News in Brief

FY 2007 Homeland Security bills offer different views on FEMA-DHS status

The Senate has approved H.R. 5441, the Fiscal Year 2007 Homeland Security spending bill, which had already been passed in the House of Representatives. The Senate version is asking for $552.5 million for the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program (FIRE Act) and $128.5 million for the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Program. The House version proposes funding of $543.1 million for the FIRE Act and $112.1 million for SAFER. For Fiscal Year 2006, the FIRE Act was funded at $545 million and SAFER at $110 million.

The Senate also approved an amendment by Sen. Susan Collins (ME) that would change the name of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to the United States Emergency Management Authority (USEMA), according to the Congressional Fire Services Institute (CFSI). The amendment also would combine the preparedness and response functions of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) under USEMA. The agency would be an independent agency within DHS, which would limit the Administration’s ability to reorganize the agency and reprogram funding.

In the House, the CFSI explains, the House Homeland Security Committee and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee each have a bill that proposes a different approach to FEMA’s position within the government structure. The House Homeland Security Committee approved H.R. 5351, the National Emergency Management Reform and Enhancement Act, which strengthens FEMA and restores the preparedness functions removed from it during the Second Stage Review, but it would have FEMA remain within DHS.

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee meanwhile has approved H.R. 5316, the RESPOND Act, which would remove FEMA from DHS and establish it as a separate cabinet-level agency. Committee members cite the lack of support DHS has given to FEMA since it was moved to the DHS.

The National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) has endorsed H.R. 5351, pointing out that FEMA Director Dave Paulison “has consistently maintained that the agency should remain within DHS.”

The NVFC says that although H.R. 5351 already grants FEMA some level of independence within DHS, the bill’s main sponsors are planning, when the bill comes to the House floor, to offer an amendment that would “statutorily prohibit DHS from moving or diverting FEMA resources to elsewhere in the department.”

The CFSI thinks it is “likely” that the Senate-House conference committee will consult with both House committees and the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee on the provision contained in the Collins amendment at the time the conference committee meets to consider H.R. 5441.

The NVFC is urging fire service members to contact their U.S. representatives to ask their support for the amendment to H.R. 5351 [the Peter King (NY)-Bennie Thompson (MS) amendment] that would strengthen FEMA within DHS. Contact information for members of Congress is at www.congress.org/congressorg/dbq/officials.

Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company funds kits for fire departments

More than 30,000 Firefighter Life Safety Resource Kits, produced by the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (NFFF), have been distributed to U.S. fire departments. The kits, part of the NFFF “Everyone Goes Home” life safety campaign, focus on the 16 Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives. They include two DVDs and one CD that cover areas such as health and wellness, vehicle operations, fireground, and live-fire training. PowerPoint® presentations and instructor guides are also provided. Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company awarded a $329,000 grant for the distribution of the kits.

The “Everyone Goes Home” campaign was initiated in 2004 with two founding grants from the Fireman’s Fund HeritageSM program and the Department of Homeland Security. Fireman’s Fund has also provided matching grants to the NFFF for the National Firefighter Near-Miss Reporting System and for one component of the National Volunteer Fire Council’s Heart Healthy Initiative.

USFA releases report on firefighter fatalities in the United States in 2005

In 2005, there were 115 line-of-duty firefighter fatalities in the United States, and an additional four deaths occurred as the result of injuries sustained in the line of duty in previous years, the United States Fire Administration (USFA) recently announced. The USFA noted that 55 deaths were related to heart attacks, six to cerebral-vascular accidents, and 25 to vehicle crashes.

The report, “Firefighter Fatalities in the United States in 2005,” FA-306, can be downloaded at www.usfa.dhs.gov. Printed copies are available from the USFA Publications Center.

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: lessons learned by doctors and hospitals

Testifying before the congressional Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee on Bioterrorism and Public Health Preparedness, representatives from Louisiana’s health community related the lessons taught them by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The meeting, held in July, was called by U.S. Sen. Richard Burr (NC).

