Did someone forget to tell former FEMA Director Mike Brown that when you demonstrate your incompetence (and arrogance) on television, it might help to quietly disappear? Perhaps from a sense of defensiveness over remaining on the FEMA payroll as an "adviser," Brown feels the need to snap back at all those pointing fingers. Ah, Mr. Brown, perhaps it's time to take the sage advice and "Go west, young man."

Next on the list is the resignation of the New Orleans Police Superintendent Eddie Compass. And as everyone watches patiently as Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco flies in to Washington, D.C., for her share of the blame, we await word that Mayor Ray Nagin is also en route to the Hill for some finger-pointing.

Has anyone seen New Orleans Fire Chief Charles Parent lately? At first we assumed he was just busy, but word has leaked out that he's very Anti-media (with a capital A). That's a shame because perhaps his community would have felt secure knowing there was stability from this portion of their city's leadership.

In the meantime, what's the fire service to do? Well, the National Fire Protection Association invited fire chiefs and commissioners from major cities to an Urban Forum in Boston. The purpose was to review the preparedness, response and aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita and make recommendations to the federal government. The 18 fire chiefs didn't invent any new solutions, but they did tighten and edit their recommendations to five bullet points — and "bullets" they are:

• The National Incident Management System must be used for all incidents.
• The mandated implementation of NIMS must be accelerated and enforced at all levels of government.
• The Federal Emergency Management Agency Director must be elevated to a Cabinet-level position.
• The FEMA Director, Under Secretary for Preparedness and U.S. Fire Administrator must be qualified for their positions and have fire service or emergency management experience.
• The expertise of the fire service must be used through appointments to key positions in the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA.

Two of the recommendations are about the use of NIMS for all incidents. In other words, DHS has to practice what it preaches, which obviously wasn't happening in the first few days of Katrina. We've read the press releases from DHS that the deadline for NIMS implementation is 2007. It's time for this agency to put some money and muscle behind its mandates.

The other three bullets are about leadership: level, experience and multiple positions. At first glance, the participants of the forum struck me as candidates for the high-level positions they're suggesting. Are their recommendations self-motivated? No, but it's not a bad idea. Big-city chiefs certainly have the requisite experience in dealing with politicians.

Right now, the point person is Acting FEMA Director R. David Paulison, with Deputy U.S. Fire Administrator Charlie Dickinson filling in as U.S. Fire Administrator. There's more qualified help out there for these two fire service work horses. The politicians just need to look in the right place.

Janet Wilmoth, Editorial Director
jwilmoth@primediabusiness.com