GOOD VIBRATIONS
BY BILL MANNING
The fire world in and around our nation`s capital is buzzing. There`s an optimism now about our political future–cautious, perhaps, but optimism nonetheless–because we have stirred some key people into action.
Many deserve credit. Thinking back over the past year or more, where would we be if the National Fire Academy Program Chairs hadn`t written their White Paper? Where would we be if Congressman Bill Pascrell hadn`t taken the FIRE Act initiative, or without Chief Louis Imperato of the Passaic (NJ) Fire Department, fire service front man for Pascrell`s effort? Or if Tom Kennedy, Ray Kiernan, and others from the Northeast States Fire Consortium hadn`t kept pushing to open the door just a little wider?
Firefighters on the Hill. There are plenty who deserve credit. How about all the “unknown” men and women of the fire service who turned out in Washington in conjunction with the Congressional Fire Services Caucus Dinner this past April to persuade their legislators to co-sponsor the FIRE Act (H.R. 1168)? Kudos to them for getting the job done where they always do it: where the rubber meets the road.
Many homegrown lobbyists reported that their legislators` first reaction to the $5 billion FIRE Act was “Wow, that`s a lot of money!” Think about your response to this in advance, before you meet your legislator. Be forearmed. Bring statistics. From a strategic standpoint, this is first and foremost a fire service marketing effort.
Witt for real. In April in Washington, 1,900 members of the fire service attended the Congressional Fire Services Caucus Dinner. At that affair, Federal Emergency Management Agency Director James Lee Witt restated what by all indications appears to be a sincere commitment to right the wrongs at the United States Fire Administration.
Witt has created the full-time position of chief operations officer (COO) for the USFA and has assigned Chief Rich Marinucci of the Farmington Hills (MI) Fire Department to act in that position until it is permanently filled by September 1, 1999. The USFA COO is charged with running all day-to-day operations of the USFA and National Fire Academy and will report directly to Witt. Good vibrations.
Where`s Carrye? The direct line of authority from the FEMA director to the new COO bypasses USFA Administrator Carrye Brown. This effectively removes her from the USFA restructuring equation currently in the works. While Brown retains her title as administrator, she now functions in, as Witt says, a purely “advocacy” role–to promote fire service issues at the national level.
Witt thus has danced a political jig on the head of a pin. It was no secret among those in the know around Washington that Witt was very unhappy with his USFA administrator, but his hands were tied by the White House. With this action, however, Witt kept Mrs. Brown in her position as per Clintonian order; implemented a two-person USFA management concept as recommended by the International Association of Fire Chiefs and International Association of Fire Fighters (see “Help Wanted,” Editor`s Opinion, Fire Engineering, October 1998); and eliminated an obvious bottleneck for implementation of the Blue Ribbon Panel recommendations. Good, good vibrations.
Of course, as one astute observer noted, this also exposes the position of USFA administrator to future economizing politicians: An upper-level manager/advocate with nobody to manage would be, for future presidential administrations, an easy target for government downsizing.
America Burning III. In addition to the first annual fire service summit hosted by FEMA this August, Witt announced his intention to move ahead with the recommissioning of America Burning “to revisit this historic document and measure our progress against the proposals it contained.” Witt will announce the commission “within the coming weeks” and hopes to complete the project within the next two years.
With respect to both the August summit and America Burning III, let us hope that Director Witt has the good sense to reach out to some fire service representatives from outside the Beltway and outside of the major fire service groups. And note that America Burning III is not a presidential commission (as was the first America Burning), so its political “legs” will be uncertain.
Budget Increase for USFA? In March the House Committee on Science heard testimony on the reauthorization of the USFA budget for 2000 and 2001. Witt, who testified–symbolically, an important gesture of his new commitment to fire–is seeking at least an additional $14 million for USFA programs. That would represent a 40 percent increase from 1999. One legislative expert indicated that the committee members were “very receptive” to the need for upping USFA funding. Good vibrations, though the proposal has yet to go through the critical appropriations process.
Blue Ribbon Panel Web page. Steve Austin, chair of the Blue Ribbon Panel (BRP), recently announced the creation of a Web page to track the progress of the 34 BRP recommendations. The page will be housed within the Congressional Fire Services Institute (CFSI) web site and edited by Austin and BRP Co-chair Steve Edwards.
“The Count.” The number of co-sponsors to the FIRE Act was 103 as of April 22. That`s great, but it`s not time to pop the champagne corks. Note that Democrat cosponsors outnumber Republicans by roughly a four-to-one margin for this “bipartisan” legislation. One knowledgeable source says Congressman Curt Weldon, the lead Republican on the bill, is speaking with select Republican leadership, but cautiously, because of the amount of money involved. We`ll be following this closely in the coming months.
The Feds` Disappearing Act. At a congressional briefing on domestic terrorism surrounding the Fire Caucus Dinner, firefighters listened quietly as high-ranking officials from the FBI, DOD, and other big-time agencies gushed with their stated desire to partnership with the fire service on terrorism response. Good vibrations? When it was the fire service representatives` turn to make their presentations, you couldn`t find a federal bureaucrat in the house. In this case, actions spoke far, far louder than the words.
Member of the Anointed Seven bites Bill Manning at CFSI dinner! Well, not really. But I thought he was going to. Seriously–seems my “inaccurate reporting” and “vicious attacks” have done a great disservice to firefighters across this great nation at the very moment the Anointeds were “crafting a delicate consensus.” Oh, my.
Why have I included this bit of silliness in this column? Because this is “good vibrations,” for sure: Truth inevitably smokes out the guilty, and you may take this as one of many signals that our efforts are beginning to bear fruit. We`re getting to “them.” We`re making “them” honest and holding “them” accountable. Don`t you feel that for the first time in a long time we have a fighting chance?
Good, good, good, good vibrations.
