[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 14]
[House]
[Pages 18944-18945]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 CHALLENGES FACING OUR FIRE DEPARTMENTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Smith) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SMITH of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, as a supporter of the bill of the 
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Etheridge) and the effort of this 
Congress to be more aggressive in support of our firefighters, I very 
much encourage the consideration and ultimate passage of legislation 
that will accomplish that.
  This morning we held a hearing in the Committee on Science to examine

[[Page 18945]]

just how the Federal Government can help ensure that our Nation's fire 
departments are adequately equipped and staffed to perform the jobs 
they have been asked to do. The hearing shed light on the challenges 
facing our fire departments. I would like to talk about a couple of 
those challenges.
  First, the need of the firefighting community to work together on 
these efforts. Our challenge and our goal is to increase support for 
firefighters in this country. After 9/11 of last year, I think all of 
America recognized that we depend a great deal on our first responders. 
The firefighters in New York set an example for people all over the 
world that it takes cooperation if we are going to protect the liberty 
and freedom that we have.
  One concern I have is the contest that has been developing between 
volunteers and full-time firefighters. I think we need to do everything 
we can so all of our first responders, firefighters and medics work 
together to accomplish the goals that we need to accomplish at the 
Federal level.
  In my home State of Michigan, the Professional Firefighters Union has 
been pressuring their members not to volunteer in their home 
communities because they might displace potential union members. The 
events of September 11 generated a renewed appreciation and respect for 
firefighters.
  Two years ago, Members of the House started a program of helping fire 
departments around the country with equipment and with training. I 
think we should remind ourselves that many of these first responders 
are in small communities that cannot depend on a fire department that 
is 100 miles away. The only way a lot of these communities can survive 
is to have volunteers that can work in those departments. Where else do 
we have volunteers that are willing to go out and risk their lives to 
protect our property and our lives?
  The grant program that we established provided direct support to fire 
departments around the country for basic firefighting needs. In its 
initial year, the program proved to be very popular with both fire 
services and Members of Congress. Additionally, the U.S. Fire 
Administration received extensive praise for an exceptional job of 
developing and implementing the program efficiently under challenging 
time constraints.
  In my mind, the need-based peer-reviewed grant program is an 
excellent example of how the Federal Government can assist the first 
responders, both paid full-time people and volunteers, with the basic 
training and equipment they need to answer our calls.
  If we lose volunteers in those very small communities, it will be a 
tremendous financial burden to maintain the kind of protection that we 
have now. This has got to be a situation where we work together.
  Those of us in the Fire Caucus, while supportive of a grant program 
to increase terrorism preparedness, quickly recognized that the 
Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program was intended to provide 
fundamental firefighting support to departments, and should be kept 
separate and distinct from the FEMA counterterrorism funds that the 
President proposed.
  Further complicating this problem has been language in the proposed 
Homeland Security legislation that gives the FEMA Administrator and the 
Secretary of the new department authority to shift funds among 
programs. There is a real concern now that this authority, while 
understandable for administrative flexibility, could eliminate the 
basic program that several of us thought was very important that we 
implement in this country.
  In conclusion, let me say that firefighters around this country are 
there when there is a community project. In many places they hold baked 
good sales to make sure that they can buy the equipment to protect us 
in those local communities. We need local support for these 
firefighters, we need more State support for these firefighters, and we 
need more Federal support for these firefighters.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to commend the United States Fire 
Administration that my science research subcommittee oversees for their 
hard work and commitment in bringing the goals of this program to 
fruition. Administrator David Paulison and grants director Bryan Cowan 
have gone above and beyond the call of duty.

                          ____________________