HELP WANTED?
BY BILL MANNING
Scrap the United States Fire Administrator position as it currently exists and substitute these two new positions, say the International Association of Fire Fighters and the International Association of Fire Chiefs in their September submission to FEMA Director James Lee Witt in response to his call for fire service input to help resuscitate the ailing Federal Fire Programs.
“Take the personalities out of it,” says Chief Richard Marinucci, immediate past president of the IAFC. “We`ve been fighting this thing since Day One. We`ve had several administrators, and we`ve never been happy with [the way they`ve worked out], so you have to ask yourself, Does the current structure work? Has the Fire Administrator been positioned to be our advocate from Day One? This new structure would send a strong message that fire is important within FEMA. It elevates the status of fire, and status is very important in Washington.”
“We feel very strongly about the document we signed,” says Harold Schaitberger, the IAFF`s executive assistant to the general president. “We`ve never been pleased with the level of funding or attention given the USFA/NFA. Fire should play an essential role within FEMA, but [often] is an afterthought. This will give us someone who can speak for the fire service at a very high policy level in the FEMA hierarchy.”
But all players in Witt`s reconstitution think tank are not in agreement on the proposed management restructure. In fact, disunity at some level in this process was almost inevitable.
According to Witt`s initial plan outlined in May, the “Big Three” fire organizations–the International Association of Fire Fighters, International Association of Fire Chiefs, and National Volunteer Fire Council–were to analyze the USFA/NFA situation and make recommendations. This Panel of Three then was to submit its proposals to a larger, so-called “blue ribbon” panel, consisting of about 20 representatives from 15 national fire groups, for final recommendations to FEMA by October 1, 1998.
At some point in the process, contrary to Witt`s plan, the panels diverged into two distinct, independent focus groups working simultaneously but separately toward the same goal. Thus the fire service created for itself the potential for conflicting recommendations and organizational disunity at a time when Joe Firefighter needs just the opposite.
That potential became a reality when the Panel of Three, with FEMA`s help, proposed the USFA management restructuring. At the eleventh hour, the NVFC backed away from its original stance and refused to sign the document, camping itself instead with the Blue Ribbon Panel. “We agree with [most] of the document, but we could not sign it,” said Steve Ennis, NVFC first vice chairman. “It`s not appropriate to have a rush to judgment, especially since the Blue Ribbon Panel [is working on its own recommendations]. We talk about consensus, but the proposal is in contradiction with the Blue Ribbon Panel, which says we don`t need to change the management structure.” In a September 18 letter to Witt explaining the NVFC`s decision not to sign, Ennis writes, “Signing onto a document that alters the structure of the USFA within FEMA with the [blue ribbon] panel still in its meeting stages could divide the fire service.”
Too late. Though surely all is not lost, and the Blue Ribbon Panel`s offering is eagerly anticipated (unavailable as of this writing), the national fire service organizations have once again displayed their special talent for disunity. The Panel of Three is split: the IAFF on one side, refusing (pragmatically) to place a representative on the Blue Ribbon Panel; the NVFC on the other, leaning toward the Blue Ribbon Panel recommendations; and the IAFC in the middle, with representatives on both panels. Alternative perspectives and open dialogue are healthy, but the fire service can make things very difficult for public officials who have to choose between two sides of the same coin. It`s one of the main reasons for Washington`s historical “hands-off” policy with regard to the fire service. They can`t make everybody happy, so we`ll all be miserable–and largely ineffective–together.
But both positions have merit. The USFA leadership problems weren`t purely the result of a faulty bureaucratic structure and can`t be solved simply by bureaucratic manipulations. By the same token, an advocate in a bureaucratic system cannot perform as such without functional status and access–without the platform to advocate effectively.
Most likely, Witt will take recommendations from both position papers, and, since the recommendations for the two new positions evolved with direct FEMA input, he probably will lean in the IAFF/IAFC direction on that issue. In either case, however, bureaucratic structure is only a tool, and the search for strong federal fire leadership is at the mercy of the political appointment process, a process that has been known to fail in the past, with help from the very same groups now diligently trying to salvage a fire-weakened house.
Sadly, whatever course Witt decides will not be enough in the political sense: Fire will always be a second-stringer so long as the USFA administrator-type position remains in the shadow of FEMA and not the cabinet-level position it should be.
HELP WANTED:
Associate Director
Experienced member of the fire service community to serve on FEMA Director’s policy-making team as national spokesperson on fire issues. Rank of Associate Director of FEMA, appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Duties include ensuring that the interests of the fire community are incorporated/ considered in FEMA programs and policies, and serving as senior advisor to the USFA/NFA Chief of Operations.
Chief of Operations
Experienced member of the fire service community to serve as Chief of Operations for the United States Fire Administration and National Fire Academy. Non-career senior executive service position, by Presidential appointment. Report directly to the FEMA Director. Duties include all such activities as appropriate for the operational head of all USFA/NFA functions.
