Today, IAFC 1st Vice President Jeff Johnson, chief of Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue, testified before Congress in favor of reauthorizing the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) program’s FIRE and SAFER grant programs. Chief Johnson described the importance of these programs and their success in helping the fire and emergency services prepare for all hazards. On behalf of the IAFC, Chief Johnson also recommended a number of legislative changes to the programs aimed at further enhancing the ability of America’s fire and emergency services to respond to all types of emergency events.
Chief Johnson stressed the importance of the FIRE and SAFER grants to our nation’s fire departments. “Because of the recent economic downturn, many fire departments must close fire stations, lay off firefighters and cut training, equipment and fire prevention budgets,” he said. “Meanwhile, they continue to face the constant risks presented by natural disasters and man-made incidents.”
While stating that the IAFC believes that the FIRE and SAFER grant programs have been largely successful, Chief Johnson did recommend some legislative changes for the reauthorization bill, including:
* A waiver for economically challenged jurisdictions to the FIRE Grant’s required local match. The current statute requires that most fire departments meet a 20 percent match, that jurisdictions with 50,000 or fewer residents meet a 10 percent match, and that jurisdictions with 20,000 or fewer residents meet a 5 percent match. Chief Johnson testified that some jurisdictions cannot meet these local match requirements due to the economic downturn, but still need to improve training or replace old equipment. For this reason, Chief Johnson recommended, on behalf of the IAFC, that Congress create the authority for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to grant a waiver in order to assist these needy departments.
* Establish centers of excellence in fire safety research. Chief Johnson testified in favor of the creation of “centers of excellence in fire safety research that would establish long-term, comprehensive applied research programs to improve firefighter health and public fire safety.” These centers would involve partnerships between major fire service organizations and academic institutions with the goal of reducing public and firefighter mortality and improving fire safety through comprehensive research and enhanced technology transfer.
* Reward improved regionalism with the FIRE Grant program. The IAFC recommends raising the funding cap for larger fire departments that are composed of historically smaller entities. Chief Johnson testified that the IAFC supports the FIRE grant incentives designed to promote regional cooperation between jurisdictions, but he pointed out that more can be done to reward fire departments that combine into one larger department. Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue, for example, would be eligible for far more money if its original 12 departments were able to apply separately for AFG funding.
* Make the SAFER grant program a three-year program with a 20% match. Chief Johnson pointed out that in the current economic downturn, many jurisdictions are finding it difficult to make a five-year commitment to the SAFER grant program, because they cannot forecast their budget situations for the fifth year when they would have to cover 100 percent of the firefighter’s salary. As a result, there was a significant decrease in the number of SAFER grant applications between 2007 and 2008, and the number of jurisdictions that have had to decline SAFER grants or return funding because of their inability to meet the local match requirements for the second, third, or fourth year is on the rise. The IAFC believes that a straight three-year local commitment with a 20 percent match would simplify the situation.
* Remove SAFER Grant’s statutory cap per firefighter. The $100,000 statutory cap per firefighter does not account for the costs of hiring firefighters in some parts of the country. The cap has resulted in local departments having to pay the entire cost of the SAFER-funded firefighters within the initial two years, and the IAFC recommends that the committee remove the cap to prevent these complications.
“The IAFC believes that the Assistance to Firefighters Grant program is an extremely successful program that improves the safety of the American public,” said Chief Johnson, and he pledged that the IAFC will work with Congress to reauthorize these programs this year.