Rural Fire Assistance

The RFA “Silent Death” E-mails — April 2 & 3, 2007

RFA Position Statement
& VFA Position Statement
jointly prepared by National Volunteer Fire Council, International Association of Fire Chiefs, and Congressional Fire Services Institute

RFA Information Sheet — March, 2001

Please don't let RFA “die a silent death”
— contact your U.S. Senator or Representative today.

The future of Rural Fire Assistance depends on YOU!!!

The House of Representatives has accepted the 2008 Department of Interior budget request that kills the Rural Fire Assistance program. H.R. 2643 does fund the Volunteer Fire Assistance program through the U.S. Forest Service for $19 million.

The companion Senate Bill 1696 as currently written would fund RFA at $8 million, but only provides VFA with $13,812,000 —more than $3 million less than requested by the Forest Service.

Contact your U.S. Senator or Representative today.

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Excerpt from Senate Report 110-91

Senate Appropriations Committee comments on RFA funding in S. 1696, Department of the Interior, Environment & Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, 2008 “The Committee does not support the administration’s request to eliminate funding for rural fire assistance grants for the Department of the Interior while maintaining similar grants for the Forest Service. Rural and volunteer fire departments provide the first line of defense against wildfires and successfully respond to thousands of wildfires annually, reducing the need for costly Federal response. The Forest Service and Interior fire assistance grants are directed toward their respective neighboring local communities.  Under the administration’s proposal, thousands of communities neighboring BLM, Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, and Indian lands would lose priority access to wildland fire assistance grants. Therefore, the Committee recommends $8,000,000 for rural fire assistance grants. “Likewise, cutting fire preparedness funding does not actually save appropriation dollars. It merely shifts the costs for firefighters, aircraft, and equipment from the preparedness account to the suppression account. Furthermore, squeezing fire preparedness funding may disproportionately increase the cost of fire suppression. Therefore, the Committee recommends $286,009,000 for fire preparedness, an increase of $17,675,000 above the request.”  —http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_cong_reports&docid=f:sr091.110.pdf