IAFC: Feds should fund local fire service preparedness
“The local fire department is the first on the scene whenever a catastrophic event occurs, and this can be expensive for communities,” asserts the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC). Its Board of Directors, therefore, passed a resolution at the IAFC board meeting in Louisville, Kentucky, in September, stating that the “federal government should recognize, accept and act upon that responsibility.”
The board agreed to establish organizational policy and other initiatives that identify the federal responsibility to fund local fire service preparedness and response to actual or technological catastrophic events. Funding is to include equipment, training, and staffing needs. Presented by Board Member Chief Neil Svetanics, of the St. Louis (MO) Fire Department, the resolution says that “federal resources would enable the local fire service agencies, as first responders, to act in a safe and timely manner to minimize injuries, loss of life and damage to property.”
In another resolution passed unanimously by the board, support was given to the Ribbon of Promise Campaign for ending school violence. (Ribbon of Promise is a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending school violence.) President Chief Richard “Smokey” Dyer noted in the resolution that “school violence is a contemporary community problem of great significance and there is a compelling national need to end acts of terrorism directed at our schools as demonstrated by recent mass school shootings.”