Dr. Fred Cerise, secretary of the Louisiana State Department of Health and Hospitals, said the “overriding lesson” was that thinking about what constitutes a traditional public health disaster must change. He noted that before the hurricanes struck, the worry was about the toxicity of floodwaters and possible outbreaks of disease, which, he said, did not turn out to be the problem. Instead, he continued, the storm totally disrupted the health care delivery system-there was no care for people with chronic diseases and urgent needs.

Following are some of the highlights of the testimonies given at the meeting:

In July, hospitals were still “staggering.” Doctors and nurses have left, and there was no hospital in the city of New Orleans for psychiatric patients.
A chief executive officer for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana estimated that perhaps three-quarters of the physicians who had been practicing in the New Orleans area may have left.
There must be communication during and after the disaster.
Ensure that common medicines are available.
There is a need to be at the disaster scene instead of trying to stay in touch long-distance. This point was stressed by the chief executive officer of the Ochsner Clinic Foundation, who asserted that you cannot get all the information you need to cope with a disaster from a distance. The clinic remained open throughout the storm and after it. http://www.katc.com, ref 5153514, July 24, 2006; http://www.klfy.com, ref. 51535992, July 24, 2006

Urban Institute Issues Hospital Report

The “Hospitals in Hurricane Katrina: Challenges Facing Custodial Institutions in a Disaster” report by the nonpartisan policy research group Urban Institute focused solely on the lessons hospitals learned from the storms. Urban Institute health policy researcher Bradford Gray and Louisiana cardiologist Kathy Hebert based the contents of the document primarily on interviews with hospital executives, public officials, trade association leaders, and others who had firsthand experience with the flooding.

The report observes that although all the hospitals had failed to plan sufficiently, public authorities’ failures were even greater: Officials did not understand what flooding would do to hospitals and did not respond quickly and effectively to the conditions. The authors describe some of the obstacles the hospitals faced. One example concerned the mayor’s order for residents, not hospitals, to evacuate the city before the storm. There was no city or state plan for moving hundreds of patients from multiple institutions or enough vehicles available once it became apparent that New Orleans would be struck.

Among recommendations made by the authors are the following:

Hospitals should not be automatically excluded when there is a call for mandatory evacuation of a metropolitan area.
Planners should assume that many hospitals will not evacuate during most catastrophic events.
There should be areawide disaster and evacuation planning that involves hospitals; the plans should not be the responsibility of individual hospitals alone.
Hospitals, even if they are able to get through the first phase of a disaster, are vulnerable to secondary consequences such as the loss of electrical power, communications, water, security, and transportation. Government officials and the hospitals must anticipate these potential weaknesses.
In flood-prone areas, patient evacuation must be considered in facility design (fail-safe generators) and contingency planning.
Since some hospitals likely will have to care for some patients for several days, authorities must recognize and accord priority to hospitals’ need for supplies.
External coordination is essential because hospital evacuation is logistically complex, solutions cross agency lines, and hospital personnel can’t easily coordinate the necessary services.
Suitable destinations must be established for the evacuated patients, especially those with critical care needs. Also, it must be recognized that people wanting help or seeking refuge turn to hospitals in times of crises.
Medical records must accompany evacuated patients, and there must be a system for tracking evacuees.
There should be advance agreement among key parties about which types of patients will be evacuated first (the sickest or those most likely to survive) and which circumstances necessitate separating patients from attendant family members.

The document is available at http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=411348, part of the Urban Institute’s After Katrina research series (http://www.urban.org/afterkatrina). http://newswire.ascribe.org/cgi-bin/behold.pl?ascribeid=20060714.094905&time=10%2004%… July 14, 2006

AEDs recalled

• Welch Allyn-MRI Inc. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and MRl, Inc. (a Welch Allyn company) have announced a class 1 recall of 1,184 automated Welch Allyn P/C50 (catalog #97108X) external defibrillators (AEDs) manufactured from February 2002 to October 2004. Of the units recalled, 673 were sold in the United States.

