SFDredhat126
11-17-2004, 10:48 AM
I believe they do, but some feel otherwise. Please take a few minutes to read this article. It was in the Belleville News Democrat on Sunday. Most of the members that post here are exactly who they are saying shouldn't get FEMA grant money. Feel free to chime in with your thoughts. I'm interested in your opinion.
Parceling out security funds
Grants to rural fire departments lead to questions of priority
BY SCOTT WUERZ
swuerz@bnd.com
Department of Homeland Security grants are intended to help the United States defend itself from terrorists by giving emergency crews the tools they need to respond to an attack.
But three years into the fire department grant program, firefighters and government officials alike wonder whether the money is going where it is really needed.
"There has been an ongoing debate in Washington the last couple of years," said Sen. Peter Fitzgerald, R-Ill. "There have been a lot of complaints that small, rural areas that terrorists can't even find are getting so much of the money. A lot of people think a higher percentage needs to go to the more urban areas."
O'Fallon Fire Chief Brent Saunders said he has been frustrated by being frozen out of the grant program. He said there are many potential terrorist targets in the metro-east and local firefighters could use federal assistance in protecting them.
"We're fortunate to be better off than a lot of other departments in that our front-line equipment is pretty new," Saunders said. "But we are located near a major city and a military installation that could both be terrorist targets, plus there are a lot of people who live in this area."
Patty Thompson, spokesman for the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, said it may seem as though grants are handed out haphazardly, but the state has a plan to regionalize the response to terrorism.
"Our communities work together to form layers of protection," Thompson said. "If we give a grant for a firetruck to one community, it's not just for them. It's for the use of all of the people in that area."
Getting equipped?
The big-ticket item on the list of St. Clair County needs is a radio system that would allow all area police and fire departments to communicate with each other directly in case of a disaster, Saunders said.
The current radio systems work on incompatible frequencies and don't have the range to work outside the officers' home jurisdictions.
"There was a referendum on the ballot to pay for the radios, but it failed," Saunders said. "If we were to get the money to pay for that, it would have a big impact on the safety of our residents."
The 800 megahertz radios cost up to $3,400 each. The March referendum would have set aside $25 million to equip as many police officers, firefighters and other emergency workers as possible with them. By putting the infrastructure in place, departments would be in a position to get extra equipment on their own.
But instead of the big-ticket items, Southern Illinois fire departments are getting new versions of their day-to-day equipment.
The Belleville Fire Department in September got a $128,279 grant to buy new personal breathing apparatus for firefighters, even though it recently spent local taxpayers' money to update and refurbish the breathing units it already had, according to Chief David Martinson. The Northwest Volunteer Fire Department, which also serves the Belleville area, found out Oct. 29 that it has been awarded $129,280 for similar breathing equipment and training.
Other Southern Illinois towns also got grants.
Centralia got $42,165; West Frankfort, $27,000; Christopher, $55,818 and DuQuoin, $31,500 for equipment.
Firetrucks are a popular grant request. In the past three months, the Pittsburg Volunteer Fire Department -- near West Frankfort in a rural area about 95 miles southeast of Belleville, received $172,800 to buy a new firetruck. Germantown, population 1,118, got $198,000 for a truck, and the Prairie DuPont Fire Department, which serves the 267 people of East Carondelet, got $157,500 for a new firetruck.
Slicing the pie
Despite claims the money is being spent wisely, some theorize the reason rural departments are getting such a large piece of the grant pie is because political battlegrounds, not potential terrorist battlegrounds, are Congress' priority.
Firetrucks, equipment and training are passed out as pork to places that really don't need them, according to a New York congressman.
Eliot Engel, a Democrat who represents the Bronx, fought in vain over the summer to recalculate the formula by which Homeland Security money is distributed. A complicated set of factors determines who gets money and who doesn't. Engel wants the population of an area to be a bigger factor.
"We're all political people who want to do what's right by our constituents," Engel said. "But this is money that is to be used to protect our people, not as pork to be handed out by those with the most political influence."
Engel said he thinks the bulk of the money should go to places with more people to protect.
"Places like New York, Chicago, St. Louis and Los Angeles are places we know are of interest for terrorists," Engel said. "We shouldn't play games with people's safety."
Breaking it down by dollars per capita, New York, with a population of 19.2 million, got 87 cents per person. Pennsylvania got $2.21 for each of its 12.3 million people. In Illinois, $1.11 was spent in 2004 for each of its 12.6 million residents.
The efforts of Engel and other urban congressmen to change the formula were shot down by leaders from Midwestern and rural states who didn't want to lose the cash, Engel said.
Thinking regionally
Fairview Heights Fire Chief Don Feher has Interstate 64, St. Clair Square and retail stores spread all over his jurisdiction. His department received about $30,000 from the Department of Homeland Security. It was used to put in a new ventilation system at the firehouse.
But Feher said he isn't worried about local firefighters' ability to react to a terrorist attack.
"We have focused our attention on a regional basis," Feher said. "We have St. Clair Special Emergency Services and Technical Rescue for handling and monitoring biological and radiological types of incidents. They would be our response agency.
"Doing things regionally is certainly the most efficient and cost effective," he added. "But even though it is through the Department of Homeland Security, the Assistance to Firefighters grants program is really about getting front-line equipment into the hands of those who don't have it."
Feher said it doesn't make sense to give complicated equipment used to fight chemical attacks to small-town fire departments.
"Not every fire department has that kind of stuff, and they wouldn't know what to do with it if they had it," Feher said.
While he has his own wish list, Saunders said he thinks it is a good thing small-town departments are getting equipment, too.
