Chief Glenn Gaines was appointed interim U.S. fire administrator after Kelvin Cochran returned to his chief position at the Atlanta Fire Department. Cochran's departure from the administrator position wasn't a surprise, Gaines said. The two men had talked about the Atlanta chief job and how Cochran would happily accept the position. That gave the USFA plenty of time to plan for the departure in order to seamlessly continue the implementation of its strategic goals without Cochran at the helm, Gaines said.
The USFA has a corporate staffing structure with considerations given to unexpected or sudden vacancies, including cross-training other personnel so they can transition into open positions. As a result, the organization always will be able to carry on its core mission and already has a roadmap to move forward, Gaines said.
"We have developed a business transition plan and steps to be taken over the next few weeks to ensure we continue to provide consist, sound, steady support for our stakeholders and federal partners," he said.
Gaines said the administration will stick to its eight initiatives, as outlined in a strategic plan. He knows the plan well, as he participated in its development. He also will reassess the USFA's current performance, including employee morale and progression of each initiative, and will review funding mechanisms.
"There are future issues we must keep in mind as we go through this assessment, including the economy and the fact that we may not stay funded [by federal budgets] at the current level," Gaines said. "We will all have to work smarter and better with fewer resources."
This means chiefs need to brace themselves. Gaines predicts programs slashed during the recession never again will receive funding, even if the economy improves, and may be permanently eliminated. As a result, fire-service officials must find their own funding, such as seeking public/private partnerships for private funding, applying for grants and developing fundraising mechanisms, he said.
In most cases, training and public-education funding took hits, and this concerns Gaines. He said all of the prevention and mitigation programs have suffered disproportionately, so U.S. fire chiefs must re-train operational personnel to take on more responsibility for training, public-education and fire-prevention programs. He encourages chiefs to apply for Fire Prevention and Safety grants to help resurrect such programs.
"It is a way to bring money in to continue fire mitigation programs that have been slashed during reductions," he said.
However, staffing levels at many fire departments have begun to drop. Gaines said volunteer departments are struggling to recruit and retain personnel, who often are forced to take on more hours at work or have enrolled in college courses to improve their marketability. In career departments, where payroll makes up about 80% of an annual operating budget, job cuts are being made. He suggested departments look at the SAFER grant program when it opens later this year to temporality address staff reductions.
"The application period will open soon," Gaines said. "I suggest that those who have lost personnel take a hard look at applying for that grant."
Gaines emphasized the importance of applying for all of the federal grants, including the AFG program. A high number of applications support the argument that additional funding needs to be allocated to the fire service, he said.
"Now more than ever, we need that AFG program," Gaines said. "We need our fire service leadership to ensure they are participating in order to demonstrate to Congress and our political leadership that the need far outweighs the funding level. So I would encourage fire departments to actively participate in AFG, SAFER and the Fire Prevention and Safety grant."
Gaines said Dennis Onieal, former superintendent of the National Fire Academy, will serve as deputy U.S. fire administrator, and Kirby Kiefer will move into Onieal's position as the acting director of the NFA until a permanent replacement for the administrator job is determined.
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