“2017 was a record year in which the federal government spent $2.9 billion on wildland fire suppression. This amount is approximately 84 percent more than the $1.6 billion that was spent in 2008. The nation cannot continue to absorb these growing costs,” Chief Thomas Jenkins, president and chairman of the board of the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), told members of the U.S. House Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Jenkins, chief of the Rogers (AR) Fire Department, expressed the organization’s concern about the spiraling costs and extensive damages wildland fires caused in 2017. According to the National Interagency Fire Center, Jenkins noted, the approximately 71,500 wildland fires reported in 2017, which burned almost 10 million acres, represented an increase of more than 80 percent in the acreage burned in 2016.

In the interest of cutting the costs of natural disasters, Jenkins told the subcommittee that the IAFC supports the Disaster Recovery Reform Act (H.R. 4460), which advocates that states and localities take steps to mitigate the risk of disaster, and the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy for preventing wildland fires. “The IAFC urges localities to develop community wildfire protection plans,” Jenkins said. “These plans identify and mitigate wildland fire risks. They also can guide federal hazardous-fuels reduction projects and prioritize federal funding.”

Jenkins explained the IAFC’s Ready, Set, Go! (RSG) program to the members; the program is designed to promote community preparedness and is a partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service. RSG helps communities develop mitigation plans (Ready), teaches them to be situationally aware (Set), and recommends that they act early following personal wildland fire action plans (Go). There are 1,803 RSG members in all 50 states, and they participate in activities that include Webcasts, fuel reduction, youth outreach, civic events, home assessments, and door-to-door smoke alarm campaigns, Jenkins explained.

In addition, Jenkins said the IAFC supports “efforts to recognize prior learning and structural firefighting skills for wildland firefighting duties” and “is leading efforts to improve mutual-aid agreements in the response to wildland fires.” He noted that the IAFC, InterMedix, and ESRI [ArcGIS technology] designed the National Mutual Aid System (https://bit.ly/2pBMnd4) “to help fire departments visualize in real-time where resources are and improve decisions when deploying them.”

Coalition urges Congress to fund national 911 system

A coalition of associations that represents the interests of public safety professionals and the public safety communications industry has written a letter to Congress in which it requests that it include “a line item in the current omnibus funding package for a significant federal grant program to modernize the nation’s 911 systems to help ensure 911 as the nation’s resource for emergency assistance.”

Coalition members include the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials International, Industry Council for Emergency Response Technologies (iCERT), National Association of State 911 Administrators, and the National Emergency Number Association. Additional information is available from George Rice, executive director, iCERT, (240) 398-3065.

Edgewater, NJ, supports stronger building codes

Edgewater, New Jersey, has joined New Jersey county and local governing boards in endorsing New Jersey Assembly Bill 135 and Senate Bill 1261, which propose amending the state’s construction code to increase safety for firefighters and citizens. Edgewater was the scene of two fires in the Avalon apartment complex that caused hundreds of occupants to lose their homes and brought to light the need for code changes in buildings made of combustible materials. The changes include the installation of an automatic sprinkler system in accordance with National Fire Protection Association 13, measuring the number of stories from the grade plane, using noncombustible materials for construction, and installing a fire barrier with a fire resistance rating of at least two hours that extends from the foundation to the roof.

In August 2000, a fast-moving fire destroyed two unfinished four-story apartment buildings and nine surrounding homes. The complex was rebuilt. The second fire, in January 2015, left about 400 people homeless. Additional information is at www.buildwithstrength.com.