which provides federal assistance to volunteer fire departments struggling with the high cost of gasoline and diesel fuel. The SAVES Act, which was introduced by Senator Robert Casey (D-PA) in the Senate (S. 3237) and Representative Jason Altmire (D-PA) in the House (H.R. 6461), would create a federal grant program to allow volunteer fire departments to recoup 75 percent of the difference between the prices they are paying for gasoline and diesel today compared with the prices in their region of the country in 2007.
New Guide Addresses Public Health Emergency Response The United States Department of Health and Human Services has released, Public Health Emergency Response: A Guide for Leaders and Responders. The guide is the third in a series that specifically addresses the unique needs of first responders and public officials.
DHS Releases First National Emergency Communications Plan DHS last week released the nation’s first strategic plan to improve emergency response communications at all levels of government and across all disciplines. The National Emergency Communications Plan (NECP) addresses gaps in operable and interoperable communications, and complements overarching homeland security and emergency communications legislation, strategies, and initiatives. The NECP defines three goals that establish a minimum level of interoperable communications and a deadline for federal, state, local, and tribal authorities: • By 2010, 90 percent of all high-risk urban areas designated within the Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI) can demonstrate response-level emergency communications within one hour for routine events involving multiple jurisdictions and agencies. The department’s Office of Emergency Communications developed the NECP in cooperation with more than 150 public and private sector emergency communications officials. The department’s new Interoperable Emergency Communications Grant Program will further enable states to align their plans with the NECP. More information about this is available at: http://www.dhs.gov/xnews/releases/pr_1217529182375.shtm. Source: DHS DHS Conducts First Regional Vendor Outreach Session DHS conducted its first Regional Vendor Outreach Session in Atlanta on July 30, providing the small-business community with a forum to discuss contracting and subcontracting opportunities. Representatives from DHS procurement offices and DHS large business prime contractors located throughout the Southeastern part of the United States met with potential vendors. More than 100 small businesses attended the session. Source: DHS EMI Conducts Training for State Emergency Management Directors Twenty-two Emergency Management Directors from 18 states and territories participated in training at the Emergency Management Institute (EMI) in late July. The training, co-sponsored by the National Emergency Management Association (NEMA), was designed for directors who have served less than three years.
Source: DHS Dozens of Cities To Get Fewer Anti-Terror Dollars Many cities across the country will find themselves with less federal money than in years past, and many won’t, as the Department of Homeland Security releases its list of homeland security grant recipients. The Associated Press’ Devlin Barrett is reporting that more money will go to three larger cities – Houston, New York and San Francisco – from the $782 million in the Urban Area Security Initiative to help pay for equipment and training. Houston will get $37.5 million, a 50 percent increase from 2007. Also, 14 cities that were not on the list last year have been added. However, Barrett also says many cities will see less money. Los Angeles will get about $2 million less than years past, and Newark, New Jersey, will get about $1 million less. Most of the money goes to the seven areas considered at highest risk of terrorist attack: Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Newark, New York, San Francisco and the District of Columbia. “The grants come from one of the department’s most popular and debated post-Sept. 11 programs,” Barrett says. “Every year, the list pleases and angers elected officials based on which cities are added or dropped. Last year, the list contained 45 metropolitan areas, and Congress insisted the government consider as many as 100.” To read the full article, click here: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jQ0Ao4X0-a32dSRsZ9upSawSrPdgD923QMR01
