This "Open Letter" was written by Deputy Chief Thomas W. Aurnhammer of the Los Pinos Fire Protection District in Ignacio, Colorado -- it's a good read!

April 18th, 2006

Dear Brothers and Sisters:

I'm mad as hell…

Once again, I return from the National Fire and Emergency Services Dinner in Washington, DC shaking my head. While the evening presented a glimmer of hope for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) with David Paulison getting nominated as their Director, it also brought the quiet discourse that the United States Fire Administration (USFA) is facing yet more budget cuts.

As a result of "America Burning: The Report of the National Commission on Fire Prevention and Control," Public Law 93-498, The Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974, was signed into law on October 29, 1974. This is the law that established the National Fire Academy with the purpose of advancing the professional development of fire service personnel and of other persons engaged in fire prevention and control activities.

It also provided that the U.S. Fire Administrator shall operate, directly or through contracts or grants, an integrated, comprehensive National Fire Data Center for the selection, analysis, publication, and dissemination of information related to the prevention, occurrence, control, and results of fires of all types.

It called for the enumeration of management studies in the area of fire prevention and control, and authorized the Administrator to review, evaluate, and suggest improvements in State and local fire prevention codes, building codes, and any relevant Federal or private codes and regulations.

It directed the Administrator to conduct a continuing program of development, testing, and evaluation of equipment for use by the Nation's fire, rescue, and civil defense services, with the aim of making available improved suppression, protective, auxiliary, and warning devices incorporating the latest technology.

These programs are what were referred to in the past as the "Four Stars" of the United States Fire Administration.

What is Public Law? Most laws passed by Congress are public laws. Public laws affect society as a whole. Every six years, public laws are incorporated into the United States Code, which is a codification of all general and permanent laws of the United States. It looks like the laws that effect the United States Fire Administration fall under the United States Code, Title 15, Chapter 49. When I looked at this set of rules, and their associated amendments, to say things look a little convoluted would be an understatement. I will continue here with the caveat that "firehouse kitchen lawyer" is a category that I fit into quite nicely.

My question is who is responsible for the enforcement of these Public Laws? In my mind the gutting of the United States Fire Administration borders on the criminal. Who decided that Public Law 93-498 was just a suggestion? Who do I report this to, the U.S. Department of Justice, the United States Attorneys Office, the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency, or the Federal Bureau of Investigation? Somebody call the cops, we're getting robbed!

Who is killing the USFA? The slow and miserable death of the United States Fire Administration is nothing new and has been going on for a number of years now. Why does the American fire service allow this to continue? I have a few thoughts that relate to why we have put ourselves in this position.

Some of my perceptions on this issue boil down to the fact that the fire service as a whole has been getting bamboozled by nothing more than political smoke and mirrors.

Take our grants programs as an example. I equate these programs to the Federal government creating a huge diversion for us to focus on. We have the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) Program, the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grants, as well as the Fire Prevention & Safety Grants (FP&S) being run out of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). There are also grants that fire departments have tapped into from Office of Domestic Preparedness (ODP) monies that are distributed on the State level.

We get very tunneled in on these programs, and whenever the Federal Government makes changes to the funding of these grants there is a huge outcry. This is all well-and-good, but while we have been watching what has been going on out in front of us, we had somebody sneak in behind us and loot the USFA.

This is just smoke and mirrors, folks. While I think the grant programs are great, don't lose sight of the fact that they are just short term fixes to long term problems. All the nice equipment that the Federal government bought for us will eventually wear out, and all of the personnel provided by SAFER will eventually have to be funded locally. Where is that money coming from? And when these programs dry-up and we turn around and notice the only thing left to the USFA is the smoldering shell of what they once were in the past, where will we be then?

Back in December of 2001 Dave Paulison was appointed by President Bush and confirmed by the United States Senate as the Administrator for the U.S. Fire Administration. I, among others, was thrilled to see someone with a fire service background at the helm of the USFA. I had great hopes that the ground work started by Chief Rich Marinucci and carried on by Chief Ken Burris would provide a solid foundation for our Federal fire programs.

What happened to the White Paper, the Blue Ribbon Panel Report, and the USFA Action Plan? I am happy that Mr. Paulison was given the nod to head up FEMA, but I hope they do not predicate that appointment on his performance as our U.S. Fire Administrator. As much as I like the guy, the USFA Staff has been floundering like fish out of water since they became part of the Department of Homeland Security. A little direction may have helped alleviate some of that heartache.

As the quite erosion of Federal fire programs continued to slip under the radar, Mr. Paulison gets named as the acting director of FEMA in September of 2005. So, now we have the gentleman who is supposed to be leading the Federal fire programs into the future, minding the FEMA store down in Washington. This leads to the USFA folks not having any clear idea where they fit under DHS, non-existent funding to carry out their mission under Public Law 93-498, and no leadership in Emmitsburg to help them create a vision of the future.

Then someone came up with the bright idea to make another move. On October 1, 2005, the U.S. Fire Administration was transferred within the DHS from FEMA to the newly created Preparedness Directorate. If that was supposed to solve some of these problems, guess what? It just created more of them. I look at the great people who make up the USFA Staff and I see individuals starved for leadership and good management, with the "deer caught in the headlights" look.

How did this all get so convoluted? I can use the analogy of when Dr. Frankenstein thought it was a good idea to take a bunch of disjointed body parts and tried to create a living person out of them. While the intensions of creating the DHS were just as good, somebody has to stand back and look at that creation and say, "well, there was nothing wrong with taking the risk, but this isn't working out the way we expected it to."

Much like the angry villagers in Mary Shelley's story, it is time for the fire service to grab their pitchforks and torches and get ready to storm the castle.

I had a conversation with a fire chief from outside my State a few weeks ago who relayed a point made by one of his elected officials. He said that the fire service was an easy target for cutting and gutting because we tend not to raise a stink when it happens to programs that we have a vested interest in. What does that say about us? Have we lived with mistreatment at the local government level for so long that we look like road kill on the Federal level?

What happened to a government of the people, by the people, and for the people? I plan on contacting my elected officials on this issue and start acting like any other special interest group would. It is time that we let them know that if they do not do something about the continuing cuts to our Federal fire programs, we will do everything in our power to assure they never get re-elected. The time has come to play "hardball."
We need to take a lesson from our fire service brothers and sisters in the State of Delaware. These are people who know how to get things done in their political environment, and are a shining example of what a political force the American fire service could be if we were not distracted by smoke and mirrors.

I have to take from a line in the 1976 movie, Network. Peter Finch as News Anchor Howard Beale tells his listeners:

"So, I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window, open it, and stick your head out and yell, "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!!"

Yours truly,

Tom Aurnhammer

Thomas W. Aurnhammer is the Deputy Chief for the Los Pinos Fire Protection District in Ignacio, CO. A 30-year fire service veteran, Tom retired as the Fire Chief for the City of Farmington, NM in 2003 and is a member of the adjunct facility at the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg, MD. He holds an associate degree in fire protection from San Juan College and is a graduate of the National Fire Academy's Executive Fire Officer Program. Tom also serves on the Board of Directors for the National Fire Academy Alumni Association.