An electrical contact problem may result in the device’s failure to provide a defibrillation shock, according to an alert from MedWatch, FDA’s safety information and adverse event reporting program. Additional information is available from the company at (1-800) 462-0777 or (1-847) 520-0300. www.medscape.com, art. 540377, July 24, 2006

Boston Scientific (Guidant Corp.). Defibrillator and pacemakers manufactured by Indianapolis-based Guidant Corp. which Boston Scientific bought in April, are being recalled because of an electrical flaw.

Insignia and Nexus brand pacemakers; Contak Renewal TR-TR2 cardiac resynchronization pacemakers, and Ventak Prizm 2, Vitality, and Vitality 2 cardioverter defibrillators are involved. The FDA and the manufacturer notified healthcare professionals by letter of the potential for malfunction. Additional information is available from Guidant Technical Services at (1-800) CARDIAC (227-3422) or European Technical Services at +32-2-416-9357. www.medscape.com/viewarticle/537483_print, June 28, 2006; www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13555168/print/1/displaymode/1098, June 27, 2006. ■

DHS posts SAFER stats

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security made available, in July, the statistics on grant applications received during the second Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) application period, which closed on June 30. The information is at www.firegrantsupport.com/safer/statistics.aspx.

Information regarding the grants is available from the grants program office help desk at (1-866) 274-0960 or by e-mail at [email protected].

NGA center announces public safety interoperable communications grants

To help states improve and update their emergency response communications, the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center), in partnership with the SAFECOM program, the communications program of the Department of Homeland Security’s Office for Interoperability and Compatibility (OIC), has awarded five grants to support governors and other state and local policymakers in developing statewide interoperability plans. Alabama, Indiana, Minnesota, Montana, and Washington have been selected to receive $50,000 each for wireless communications planning projects to be completed by July 2007.

The grants are part of a 12-month policy academy conducted with support from the SAFECOM program, in which statewide teams of policymakers participate in an in-state policy workshop and two policy academy meetings and receive customized technical assistance. In addition to working within their own teams, states will have the opportunity to work closely with peers from other states and a “faculty” of government officials, researchers, and other experts. The academy will focus on helping states improve their policy and governance structures to better coordinate the fragmented planning that has plagued many efforts for achieving statewide interoperability.

“Into the Fire” documentary to air on The History Channel Oct. 13 and 22

Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company has engaged Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Bill Couturié to produce the “Into the Fire” documentary, scheduled to be broadcast on The History Channel on October 13 and 22, 2006.

The film includes interviews with career and volunteer firefighters from throughout the United States, calling attention to the challenges the fire service faces every day in an environment of shrinking resources and increasing demands, according to Fireman’s Fund.

The documentary features music by Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, and Dire Straits.

Darryl Siry, chief marketing officer for Fireman’s Fund, says the objective of the film is to “inspire Americans to more enthusiastically support their local fire department.” The company, committed to raising the nation’s consciousness about the funding challenges facing the fire service, has established its Fireman’s Fund HeritageSM corporate program. Each year, through the program, millions of dollars are awarded to fire departments and nonprofit fire and burn prevention organizations across the country for equipment, training, and community education programs.

Fireman’s Fund will contribute its profits from “Into the Fire” and subsequent DVD sales to fund the purchase of firefighting safety equipment and the institution of fire safety programs for fire departments. The broadcast of the documentary will be accompanied by fundraising messages on The History Channel and its Web site. Fireman’s Fund also expects to sponsor fundraising events associated with screenings of the film.

NUSFA releases report on fatal residential structure fires with operational smoke alarms

In August, the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) released “Investigation of Fatal Residential Structure Fires with Operational Smoke Alarms.” The report, developed by the USFA’s National Fire Data Center as part of its Topical Fire Research Series, is based on data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) for 2001-2004. It analyzes residential structure fires in which the smoke alarms operated and there were fatalities.

