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TESTIMONY BEFORE THE
THE SENATE GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
ON
THE NEEDS OF THE FIRE SERVICE IN
RESPONDING TO TERRORISM
DECEMBER 11, 2001
BY
MICHAEL J. CROUSE
CHIEF OF STAFF
FOR
THE GENERAL PRESIDENT OF THE
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FIRE FIGHTERS
Mr.
Chairman.
I thank you for the opportunity to appear before this
committee today.
My name is Michael J. Crouse, and I am the Chief of Staff for
the General President of the International Association of Fire
Fighters (IAFF).
I am here today representing the views of our General
President Harold Schaitberger and 245,000 professional
firefighters who are members of the IAFF.
I spent 17 years as a firefighter employed by the
federal government protecting United States military
instillations.
For 10 years I was the IAFF District Vice President
representing all IAFF federal firefighters.
In this capacity I was intimately involved with
emergency preparedness at military facilities.
Mr. Chairman, exactly three months ago today, I watched with
horror as the planes hit the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon.
Within minutes of those attacks, I knew that hundreds
of my fellow firefighters were responding to the call,
entering those buildings, and placing themselves at risk.
When the first tower collapsed, I also knew we had lost
hundreds of firefighters under millions of tons of jagged
steel and debris.
The 344 firefighters, who made the ultimate sacrifice and
rescued tens of thousands of civilians from the hellish
carnage of the World Trade Center tragedy, are my brothers, as
are the thousands of other firefighters who responded to the
terrorist attacks in New York and at the Pentagon on September
11.
For firefighters, it is still September 11th.
Every time the alarm goes off, we steel ourselves to
the possibility that we are responding to the latest act of
terror.
In this first war of the 21st Century, the
battle lines are drawn in our own communities, and civilians
and the places Americans frequent are explicit targets.
Mr. Chairman, in your home state of Connecticut, there are
many high profile targets of terrorism such as the Groton
Naval Submarine Base, Yankee Nuclear Power Plant, Derby
Hydroelectric Dam, and Dow chemical processing plant.
Additionally, like the rest of the nation, Connecticut
has its share of federal buildings, transportation hubs,
shopping malls, schools, entertainment facilities, and media
outlets, which are extremely vulnerable and if hit would cause
massive devastation.
Hartford, Connecticut, the capital city, in certain ways is
less prepared for a terrorist attack than many rural
communities.
Hartford has no hazardous materials (hazmat) response
team, no mass casualty unit, or terrorism training classes.
Primarily due to financial limitations, Hartford does
not have the personnel to man these specialized units or to
provide the necessary training.
In this war, we must not only support our troops abroad, but
also with equal zeal and financial resources, support
firefighters who are the nation’s domestic defenders.
The federal government must do its part in preparing
the nation’s fire service for its role in the war against
terrorism.
The first things the federal government must do to
shore up our homeland security is to assist local communities
with hiring additional firefighters and providing all
firefighters with the specialized hazmat/WMD training.
Secondly, establishing a single point of contact to
help localities access the various federal programs can have a
positive effect on terrorism response.
For nearly 100 years, IAFF members have been protecting the
citizens of our nation from all hazards.
We are the first on the scene when there are incidents
involving hazardous materials, we are the nation’s primary
providers of emergency medical care, and we are the ones who
search for and rescue people who are trapped and in danger.
However, while the job we need to perform in this war is
familiar, the magnitude of the challenge before us is
unprecedented.
In the past, we have had to respond to isolated
incidents.
In this new world, we need to be prepared for a
coordinated, well-orchestrated series of attacks on American
citizens.
While we all tend to look toward the military in time
of war, the reality is that in the war against terrorism, it
is firefighters who will be our nation’s first line of
defense.
If we are to be successful in fulfilling our mission,
we must have adequate resources.
Sadly, as of today, we do not.
The need for additional firefighters and on-going
training is tremendous and it can no longer be borne solely by
local jurisdictions.
To those who argue that hiring and training firefighters is a
local responsibility, I say that preparing for and responding
to terrorism is a federal responsibility.
The attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon
were attacks on America.
They were national tragedies that demand a federal
response.
PERSONNEL
The first and foremost need of the fire service is adequate
personnel.
Today, 2/3 of all fire departments—large and
small—operate with inadequate staffing.
In your own state, Mr. Chairman, jurisdictions such as
Danbury and Fairfield, operate with only three firefighters
per apparatus.
Responding to a fire with only three people makes it
impossible for the first responding unit to comply with
OSHA’s “2-in/2-out” standard for safe fireground
operation, and places the lives of those firefighters in
jeopardy.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH),
which investigates firefighter fatalities, has identified
inadequate staffing as a chief cause in dozens of firefighter
deaths over the past few years.
And
yet, cities like Danbury and Fairfield and the thousands of
other jurisdictions that operate with three person engine
companies aren’t the worst of it.
Incredibly, a growing number of communities attempt to
respond to emergencies with two people per apparatus, the City
of Manchester, Connecticut among them.
The men and women of the Manchester Fire Department are
as brave and capable as any in the nation, but there is simply
no way that they can safely protect the public with two people
on a rig.
Congress would never allow our Army to engage in a war with
2/3 of its divisions undermanned.
Incredibly, this is exactly what we are asking our
local fire departments to do.
Congress can greatly impact the safety of the American
public from acts of terrorism just by getting more
firefighters in our communities.
