When R. David Paulison was sworn into office in December 2001, the ceremony took place in the midst of fire trucks and hoses at Engine Three Fire Station in downtown Washington, D.C. Many firefighters and chiefs were present as well as top federal officials.

"They asked me to do the swearing-in on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, but I said why not do it right at the fire station?" said Paulison, who that day became the U.S. Fire Administrator, responsible for keeping the nation's firefighting up to snuff.

Choosing solidarity with fellow firefighters in an unpretentious setting - instead of flaunting his own advancement - is typical of Paulison's personal style. His friendly, self-effacing qualities have helped to make him popular within the fire service.

"His style is to reach out, pull people in and make what they do feel important," Alan Caldwell, government affairs director for the International Association of Fire Chiefs, said in a phone interview. "He's well liked, but also dogged and determined when he needs to be."

Previously, Paulison was chief of the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department. Although he is highly regarded, many in the fire service worry that the U.S. Fire Administration continues to fall short in political influence in Washington. The USFA has been part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency for more than two decades, and both became part of the Department of Homeland Security on March 1, 2003.

Firefighters' concerns have become more acute since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, because the fire service is now taking on huge new homeland security responsibilities and jockeying with police and other emergency response agencies for its share of billions of federal dollars flowing from homeland security coffers.

The Bush administration and Congress have approved more than $9 billion in anti-terrorism training and equipment funds for fire, police and other first responders in the past two years.

"We don't feel the U.S. Fire Administration has a lot of clout, and that's unfortunate," Caldwell said. "But we don't blame Chief Paulison. He's doing the very best he can do."

"The fire service just doesn't have any juice [in Washington], and never has," said Dennis Smith, a retired New York City firefighter, in a phone interview.

Paulison, for his part, is eager to dispel such concerns.

"I see things differently," he said in his office at FEMA headquarters in Washington recently. "The most rewarding part of my job is how much support we've gotten inside FEMA and inside DHS, as well as from outside, from the fire service."

"This administration has spent more money on the fire service than ever before in this country," Paulison said. The U.S. Fire Administration, created in 1974 as the National Fire Prevention and Control Administration and merged with FEMA in 1979, operates the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg, Md. After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, the agency's focus expanded to include supporting the efforts of local fire departments to prepare for responding to such attacks. Paulison, 57, succeeded President Bill Clinton's appointee, Carrye Brown, a former senior aide for the House Science Committee. Paulison's 30-year record as a firefighter and Miami's fire chief was viewed positively within the fire service.

He now has two official positions as both U.S. Fire Administrator and, since March 1, 2003, as FEMA's director of preparedness. Like most officials in the 22 agencies that compose the Homeland Security Department, Paulison juggles the basic priorities of his home agency - reducing fire-related deaths and injuries and advancing firefighter safety - with new imperatives to prepare against terrorism.

His arrival in Washington coincided with the beginning of the fire service's first major grant program: Assistance to Firefighters grants created by Congress in 2000 under the FIRE Act. The program sent $750 million directly to thousands of fire departments in 2003 and is doing so again this year.

All for One

But the White House's transfer of the grants to another DHS division, the Office for Domestic Preparedness, this year has been controversial. Paulison said the program will not change substantially. "We're very pleased with the transfer," Paulison said. "We're all one department here." Fire officials are mostly reassured. "If David Paulison says the program is still looking out for us, people believe him," said John Linstrom, a well-known fire service trainer in Apple Valley, Calif. Although the White House wants to cut the FIRE Act grants to $500 million in 2005, Paulison notes that the Bush administration has spent $8 billion on first responders and $2 billion on the FIRE Act. "The Fire Administration is not being diminished at all - it's at its highest level," Paulison said. In another major project, Paulison is very proud of his role in helping to write the National Incident Management System, which has received good reviews from fire chiefs and other groups.

"I worked very hard to get everyone to buy into it," Paulison said. "We were working on it even before DHS was formed."

More challenging has been his role in carving out the National Fire Academy's place in the nation's homeland security training. State fire academy directors have complained of a limited role for themselves and for the academy.

But Paulison disputes that. He said he is working closely with ODP Director C. Suzanne Mencer to ensure that the fire service is well represented in training programs funded by her office. To date, Mencer's division has approved three of the National Fire Academy's anti-terrorism courses, and the fourth course is "almost done," Paulison said.

"We are working well together," Paulison said. Recently, he and Mencer together made a presentation to about 100 invited fire service officials at the Executive Office Building next to the White House, which he described as "a very open type of meeting."

He is also pleased with the job being done by Safecom, a DHS unit within the Directorate of Science and Technology, on advancing firefighter radio communications and interoperability with the systems of other public safety agencies. "Safecom probably is the right place for it," Paulison said about interoperability.

Standing among mementos and colorful statues of firefighters in action on shelves in his office, Paulison said he is happy with his role. "I'm a consensus builder who's very passionate about what I believe in," Paulison said.

"I see myself as an advocate for the fire service to the administration, and also for the administration to the fire service," Paulison said. "Both are equally interesting."

The Back Story

A native of north Miami, Paulison is the oldest of three sons whose father worked in construction. He followed his father into construction jobs in high school, but majored in English literature at Florida Atlantic University.

Paulison says he never considered firefighting until a friend encouraged him to apply for a post in the Miami-Dade department.

"I got in and I loved it. I absolutely loved it," he said.

He became a firefighter and emergency medical technician, rising through the ranks to become chief in 1992. By the time he left he had a $200 million budget and 1,900 personnel.

In his first year as chief, Hurricane Andrew busted into Florida, causing unprecedented destruction south of Miami. Paulison organized a huge rescue operation for thousands of people, as well as distribution of lifesaving food, supplies and water for nearly 250,000 who lost their homes. Paulison was disappointed in FEMA's response to the disaster. The Clinton administration shook up the agency.

"FEMA was not very well organized to handle that type of emergency," Paulison said. "FEMA took too long." Now, as a FEMA official himself, he says the federal agency is "ten times better prepared" for such an event. He managed another huge incident in 1996 when a ValuJet plane crashed in the Everglades.

In 1996, Paulison became president of the international fire chiefs group for a year. He and his wife, Kathy, live in Arlington, Va., and also have a home in Davey, Fla. They have two daughters.

Alice Lipowicz can be reached at alipowicz@cq.com

Source: CQ Homeland Security

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