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.
The RFA “Silent Death” E-mails
April 2 & 3, 2007
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kelly Hawk"
To: "Kent Maxwell"
Cc: "Pete Blume"; "Aden Seidlitz"
Sent: Tuesday, April 03, 2007 5:41 PM
Subject: Fw: Rural Fire Assistance
I'm the BLM RFA National Program Lead.
I talked to Pete Blume, who inadvertently coined the "dying a silent
death"
phrase. He and I talked some months ago. I've seen some e-mail traffic
now
that indicates some misinterpretations of events. I wanted to
clarify the
issue of notification regarding the suspension of the FY07 RFA program.
I
think my comments, and pehaps Pete's, were taken out of context.
As information becomes available through the outyear budgeting process,
I
and the other Bureau RFA leads have updated our respective state or
regional area leads on the status of program funding. They in turn
advise
state and local cooperators. At the National level, we coordinate
constantly with NASF.
All that said, throughout the last 12-14 months we have advised cooperators
at several stages that the funding of RFA for FY07 was uncertain,
and that
the outlook was not good, based on the outcomes of the various budget
markups, hearings and committee conferences.
I found out just yesterday that the DOI fire program FY07 operating
plan was approved by DOI, and that it did not include funding for RFA;
this is
the first news of anything like an "official" RFA yay or nay. Hence,
we
have made no announcement up to this point, as there was no definite
announcement to make.
I had advised BLM RFA leads that I didn't personally desire to initiate
a
Department-wide memo announcing the cancellation of the program, merely
because of the lengthy administrative process involved (they must go
to the
WO, through surnaming, to the Secretary's office etc.). I stated that
I
preferred to notify the BLM leads through an e-mail with a cc to the
Fire
Directors, and request they contact their respective cooperators as
soon as
possible through a state-level memorandum or other means. Because
cooperators had waited so long to hear a definite answer about RFA,
I felt
a more timely notification was the appropriate and courteous thing
to do.
In no way should my comment be construed to mean there would be no
notification to cooperators, and it certainly didn't constitute the
final
word as to how any announcement would be made in the end.
I was just advised today the Office of Wildland Fire Coordination (OWFC)
will issue a notification, but it will likely take some time; so I'm
still
requesting BLM leads to proceed with notification, as appropriate.
As you know, the federal budget process is an iterative and complex
process, with the President's budget, subsequent House and Senate versions,
reconciliation in committees, Office of Management and Budget review,
agency passbacks, and so on. The final disposition of the FY07 RFA
program
was decided within this kind of context. While I'm not privy to the
espionage and intrigue of high level budget negotiations, I do know
it is
naive, simplistic, and inaccurate to fault any one person or agency
for the
elimination of a program in most instances, and most certainly it is
so in
this case.
I will tell you that DOI is taking the lead with initiatives from The
Changing Role and Needs of Local, Rural, and Volunteer Fire Departments
in
the Wildland Urban Interface" as referenced below. DOI is providing
significant funding, staffing and political support to this end. I will
also say that at high levels within DOI, there is a very thorough
understanding of the importance of well trained local cooperators to
operational safety and effectiveness. I know this to be true because
I
manage the implementation of training and mobilization related tasks
(1a-
1d) in the "Changing Roles" report. So, though RFA
is off the books for
now, these related programs and projects, with long-term benefits to
RFDs,
and to the American fire serivce as a whole, are considered important
priorities by DOI.
Hope this helps.
Kelly Hawk
Community Protection Specialist
BLM / NIFC
208-387-5984
From: "Kent
Maxwell"
To: "Dick
Mangan", "Melissa Frey", "Michelle Ryerson", "Paula Nasiatka", "Jennifer Thackaberry
Ziegler", "Kelly Close", "Stephen Myers", "Kelly
Andersson", "Bill Gabbert", "Timothy
Ingalsbee", "Doug
Campbell"
Sent: 04/03/2007 10:37 AM
Subject: Fw:
Rural Fire Assistance
Please do not allow RFA to "die a silent death."
Kent
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kent Maxwell"
To: "Governor Bill Ritter"
Cc: "Paul Orbuch"
Sent: Tuesday, April 03, 2007 10:10 AM
Subject: Rural Fire Assistance
Governor Ritter,
My name is Kent Maxwell. I am a volunteer firefighter in Chaffee
County
and coordinate a non-profit wildland firefighter school near Salida.