While stream-lining the coordination amongst the more
than 40 federal agencies with a hand in terrorism response is
an important matter for debate, Congress will get immediate
real-world results by helping local jurisdictions hire more
firefighters.
That is why the IAFF along with the International Association
of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) and several Members of Congress have
strongly endorsed the SAFER Fire Fighters Act, S. 1617 and
H.R. 3185.
The SAFER Fire Fighters Act uses the procedures
established by the highly successful Universal Hiring Program
for police officers to place 75,000 additional firefighters in
our communities.
The SAFER Fire Fighters Act is an innovative approach to
solving the nation’s need for more firefighters.
It is an example of the new type of federalism that our
country needs to combat terrorism.
The SAFER Fire Fighters Act would be a step towards
better cooperation and coordination amongst local, state and
federal governments to respond strongly and decisively to
terrorism.
TRAINING
The second most pressing need in preparing the fire
service for the war on terrorism is specialized training in
WMD and hazmat response mitigation.
From the vantage point of front line emergency responders, the
two crucial components of any WMD or hazmat training program
are that the training is conducted in the local jurisdiction
incorporating the unique aspects of the communities, and that
it uses trainers who are both certified instructors and
professional firefighters.
The advantage of training in one’s own jurisdiction is
self-evident.
Training for a terrorism event in your own community
allows first responders to not only learn the tactics and
methods of effective response, but apply these theoretical
concepts to concrete targets in their jurisdiction.
This value-added piece is missing when firefighters are
forced to attend remote training sites like Fort McClellan,
Alabama.
The value of qualified firefighters teaching other
firefighters is in the benefit gained by shared experiences.
The bond of common experiences allows firefighter
instructors to more effectively communicate the lessons of a
training course than say a person from the academia or the
military.
These firefighter instructors know the fire fighting
jargon and can speak the language and because they are both
firefighters and subject matter experts, they command a great
amount of respect from their students.
I am proud to note that the IAFF offers training programs to
fire departments—free of charge—in terrorism and hazmat
response that have all the elements of a successful training
program.
Our training uses skilled instructors, who are both
hazmat technicians and certified instructors, to train fire
departments to safely and effectively respond to conventional,
biological, chemical, or nuclear terrorist incidents.
Additionally, our program conducts the training in the
community and incorporates the unique aspects of the
localities.
The IAFF programs, developed in partnerships with DoJ, DoE,
DoT, EPA and HHS, are the only hazmat and terrorism response
programs that focus on emergency responder safety.
Our relationship with certain agencies stretches over
the last four Administrations.
Over this period, we have trained tens of thousands of
firefighters, both professional and volunteer firefighters,
union and unorganized departments, on how to safely respond to
terrorist attacks and other hazmat emergencies.
Especially since September 11th, the demand for our
training program far outpaces our funding to deliver it.
Our ability to deliver the training is only limited by
the funding we get from our federal partners.
If our grants from the various federal agencies are
increased, the IAFF can dramatically increase the number of
fire departments trained in terrorism and hazmat response and
mitigation.
Coordination
There has been a lot said in the media and in
official government reports bemoaning the lack of coordination
and duplication of programs by various federal agencies.
We agree that a single point of contact, whether it is
the Office of Homeland Defense, DoJ, or FEMA, will help
localities in terms of getting current, accurate, and collated
information to prepare for terrorist attacks, and will assist
local jurisdictions with acquiring coordinated federal support
when terrorists do attack.
More important than determining which agency should serve as
the point of contact, however, is clarifying the lead agency's
mission.
While there is unquestionably a need for a federal
agency to coordinate the various counterterrorism programs
that exist throughout government, we do not believe that this
lead agency should subsume the functions of those other
agencies.
There is value in several agencies being involved in terrorism
response and it is not necessarily duplication when several
agencies are involved in what seemingly is the same area.
For instance, in the area of training, many of the
so-called duplicative programs are in fact specialized
training to address specific needs.
EPA, DoT, and DoE all offer hazmat training.
However, the EPA program focuses on responding to
hazmat incident at superfund sites.
Likewise, the DoT program focuses on the unique
challenges posed by the release of hazmat while it is
transported.
Lastly, the DoE program is specific to hazmat issues at
nuclear facilities.
Each setting presents distinct challenges and needs to
be addressed in separate training programs.
Thus, the federal government should not necessarily eliminate
those programs that are viewed as duplicative.
There is value in several agencies contributing their
subject matter expertise to a specific area.
However, Congress can assist local jurisdictions in
accessing the various programs that they need by providing a
single point of contact that functions like a clearinghouse to
refer communities to the appropriate agency or agencies.
CONCLUSION
Too often, the fire service has been neglected when it comes
to planning for and devoting resources to respond to
terrorism.
Yet, we are the first responders and the ones making
the ultimate sacrifice to protect our nation.
As we pray for a quick and decisive resolution to the
war in Afghanistan, we must not forget that the war against
terrorism began on our soil and will continue to be fought
here.
The firefighters of the IAFF will be ready when terrorists
strike again.
But our ranks are thin and reinforcements are needed
quickly.
The federal government, including Congress, the
Administration, and the 40 plus agencies that play a role in
terrorism response, must recognize that firefighters are the
lynchpin to any effective and strong response to terrorism.
Congress must take the lead in this area by providing the fire
service with the resources to ensure adequate staffing so that
we can operate safely and effectively, and providing
firefighters the necessary training so that we will be able to
play our role in fighting the war on terrorism.
Thank you for this time to present the view of the IAFF.
I will be available for questions by the committee. |