Source: Disaster Resources Guide Grants Gaining Traction on Reducing Risk, Chertoff Says Two weeks ago, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced which states and local governments would get their hands on the $1.69 billion in homeland security grants this year. Now he says those grants are clearly paying off, as we move toward a more secure homeland. In an article on the Government Technology website, Corey McKenna says Chertoff made the remarks last week, saying the prospect of a secure homeland is an approachable reality. “We have reduced our vulnerabilities. I mean, almost $30 billion in funds pays off. A lot of the cities and states [have] better tools, better capabilities. So we’ve been able to draw down some of the risk as far as the vulnerabilities are concerned,” he said. That means the funding has become more targeted, McKenna adds. “If I compare where we are now to where we were when I came in 2005, you know, I remember in 2005 when I had been reading stories previously about money being spent on, you know, dog biscuits and leather jackets or whatever,” Chertoff said. Will that now change the way the DHS hands out the grants? McKenna says it will, and that the DHS will now start looking more closely at the applications for grant funding coming in and start shifting priorities to other communities or other types of programs when it starts seeing requests for things that look more like ordinary, necessary expenses rather than investments in real terrorism capabilities. “It seems to me that if a community doesn’t feel a need for homeland security money, they ought to say, ‘look, we think we’ve achieved what we need to achieve with Homeland Security and maybe that money ought to be directed to other programs or maybe we ought to apply for some other kind of thing,’” Chertoff said. “What I don’t want to do is define Homeland Security so broadly that it ceases to have the discipline that I think we’ve imposed on the program as we go forward.” To read the full article, click here: http://www.govtech.com/gt/print_article.php?id=382935
Source: Disaster Resources Guide FEMA Close to Adopting Standard for Emergency Alerts A new report says the Federal Emergency Management Agency is planning to adopt a common alerting protocol as a national emergency warning and alert system as early as next year. In an article on the Federal Computer Week website, Alice Lipowicz says FEMA announced late last week that it is expecting to adopt the Common Alerting Protocol 1.1, which would create a national infrastructure so digital messages could be sent seamlessly to televisions, radios, and computers. “The protocol is an open-source technical standard developed by volunteers seven years ago. It was accepted by the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) in 2004, and later refined by that organization. It has been widely adopted among emergency managers and broadcasters as well as disaster managers at FEMA. It has long been anticipated that FEMA would make it an official standard.” Lipowicz says. Under law, participants in the Emergency Alert System (EAS), including broadcasters and emergency managers, will be required to be in compliance with the CAP 1.1 standard in 180 days after FEMA makes the standard official. According to Lipowicz, FEMA officials will work over the next six months with its industry partners to iron out interoperability issues. During that time, FEMA and its partners will be developing specific formats, or profiles, for messages to be shared in the EAS. To read the full article, click here: http://www.fcw.com/online/news/153347-1.html
DHS Announces $1.8 Billion in Grants to Bolster Readiness of States, Urban Areas and Tribal Governments Jul 30, 2008, News Report Source: GovTech The United States Fire Administration Announces the 2007 Firefighter Fatalities Report Contact: USFA Press Office: (301) 447-1853 Emmitsburg, MD. - The United States Fire Administration (USFA) has released today its report Firefighter Fatalities in the United States in 2007. The report continues a series of annual studies by the USFA of on-duty firefighter fatalities in the United States. The USFA is the single public agency source of information for all on-duty firefighter fatalities in the United States each year. "One of the greatest challenges we face as a fire service is to stop the needless deaths of firefighters while in service to their communities," United States Fire Administrator Greg Cade said. "Every day and across this nation, firefighters are responding to emergencies that threaten the lives of their residents. These same threats also threaten the lives of firefighters. Unfortunately, we all lost far too many firefighters in 2007." During calendar year 2007, there were 118 firefighters who lost their lives while on duty across the United States. The unique and specific objective of Firefighter Fatalities in the United States is to identify all on-duty firefighter fatalities that occurred in the United States and its protectorates, and to present in summary narrative form the circumstances surrounding each occurrence. In addition to the 2007 overall findings, this study includes information on the hazards to firefighters presented by the lack of seatbelt use. In 2007, 27 firefighter fatalities resulted from vehicle-related incidents. In 19 of the 27 incidents where seatbelt status was known, 11 firefighters were confirmed as not wearing seatbelts at the time of the event. An overview of the 118 firefighters that died while on duty in 2007: -68 volunteer firefighters and 50 career firefighters died while on duty. The National Fallen Firefighter Foundation maintains the list of firefighters who die in the line-of-duty and are honored during the annual National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Weekend held each October in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
