LEGISLATION PAVES WAY FOR DONATION OF USED EQUIPMENT TO TEXAS DEPARTMENTS
BY LOU W. SLOAT
Many volunteer fire departments across the country are in serious need of fire equipment. Yet, many times still serviceable equipment discarded by industry or other fire departments is deliberately destroyed so that these departments cannot use it. Why? The original owners might be subjected to civil damages should personal injury occur while the discarded equipment is in use by the volunteer departments.
INDUSTRIAL HELPING HANDS PROGRAM
The state of Texas has found a way to remove this impediment to helping volunteer departments in the state become better equipped. The mechanism is the Industrial Helping Hands Program (IHHP), established through legislation, which will be administered by the Texas Forest Service`s (TFS) Rural Fire Defense Section in Lufkin. In effect since September 1, 1997, the legislation authorizes the TFS Rural Fire Defense Section to accept donated “used or obsolete fire control or fire rescue equipment” for the Service`s use or “the Service`s distribution to other volunteer fire departments.”
Moreover, the legislation states the following: “A person is not liable in civil damages for personal injury, property damage, or death resulting from a defect in equipment donated in good faith by the person under this section unless the person`s act or omission proximately causing the claim, damage, or loss constitutes malice, gross negligence, recklessness, or intentional misconduct.”
In addition, the TFS and its director and other officers and employees “are not liable in civil damages for personal injury, property damage, or death resulting from a defect in equipment sold, loaned, or otherwise made available in good faith by the director under this section unless the act or omission of the service or its director, officer, or employee proximately causing the claim, damage, or loss constitutes malice, gross negligence, recklessness, or intentional misconduct.
“Fire control or fire rescue equipment includes a vehicle, firefighting tools, protective gear, breathing apparatus (which `will be recertified to manufacturer`s specifications before it is made available to an authorized group by a technician certified by the manufacturer`) and other supplies and tools used in firefighting or fire rescue.”
INDUSTRIAL CONTRIBUTORS
The first contributors under this program were American Oil Company`s (Amoco) Chocolate Bayou Plant in Clute, Texas, and the Union Carbide Corporation in Texas City. Amoco donated 175 Scott Air PaksT, valued at more than $300,000 (they would have been destroyed had this program not been in effect). Union Carbide donated 50 air cylinders. To date, more than $2.5 million worth of equipment has been donated to the program. This represents more than 5,000 items that have been distributed to some 200 departments statewide.
PROGRAM GENESIS
The idea of the IHHP was conceived by David White, publisher of Industrial Fire World of College Station, Texas, and Paul Hannemann, regional fire coordinator with the Texas Forest Service in Fredericksburg, Texas. They had seen millions of dollars of surplus equipment–especially breathing apparatus–destroyed because of liability concerns.
The legislation was introduced in the House by State Representative Bob Turner and in the Senate by State Senator Steve Ogden. Turner, a member of a volunteer fire department, was motivated to sponsor the bill by a tragic fire that occurred in a mobile home fire on Christmas Day. The structure was involved when the fire department arrived, but no one was inside the trailer. The little girl who lived there, however, had received a pair of cowboy boots for Christmas and, before anyone realized it, had run back into the mobile home to get them. The firefighters watched helplessly; they had no breathing apparatus that would permit them to enter the burning structure. The little girl died. “I am convinced that if this legislation had already been passed, we would have had the opportunity to have breathing apparatus and thus save a little girl`s life,” Turner recalls.
A GROWING PARTNERSHIP
In July (after the IHHP was signed into law by Governor George Bush, Jr.), Union Carbide hosted a “thank you” reception for supporters of the IHHP. A symbolic connecting of two large fire hoses signified the bringing together of the Texas Forest Service, industry, and the state`s volunteer departments. Turner, Ogden, and other state legislators; local officials; and representatives of the TFS and volunteer fire departments attended.
On September 20, the TFS, the Llano (TX) Volunteer Fire Department, and numerous supporters from across the state sponsored “Texas Firefighters Appreciation Day.” More than 500 volunteer firefighters representing 168 departments from 85 Texas counties attended. The TFS is working toward making this an annual event.
The IHHP has helped to foster cooperation and civic pride in the state. “The volunteer fire departments in Texas are a grassroots effort,” says TFS Associate Director of Forest Resource Protection Bobby Young. “VFDs [volunteer fire departments] take pride in their community, and the state through the donations program has provided industry an opportunity to work with local VFDs through the TFS and share in that pride and ability to help protect the community.”
For additional information about the program or a copy of the legislation that created it, contact Mark Stanford or Don Galloway with the Texas Forest Service`s Rural Fire Defense in Lufkin at (409)
LOU W. SLOAT is information officer for the Texas Forest Service, Fire Control Department, in Lufkin, Texas.639-8130. n
