Answering growing concern over budget cuts to the U.S. Fire Administration and perceptions that fire programs are being neglected under the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Fire Administrator R. David Paulison presented budget numbers and the facts on USFA programs to a summit of fire service leaders held Thursday in Washington, D.C.

Although some programs have taken cuts in the last four years, Paulison said the USFA budget has been fairly consistent, or “level funded,” and those programs that had received cuts were often getting funds under new programs at the Department of Homeland Security.

Invited leaders from 18 major fire service organizations and members of the fire service media attended the summit, called by the International Association of Fire Chiefs. The purpose of the meeting was to address concerns about the USFA/NFA budget and to elevate the position of the fire service within DHS.

“Key fire service organizations came together to coordinate our message and strengthen the fire service position," said IAFC President Chief Bob DiPoli, who chaired the summit. “Speaking with one voice, we can better demonstrate to the administration, to Congress, to the press and to the public our solidarity in preserving the funding and missions of these critical institutions.”

Based on the summit discussions, the IAFC plans to present a plan to improve the USFA’s position at DHS by April 7, 2005, the day of the National Fire & Emergency Services Dinner hosted by the Congressional Fire Services Institute in Washington, D.C.

The Bottom Line

According to Paulison's financial report, the USFA's bottom line, or annual total budget figures are:

• $67.3 million in 2002 (actual spending);
• $54.7 million in 2003 (actual spending);
• $57.4 million in 2004 (actual spending);
• $55.9 million in fiscal year 2005 (projected).
  

The nearly $10 million decline in funding from 2002 to 2003 was due primarily to a one-time $5 million appropriation for a fire-safety awareness campaign (“pass-through” funding, Paulison said), and because $4.9 million the USFA had in its 2002 budget for state training academies development of counter-terrorism training has been replaced by Homeland Security First Responder Grants going directly from DHS to states.

The USFA budget received a bump in 2003 when it acquired the Noble Training Center, a former military hospital in Alabama that has been refurbished as a medical disaster preparedness training center. The USFA’s budget – minus funding for getting Noble up and running, pass-through funds and anti-terrorism funding, has remained fairly consistent, (in the low-50s range), Paulison said. The president’s budget proposes a $1.3 million increase for the USFA in FY 2006, he said.

The National Fire Academy's annual budget figures are:

• $10.7 million in 2002 (actual spending);
• $10.4 million in 2003 (actual spending);
• $9.6 million in 2004 (actual spending);
• $9.6 million in 2005 (estimated).
  

“The budget is what it is,” said Paulison, after going through the numbers in each of the USFA programs. “There has not been a slash in the budget of millions and millions of dollars. Yeah, we’ve gone down some, but we’ve been pretty consistent since we’ve gone to DHS. Would I like to have more money? Yes, I would. You ask any department director in the U.S. government and, obviously, they’re going to say yes. Can I operate on what I have? Yes, we can. Can we continue delivering courses? Yes, we can.… We are not going to close the doors, folks.”

At the meeting, Paulison and Ken Burris, chief operating officer of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which has budget authority over the USFA, did their best to explain how the federal budget process works. The USFA’s budget, for example, is not a “line-item” in the federal budget, but is lumped into the Emergency Preparedness and Response Directorate and FEMA’s budget. That non-line item status means there is uncertainty in the USFA’s budget, but it allows FEMA the flexibility to move funds into programs where they’re needed, Burris said.

The USFA receives funding from a number of other programs that don’t show up in its budget, Paulison explained. In addition to the $51.3 million the USFA had in its budget this year, it will receive $4 million to develop training for the National Incident Management System and the National Response Plan for federal, state and local agencies involved in incident response. “That is going to help us to upgrade all of the courses that we teach, and adding the NIMS and NRP along with creating new courses,” Paulison said.

Also not included in the USFA budget will be additional funding from the Office for Domestic Preparedness to administer and staff the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program and the SAFER (Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response) Act, he noted.

The areas of fire prevention and research and development under National Fire Programs have taken cuts under the USFA budget, Paulison acknowledged, “but look at the millions and millions of dollars that we are able to put into fire prevention through the FIRE grants that we don’t necessarily have to do at the fire academy.” The Assistance to Firefighters’s Fire Prevention and Safety Grants have awarded more than $32 million to date to local departments and fire service organizations to support prevention and fire safety activities.

Several major fire prevention programs have gone up this year, including prevention programs aimed specifically at children, children in disadvantaged communities and older adults, he said. A major “Where’s the Fire” interactive exhibit at the Epcot Center has also been launched.

Cuts in the research programs at USFA are being more than made up for by research being conducted by the new Science and Technology Directorate, the principle research and development arm of DHS, he said.