Source: USFA The United States Fire Administration (USFA) has received notice of the following firefighter fatalities: Name: David Meron Fire Department: Hoosick Falls Fire Department Incident Description: After having responded to two alarm calls in quick succession and once released from duty, Fire Police Officer Meron was found @ 2314hrs unconscious and unresponsive in his vehicle at the entrance to the parking lot of the firehouse. CPR was initiated and Fire Police Officer Meron was transported to the Medical Center but all efforts to revive Meron were unsuccessful. Funeral Arrangements: 07/24/2008 - Calling hours 1500-2000hrs at Robson & Reifurt Funeral Home, 72 Main Street, Hoosick Falls, NY 12090. Funeral services will be private at the request of the family. Memorial Fund Contact and Address: In honor of Fire Police Officer David Meron, C/o Hoosick Falls Fire Department, PO Box 312, Hoosick Falls, NY 12090-0312. Tribute is being paid to Fire Police Officer David Meron at Name: Brian J. Munz Fire Department Website: http://members.tripod.com/~alordrot/index-21.html Incident Description: After they had discovered a fire in the basement of their home, a family safely evacuated a two-story, stucco wood-frame single family residence in Forrest, IL, and subsequently called 911. Firefighters from seven communities in the Forrest area, including Fairbury responded. Fairbury Firefighter Munz was with a crew on interior fire attack of the structure when the first floor collapsed trapping him in the basement. Attempts by other firefighters to rescue Firefighter Munz were unsuccessful. Munz was transported to OSF Saint James-John W. Albrecht Medical Center in Pontiac, IL, but did not survive his injuries. Incident Location: 316 W. Watson St., Forrest, IL (16T CL 8067 1212) Funeral Arrangements: Pending Memorial Fund Contact and Address: Pending Tribute is being paid to Firefighter Brian J. Munz at
Name: Frank Wichlacz Fire Department: Pulaski Tri-County Fire Department, Inc. Incident Description: After returning from a mutual aid call, Fire Chief Wichlacz was in the station when he was accidentally pinned between two vehicles while fire apparatus was being backed in the bay. Chief Wichlacz passed away from injuries sustained in the incident. Incident Location: 600 Glenbrook Drive, Pulaski, WI 54162 (USNG: 16T DQ0265 4633) Funeral Arrangements: Pending Memorial Fund Contact and Address: Pending Tribute is being paid to Fire Chief Frank Wichlacz at Name: Andrew Palmer Rank: Firefighter Age: 18 Gender: Male Status: Wildland Part-Time Years of Service: <1 Date of Incident: 07/25/2008 Time of Incident: Pending Date of Death: 07/25/2008
Fire Department: Olympic National Park Address: 600 E Park Ave., Port Angeles, WA 98362 (USNG: 10U DU 6788 2746) Fire Department Chief: Superintendent Karen Gustin Fire Department Website: http://www.nps.gov/
Incident Description: Firefighter Palmer was working with a crew of firefighters from Olympic National Park, WA, on the Eagle fire, part of the Iron Complex fire on the Shasta-Trinity National Forest in California. Friday, July 25th, was their first day on the fire line and Firefighter Palmer was reported to have been fatally injured when he was struck by a falling tree.
The Forest Service and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration have assembled an accident investigation board to report on Firefighter Palmer's death.
Incident Location: Southwest flank of the Eagle Fire near Junction City (USNG: 10T DL 954 088) Funeral Arrangements: Pending
Memorial Fund Contact and Address: Pending
Tribute is being paid to Firefighter Andrew Palmer at
Name: Dan Packer Rank: Fire Chief Age: 49 Gender: Male Status: Career Years of Service: 27 Date of Incident: 07/27/2008 Time of Incident: Pending Date of Death: 07/27/2008
Fire Department: East Pierce Fire & Rescue Address: 18421 Old Buckley Hwy., Bonney Lake, WA 98391 (USNG: 10T ET 6185 2529) Fire Department Chief: Pending Fire Department Website: http://www.eastpiercefire.org/
Incident Description: Fire Chief Packer was supervising firefighting efforts as part of an interagency emergency management team at the Panther fire south of Happy Camp, a part of the Siskiyou Complex fire near Yreka, when his position was overrun by wildfire following an unexpected shift in the wind. Further details of the incident are pending investigation.