I am upset that the U.S. Department of Interior has chosen not to allocate
money for the Rural Fire Assistance grant program for fiscal year 2007. http://www.nifc.gov/rfa/
As
noted below, the Western Governors' Association has recognized the important
need to support rural firefighters with consistent funding for
wildfire training and equipment.
I ask that your staff work with the Colorado State Forest Service and
our
congressional delegation to restore funding to the Rural Fire Assistance
grant program for the 2007 fiscal year.
Kent
_______________________________
Kent Maxwell, coordinator
Colorado Firecamp, Inc.
"keeping quality in qualification"
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kent Maxwell"
To: "Damon Lange"
Cc: "Chris Bainbridge"; "Clinton
Bellingar" ; "Darrrell
Pratt"; "James
Wingert"; "Jeff
Mc Ginnis" ; "Karl Bauer"; "Salida
Fire
Department"; "Mike
Gaylord"; "Bill
Wallis"
Sent: Monday, April 02, 2007 4:17 PM
Subject: Re: Update on RFA/VFA
Damon,
I know that neither you nor the Colorado State Forest Service are
responsible for this decision. But, there is no reason for anyone
to let
the Rural Fire Assistance program "die a silent death." Cutting
off
funding
to rural fire departments -- that the Interior Agencies rely upon
for initial and extended attack -- makes absolutely no sense at
all.
On December 7, 2006, the Western Governors' Association updated
the 10-Year
Implementation Plan for the National Fire Plan, as directed by
Congress. The revised 10-Year Plan further endorsed an action item
in a 2003 report to
Congress that called for establishing and maintaining an effective
level of
funding for firefighter assistance programs. Pasted below
are links and
excerpts from the 10-Year Plan and Rural Fire Report.
At the very least, someone at the Department of Interior should
be willing
to put their name on an "official" announcement killng the RFA
program. Then we all would know who is responsible for this stupid
decision.
Kent
_______________________________
Kent Maxwell, coordinator
Colorado Firecamp, Inc.
"keeping quality in qualification"
http://www.westgov.org/wga/publicat/TYIP.pdf
3) Continue implementation of recommended action items from the
report to
Congress titled "The Changing Role and Needs of Local, Rural, and Volunteer
Fire Departments in the Wildland Urban Interface" and convene a
representative task force to make recommendations to the WFLC on
whether additional action items are needed.
Collaboration Level: National/State/Local
Lead Collaborator(s): NASF, USDA, DOI, IAFC
Implementation Timeframe: Ongoing and 2008 for task force review
http://www.nvfc.org/pdf/wildland_fire_report_03.pdf (also
available at http://www.coloradofirecamp.com/NASF/index.htm )
Federal, state, and local entities should seek to establish and maintain
an
effective level of funding and an equitable matching requirement for
all
firefighter assistance programs and work to increase funding focused
specifically on the needs of rural and volunteer firefighters in the
Wildland-Urban Interface.
----- Original Message -----
From: Damon Lange
To: Chris Bainbridge; Clinton Bellingar; Darrrell Pratt; James
Wingert;
Jeff Mc Ginnis; Karl Bauer; Kent Maxwell; Salida Fire Department
Sent: Monday, April 02, 2007 9:18 AM
Subject: FW: Update on RFA/VFA
Below is the latest news from Pete Blume who is the program manager
for the VFA and RFA grant program for our agency.
Damon Lange.
Good Morning All ~
After calling the national leads of all the Interior Departments
that we
regularly deal with in RFA (BLM/NPS/BIA), it appears that RFA
will die a
silent death, for this year anyway. Though there will be no "official"
announcement, those three departments are saying their operating budgets
have a zero balance in RFA for 2007, and they are not expecting it
to
change. After conferring with Bill Wallis (BLM Colorado)
and Rich Homann,
we have agreed to consider this the final decision regarding
RFA funding for
2007.
Though we don't have the award yet, the news is better for
VFA. The
U.S.
Forest Service received its budget last week, and VFA is funded at
the
previous year's level. We hope to have information
from them in the the
next 2-3 weeks that will allow us to move ahead.
More when I have it.
Pete
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