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 Feb. 24 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 DHS programs.

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.”

Budget figures

According to Paulison's financial report, the USFA's budget was: $67.3 million in 2002; $54.7 million in 2003; $57.4 million in 2004 (actual spending); and estimated at $55.9 million for FY 2005, as funding is provided quarterly.

Paulison said the steep $10 million decline in 2003 was due primarily to a one-time $5 million “pass-through” appropriation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for a fire safety awareness campaign and the transfer of $4.9 million to DHS for state grant programs under the Office for Domestic Preparedness that the USFA previously had distributed.

“The budget is what it is,” Paulison said, 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. … 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, explained how the complicated 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. For example, in addition to this year's budget, the USFA 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.

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 principal research and development arm of DHS, he also said.

Defused gossip

The rumor that the NFA is one step away from going out of existence is not true, Paulison 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,” said Paulison. “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 NIMS and NRP classes have received much more traffic than anticipated. More than 80,000 students have taken IS 700, the new NIMS course, since it went up. But Paulison said two weeks ago FEMA added new servers to beef up traffic capacity.

There's also some truth to the rumor that the USFA was not regularly updating its courses. “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. 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,” said Paulison.

The Emergency Education Network, which some say is using stagnant technology, is 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.”

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

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 DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff and Congress by April 7, the day of the National Fire & Emergency Services Dinner. Bill Webb, executive director for the Congressional Fire Services Institute, said CFSI would help create the final strategy plan based on further discussions.

The policy goals include:

• America's fire service must be represented by fire chiefs and other senior fire service officials within the office of the DHS Secretary and throughout the department.
• The USFA must occupy a key position and function in a comprehensive role within DHS proportionate to the responsibilities of the fire service in responding to incidents of terrorism and all-hazards events.
• The Office of Management and Budget and DHS need to recognize and designate the USFA and the NFA as “homeland security-critical” in the federal budgeting process.
• The USFA and the NFA must be fully funded to the authorized levels to support the ongoing mission to reflect contemporary issues and community risks.
• DHS should be required to work more closely with the NFA and state and local fire training academies regarding the use of curriculum and the delivery system for terrorism response training.

Chief Don Oliver of Wilson (N.C) Fire Rescue, representing the National Society of Executive Fire Officers, said he was satisfied with the summit's results: “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. This impacts every fire department in the country.”

Paulison encouraged everyone at the meeting to stay involved in the dialogue. “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.”