Over the past several years, I have seen a certain diminution in the level of fire protection that exists in a number of areas. I have seen this in communities of every size. I have seen this in career, and combination, as well as volunteer departments. Far too many appear to be taking a hit from their political and administrative leaders.

As an observer of the fire service scene, I have chosen to take a close look at the reasons why fire departments appear to take a disproportionate hit at budget time. We must all recognize a number of things:

 

·                     Crime pays (at least for police budgets)

·                     Fire departments are unaware of how big they should be, how many people they should utilize, or how much equipment they need

·                     The average fire person does not seem to care about the larger picture of protection within their community

·                     There are those who fail to see the fire service as a multi-service discipline (This amplifies the above statement)

 

One can only marvel at the amount of money which is available for police departments and that seems to flow in an endless stream from sources that seem almost mythical to a poor old fire service guy like me. It is tough to find a culprit to pin this one on.

 

I guess each of us must share a bit of the blame, because we have not fought to establish grants programs with the same intensity as our colleagues in the police world. We are working to address that problem in Congress, but there are a host of other places, both public and private, that we need to cultivate. 

 

Hell, why not say what every one is thinking. The federal government is taking our FIRE Act money and siphoning it into that vast reservoir of terrorism money. Terrorism my aunt Hanna, I am sick of hearing about terrorism. Most people I know are responding to car wrecks, heart attacks, and house fires.

 

However, I suggest that rather than crying foul, we need to refocus how we do business. And now that the Obama Administration has seen fit to steal millions of dollars from our fire-equipment related FIRE Act coffers, the time has come to begin battling for our bucks. The way the current administration is treating the fire service, it won't be long before we are back out on street corners begging for bucks again.