During the 2001-2004 period, 391such fires were reported to NFIRS; 452 civilians perished. “Each year an unacceptable number of American citizens lose their lives in residential structure fires where smoke alarms operated,” notes Acting USFA Fire Administrator Charlie Dickinson. The characteristics of the victims of these fires were studied so that the information could be made available to the public so preventative measures could be implemented and the number of these types of fires could be reduced, he explained.

The report noted the following:

Alarms operated in 34 percent of fatal apartment fires and in 12 percent of fatal one- and two-family dwelling fires.
Thirty-seven percent of the victims of fatal residential structure fires with working smoke alarms were sleeping at the time of their death.
An additional 29 percent of victims were trying to escape the fire at the time of their fatal injury.

A copy of this report and other reports in this series may be downloaded at http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/statistics/reports/pubs/tfrs.shtm/ .

NGA center releases pandemic primer

The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) has released “Preparing for a Pandemic Influenza: A Primer for Governors and Senior State Officials.” Its objective is to help state and local governments prepare to manage their responses independently, without relying on outside assistance.

The report stresses the need to develop strategies that will ensure essential government and private sector services such as police, fire, paramedics, food, water, and electricity remain available during the peak of a pandemic outbreak when absentee rates are highest. The planning process advocated involves government agencies, businesses, and individuals, all of which will have a role in responding to a pandemic outbreak.

The document outlines four key principles:

The effects of a pandemic flu will be broad, deep, and simultaneous, and states must focus resources to ensure continuation of essential services.
Medical response capability in a pandemic will be limited, strained, and potentially depleted.
Government must work closely with the private sector to ensure critical operations and services are maintained.

A pandemic will force many key decisions to be made in a dynamic environment of shifting events; partnerships must be built now and tested to ensure appropriate and rapid action during the event.

Line-of-Duty Death

July 5. Firefighter Eric J. Olson, 35, Laury’s Station (PA) Volunteer Fire Company No. 1: heart-related cause.
Source: USFA Firefighters Memorial Database

News Glimpses

ATF announces arrests of alleged church arsonists. In July, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) announced that Eligh A Larson, 21, and Daniel M. Rudin, 22, of Elgin, Illinois, had been arrested for federal arson violations. A grand jury indicted the pair for “arson of a building used in interstate commerce.” An incendiary fire had been set on July 21, 2003, at the New Covenant Fellowship Church in Elgin. The case is ongoing. http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060707/cgf035.html?.v=42&printer=1
ICCF seeks nominees for Silent Defenders award. The International Code Council Foundation (ICCF) will accept nominations for its 2007 Silent Defender award through October 16. The individual or organization nominated must have worked to improve public safety or health and welfare through building safety or fire prevention. Details are at www.icc-foundation.org or e-mail [email protected].
Newport News (VA) gets new fireboat. The fireboat will be delivered this fall. Its cost is $385,000, which will be funded with a $170,000 grant from the Department of Homeland Security, $115,000 from the fire department funds, and $100,000 from the Port Authority. It is 33 feet, can move at 37 knots, and can pump more than 1,500 gallons per minute. http://www.dailpress.com, July 26, 2006
Massachusetts to require fire-safe cigarettes. Beginning in January 2008, cigarettes sold in the state of Massachusetts will be required to be “fire safe.” Massachusetts joins New York, Vermont, California, Illinois, and New Hampshire in mandating the sale of “fire-safe” cigarettes only. The cigarettes are also mandated throughout all of Canada. The Coalition for Fire-Safe Cigarettes, coordinated by the National Fire Protection Association, includes fire service members; medical and public health practitioners; advocates for consumers, the elderly, and people with disabilities; and others. Its Web site is www.firesafecigarettes.org.