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
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Please
don't let RFA “die a silent death”
— contact your U.S. Senator or Representative today.
National Volunteer Fire Council
International Association of Fire Chiefs
Congressional Fire Services Institute
RFA Position Statement
The Rural Fire Assistance (RFA) grant program provides funding to volunteer
fire departments that protect fewer than 10,000 people so that they can
purchase equipment and training to make them better prepared to suppress
wildland fire. The departments have to provide 10 percent in matching
funds and must enter into an agreement with the Department of Interior
to protect federal land managed by Interior.
In FY 2006, RFA was funded at $10 million. Because Congress chose
to fund the Department of Interior with a Continuing Resolution for FY
2007, the administration was able to eliminate FY 2007 funding for the
program. We urge Congress to restore funding for the program in
FY 2008 to its FY 2006 level of $10 million.
There are thousands of small volunteer fire departments around the country
that are often the only option for responding to a wildland fire in its
early stages. Unfortunately, these departments often lack the financial
resources to equip and train their firefighters to levels recommended
by voluntary national consensus standards. For example, 34-37 percent
of these fire departments involved in wildland fire suppression have
some or no personnel with formal wildland fire suppression training.[1]
If local fire departments are unable to suppress wildland fires, the
fires spread and state and federal agencies are deployed. This
is an extremely expensive process that last year cost the United States
Forest Service (USFS) more than $1 billion, approximately half of its
overall budget. The Department of Interior’s fire suppression
costs have risen from a 10-year average of $108 million in 1995 to $294
million today. The costs of wildland fire suppression have been
increasing steadily as commercial and residential development pushes
further into the wildland/urban interface (WUI). Last year, the
Department of Agriculture’s Inspector General[3] recommended
that the federal government limit its role in wildland fire suppression
and force state and local governments, that assume a greater role in
shaping development, to shoulder more of a burden.
With suppression costs rising, all stakeholders must increase efforts
to prevent wildland fires, respond to wildland fires quickly before they
become unmanageable, and educate communities in the wildland/urban interface
so that they can take precautions to minimize damage from wildland fire. RFA
is an important piece of this broader solution. Volunteer fire
departments located in rural areas all around the country are best positioned
to suppress wildland fires in the early stages, eliminating the need
for state and federal responders. RFA gives those local fire departments
the tools that they need to have the ability to provide adequate wildland
fire suppression services. Eliminating funding for the program
will end up costing taxpayer dollars in the long run, as federal responders
will increasingly be needed to put out wildland fires.
We urge the Committee to provide $10 million for RFA in FY 2008.
1 Department of Interior Budget: http://www.fireplan.gov/news/documents/2008_DOI_BudgetNewsRelease.pdf
2 Four Years Later – A Second Needs Assessment of the U.S.
Fire Service:
http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/downloads/pdf/publications/fa-303-508.pdf
3 Inspector General’s report:
http://www.usda.gov/oig/webdocs/08601-44-SF.pdf
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