Incident Location: South of Happy Camp, CA (10T DM 68 26) Funeral Arrangements: Pending
Memorial Fund Contact and Address: Pending
Tribute is being paid to Fire Chief Dan Packer at http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/fireservice/fatalities/ Name: Gerald R. Leduc Fire Department: Tiverton Fire Department Incident Description: At approximately 1900hrs, Firefighter Leduc responded to a report of a man who went overboard from a boat into Stafford pond. Leduc was part of a dive team who was searching for the lost subject when he suddenly had difficulty and went into cardiac arrest. He was rushed back to shore where despite all resuscitative efforts, he succumbed to his injury. Funeral Arrangements: Pending Memorial Fund Contact and Address: Pending Tribute is being paid to Firefighter Leduc at The United States Fire Administration (USFA) has received notice of a multiple firefighter fatality incident in Northern California. The flags over the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial have been placed at half-staff. Identification of the nine victims is pending recovery operations.
Date of Incident: 08/05/2008 Time of Incident: 1930hrs Date of Death: 08/05/2008 Incident Fire Department: US Forest Service - Shasta-Trinity National Forest Address: 3644 Avtech Parkway, Redding, CA 96002 (USNG: 10T EK 5926 8553) Fire Department Chief: National Forest Supervisor Sharon Heywood Fire Department Website: http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/shastatrinity/index.shtml
Incident Description: A pilot and eight firefighters assigned to the Iron Complex fire in California’s Trinity Alps Wilderness, perished in a crash as they were taking off from a helispot in a contract Sikorsky S-61N helicopter (N612AZ). Of the 13 people reported to be on-board, one other pilot and three firefighters survived the crash. The four survivors were subsequently transported to hospitals with serious and some critical injuries. The cause of the incident is under investigation. Incident Location: Trinity Alps Wilderness (USNG: 10T EL 23 41) Funeral Arrangements: Pending Tribute is being paid to these firefighters and the pilot at http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/fireservice/fatalities/ Name: Sean T. Whiten Rank: Captain Age: 47 Gender: Male Status: Volunteer Years of Service: 22 Date of Incident: 08/09/2008 Time of Incident: 1030hrs Date of Death: 08/09/2008
Fire Department: Roscoe Volunteer Fire Company Address: PO Box 666, 320 Furlong AVE., Roscoe, PA 15477 Fire Department Chief: Todd Mauk
Incident Description: Captain Whiten had been assisting other instructors at a structural burn session and had led several training burns when he decided to go to rehab. While at rehab, his vitals were determined to be good; he sat in front of a cooling fan, and then proceeded to an area to relax. Following that, he was found down, suffering from a medical emergency. He was transported to Mon Valley Hospital where he passed away from a cause still to be reported.
Funeral Arrangements: Ed Melenyzer Funeral Home, 1008 Furlong Ave., Roscoe, PA 15477. Funeral arrangements will be as follows: viewing on Tuesday, August 12, 6pm – 8pm; Wednesday August 13, 2pm – 4pm and 6pm-8pm with the Firefighter memorial Service Wednesday August 13, 7pm.
Full Fire Department honors service will be conducted on Thursday August 14 at 11 am at the Stockdale Volunteer Fire Company, 316 Railroad St., Stockdale, PA
Memorial Fund Contact and Address: A memorial fund has been established; donations can be sent to the Sean T. Whitten Memorial Fund, c/o Roscoe Volunteer Fire Company, PO Box 666, 320 Furlong AVE., Roscoe, PA 15477
Tribute is being paid to Captain Sean T. Whiten at http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/fireservice/fatalities/
Source: USFA |
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