Paulison also addressed many rumors that have been circulating about the USFA and NFA recently. The rumor that the NFA is one step away from going out of existence is not true, he said. The president’s FY 2006 budget proposes $1.3 million more funding in the USFA budget next year. “Plus, not only the Department of Homeland Security but other people in the federal government are recognizing the asset that we have here. That’s one reason they have asked us to take on this task of doing all the NIMS and NRP training…. I see a very bright future for us.”

There is some truth to the rumor that the USFA’s Virtual Campus has been unable to keep up with first responder demand for Internet courses. New classes in the NIMS and NRP have gotten much more traffic than anticipated. More than 80,000 students have taken the new NIMS course (IS 700) since it went up. But Paulison said two weeks ago FEMA added new servers to beef up capacity for traffic.

There was also some truth to the rumor that the USFA was not regularly updating its courses. That is being addressed with new funding. “We have put some course development on hold,” Paulison conceded, but an additional $200,000 will go into course development this year, and Paulison expects more dollars next year. Twelve courses need critical updates to comply with the NIMS, he said, but “we don’t have anything that’s stale. Everything we’re teaching is rock-solid.”

No students have been turned away from the NFA, and no courses have been closed, Paulison said. He said the USFA hopes to increase its capacity for students on the National Emergency Training Center campus by “blending” distance learning with on-campus learning. “What we want to do, especially with IS 300 and IS 400, is for the students to take that first half of the class at home through the Internet, and then when they come to campus, they’ll already have that training, have the testing done and we can move into the meat of those ICS classes and only have them on campus for five or six days instead of two weeks.”

EENET (The Emergency Education Network) is also getting a major upgrade. “We just transformed that whole facility over to digital,” Paulison said. “We’ve signed cooperative agreements with some cable networks and are in the process of signing some cooperative agreements with DishNet. In the future, if you can get a football game, you will be able to get fire training through EENET. We are going to make that a very robust facility.”

Extensive security upgrades at NETC have not drained funds from critical NFA and National Fire Programs, as some have reported. All the security upgrades on the campus were paid for by FEMA headquarters and did not come out of the NFA budget, Paulison said. Security upgrades have been implemented by all government facilities. “Everybody is interested in security since Sept. 11 and we’re no different,” said Paulison. He noted that of $2.9 million a year spent on security at NETC, $2.1 million is paid for by headquarters.

Paulison said he’s working to get some of the terrorism training that has moved to the Office for Domestic Preparedness back into the USFA. “We don’t get funding from Congress for it, but I can get funding from ODP and other places to teach those courses and prepare those classes.”

More Work Down the Road

Attendees of the meeting complimented Paulison for straightforwardly addressing concerns about the USFA’s budget and position within DHS, but they acknowledged there is more work to be done. After Paulison’s report, staff members of key Congressional committees affecting DHS budget and policy presented information to the group and fielded questions. The meeting wrapped up with a strategy session in the afternoon, and attendees agreed on “Unified Fire Service Findings and Policy Goals” as a first step toward formulating a plan to present to the DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff and Congress by April 7.

The policy goals include:

1. America’s fire services must be represented by fire chiefs and other senior fire service officials within the office of the Secretary of Homeland Security and in key positions throughout the department.

2. The U.S. Fire Administration must occupy a key position and function in a comprehensive role within the Department of Homeland Security proportionate to the responsibilities of the fire services in responding to incidents of terrorism and all hazards events.

3. The Office of Management and Budget and the Department of Homeland Security need to recognize and designate the U.S. Fire Administration and the National Fire Academy as being “homeland security critical” in the federal budgeting process.

4. The U.S. Fire Administration and the National Fire Academy must be fully funded to the authorized levels to support the ongoing mission to reflect contemporary issues and community risks.

5. To ensure the most effective utilization of training resources, the Department of Homeland Security should be required to work more closely with the National Fire Academy and state and local fire training academies regarding the use of curriculum and the delivery system for terrorism response training.

Feedback from leaders at the summit meeting was positive. Chief Don Oliver of Wilson (N.C) Fire Rescue, representing the National Society of Executive Fire Officers at the summit, said he was satisfied with meeting: “It’s doing what we need to do as far as focusing on what our ‘mission-critical’ needs are, what we have to do and having everybody on the same page. And this impacts every fire department in the country.”

Paulison encouraged everyone at the meeting to stay engaged in the dialogue with DHS and with Congress. “If we’re going to get the funding we need, the funding to operate, you have to stay involved. I’ve said this a million times. Congress needs to know what your needs are. They’re the ones you vote for. If you talk to them, they will respond.”