NFPCA Transfer Looks Good
features
The Editor’s Opinion Page
Back in January of 1975, when the National Fire Prevention and Control Administration was gearing up, we made a guess that the National Fire Academy would wind up in or near the nation’s capital. And it almost did—with the purchase of Marjorie Webster College. But the wheels of bureaucracy grind slowly and the college still stands empty, untouched and unused.
Latest gossip out of Washington has it that the college will be sold by the federal government. This, then, puts the fire service—and we are talking of the fire fighting service—back on square one, looking for an academy and the “federal focus” on the fire problem that the NFPCA was designed to supply, but didn’t. In fact, the NFPCA spent millions handing out grants and hiring consultants for projects that were aimed at rediscovering the wheel. Only a relative small amount of this money went toward upgrading the fire suppression forces.
A good deal of the blame for this neglect falls on the outgoing administrator, who, at least in our opinion, gave low priority to the brothers-in-blue. However, the brothers must take some of the blame for the sad record compiled by the NFPCA over the last three and a half years. Some individuals and groups within the service had their fingers in the NFPCA’s till (grants, consultancies, etc.) and were, therefore, in no position to criticize the administration or its administrator. But beyond these individuals or groups, there is the vast body of fire fighters—both paid and volunteer—who tended to ignore the NFPCA once it was established.
The National Fire Prevention and Control Administration, as you are probably aware, is also— like the academy—on its way out. Starting in January the NFPCA will be transferred from the Department of Commerce to the new Federal Emergency Management Agency. Not all the details have been worked out as of this writing, but the head of the NFPCA will carry the title of principal program manager and will be under the new director of FEMA.
There are some in the fire fighting service who have misgivings about the administration’s transfer, but we look forward to it. For one thing, the new NFPCA will operate under the aegis of an “emergency agency” which is where it belongs—the Department of Commerce just wasn’t the place for it. For another, there is $6 million in the new budget for a National Fire Academy, plus whatever comes out of the sale of Marjorie Webster.
As of now, the academy’s staff will remain intact. Given a better atmosphere it should be able to push its programs more efficiently and certainly much faster.
In any event, we look forward to seeing the fire (fighting) service receive a little more attention from the federal focus on the fire problem.
