National Volunteer Fire Council Chairman and La Farge (Wis.) Fire Department Chief Philip C. Stittleburg testified on June 13 before the House Subcommittee on Emergency Communications, Preparedness and Response. Stittleburg’s testimony focused on the Fire Corps program, which is administered on the national level by the NVFC in conjunction with the International Association of Fire Chiefs. Fire Corps is a component of Citizen Corps, a national grassroots effort under the Department of Homeland Security to involve citizens in helping their communities prevent, prepare for, and respond to natural and man-made disasters and other emergencies.

Stittleburg asked Congress to pass an authorization for Citizen Corps that would include a sub-authorization for Fire Corps. Citizen Corps was created by the administration and has been funded through appropriations, but has never been authorized. NVFC believes that a sub-authorization for Fire Corps will allow it to retain its unique characteristics linking Citizen Corps efforts to the fire service.

In recent years, fire and emergency response departments have been struggling with increasing demand of service coupled with inadequate funding. To help departments face these demands, Fire Corps was launched in December 2004 to increase the capacity of volunteer, career, and combination fire and EMS departments by using community volunteers to assist in non-operational roles.

Sittleburg’s testimony outlined Fire Corps’ benefits, with a focus on how it has greatly increased the ability of the nation’s fire and emergency medical services to provide, maintain, and increase services to their communities. Some exemplary programs were highlighted, including the Johnson County Rural Fire District #1 Fire Corps program in Clarksville, Ark., which increased fire safety programming from 100 hours per year pre-Fire Corps to averaging 8,600 hours per year today. Also noted were the Mesa (Ariz.) Fire Department’s Fire Corps, which donates 29,040 service hours each year, and the Stayton (Ore.) Fire District’s Fire Corps, which installed reflective address signs in its 104-square-mile district.

"A program like Fire Corps that stresses volunteerism and teamwork is a perfect fit in the fire service where those values are prevalent," Stittleburg said. "Prior to the creation of Fire Corps, Citizen Corps programs did not address the needs of the fire service, leaving out this crucial component of our nation’s emergency services."

Sittleburg is a regular contributor to FIRE CHIEF magazine. His complete testimony is available on the NVFC’s Web site as a PDF at nvfc.org. For more information about Fire Corps, visit firecorps.org.