"While major cities and more populated areas have planned more for terrorist activities, that doesn't exclude smaller areas from being a target," Saunders said. "No one knows the mind of terrorists and what they are going to do."
Fitzgerald, who did not run for re-election, said he is confident a bill he sponsored that passed in September will help control the money that is being spent in the name of homeland security.
The new law, Fitzgerald said, will force the Department of Homeland Security to require specific information about how grant money will be used and a follow-up to make sure the money is spent for its intended purpose.
U.S. Rep. Jerry Costello, a Belleville Democrat, agreed.
"The intent of the law was pretty well spelled out," Costello said. "It's clear that there are abuses in almost every program. But I think the Homeland Security Department has received the message loud and clear that they have to use the money for what it was intended."
Parceling out security funds
Grants to rural fire departments lead to questions of priority
BY SCOTT WUERZ
swuerz@bnd.com
Department of Homeland Security grants are intended to help the United States defend itself from terrorists by giving emergency crews the tools they need to respond to an attack.
But three years into the fire department grant program, firefighters and government officials alike wonder whether the money is going where it is really needed.
"There has been an ongoing debate in Washington the last couple of years," said Sen. Peter Fitzgerald, R-Ill. "There have been a lot of complaints that small, rural areas that terrorists can't even find are getting so much of the money. A lot of people think a higher percentage needs to go to the more urban areas."
O'Fallon Fire Chief Brent Saunders said he has been frustrated by being frozen out of the grant program. He said there are many potential terrorist targets in the metro-east and local firefighters could use federal assistance in protecting them.
"We're fortunate to be better off than a lot of other departments in that our front-line equipment is pretty new," Saunders said. "But we are located near a major city and a military installation that could both be terrorist targets, plus there are a lot of people who live in this area."
Patty Thompson, spokesman for the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, said it may seem as though grants are handed out haphazardly, but the state has a plan to regionalize the response to terrorism.
"Our communities work together to form layers of protection," Thompson said. "If we give a grant for a firetruck to one community, it's not just for them. It's for the use of all of the people in that area."
Getting equipped?
The big-ticket item on the list of St. Clair County needs is a radio system that would allow all area police and fire departments to communicate with each other directly in case of a disaster, Saunders said.
The current radio systems work on incompatible frequencies and don't have the range to work outside the officers' home jurisdictions.
"There was a referendum on the ballot to pay for the radios, but it failed," Saunders said. "If we were to get the money to pay for that, it would have a big impact on the safety of our residents."
The 800 megahertz radios cost up to $3,400 each. The March referendum would have set aside $25 million to equip as many police officers, firefighters and other emergency workers as possible with them. By putting the infrastructure in place, departments would be in a position to get extra equipment on their own.
But instead of the big-ticket items, Southern Illinois fire departments are getting new versions of their day-to-day equipment.
The Belleville Fire Department in September got a $128,279 grant to buy new personal breathing apparatus for firefighters, even though it recently spent local taxpayers' money to update and refurbish the breathing units it already had, according to Chief David Martinson. The Northwest Volunteer Fire Department, which also serves the Belleville area, found out Oct. 29 that it has been awarded $129,280 for similar breathing equipment and training.
Other Southern Illinois towns also got grants.
Centralia got $42,165; West Frankfort, $27,000; Christopher, $55,818 and DuQuoin, $31,500 for equipment.
Firetrucks are a popular grant request. In the past three months, the Pittsburg Volunteer Fire Department -- near West Frankfort in a rural area about 95 miles southeast of Belleville, received $172,800 to buy a new firetruck. Germantown, population 1,118, got $198,000 for a truck, and the Prairie DuPont Fire Department, which serves the 267 people of East Carondelet, got $157,500 for a new firetruck.
Slicing the pie
Despite claims the money is being spent wisely, some theorize the reason rural departments are getting such a large piece of the grant pie is because political battlegrounds, not potential terrorist battlegrounds, are Congress' priority.
Firetrucks, equipment and training are passed out as pork to places that really don't need them, according to a New York congressman.
Eliot Engel, a Democrat who represents the Bronx, fought in vain over the summer to recalculate the formula by which Homeland Security money is distributed. A complicated set of factors determines who gets money and who doesn't. Engel wants the population of an area to be a bigger factor.
"We're all political people who want to do what's right by our constituents," Engel said. "But this is money that is to be used to protect our people, not as pork to be handed out by those with the most political influence."
Engel said he thinks the bulk of the money should go to places with more people to protect.
"Places like New York, Chicago, St. Louis and Los Angeles are places we know are of interest for terrorists," Engel said. "We shouldn't play games with people's safety."
Breaking it down by dollars per capita, New York, with a population of 19.2 million, got 87 cents per person. Pennsylvania got $2.21 for each of its 12.3 million people. In Illinois, $1.11 was spent in 2004 for each of its 12.6 million residents.
The efforts of Engel and other urban congressmen to change the formula were shot down by leaders from Midwestern and rural states who didn't want to lose the cash, Engel said.
Thinking regionally
Fairview Heights Fire Chief Don Feher has Interstate 64, St. Clair Square and retail stores spread all over his jurisdiction. His department received about $30,000 from the Department of Homeland Security. It was used to put in a new ventilation system at the firehouse.
But Feher said he isn't worried about local firefighters' ability to react to a terrorist attack.
"We have focused our attention on a regional basis," Feher said. "We have St. Clair Special Emergency Services and Technical Rescue for handling and monitoring biological and radiological types of incidents. They would be our response agency.
"Doing things regionally is certainly the most efficient and cost effective," he added. "But even though it is through the Department of Homeland Security, the Assistance to Firefighters grants program is really about getting front-line equipment into the hands of those who don't have it."
Feher said it doesn't make sense to give complicated equipment used to fight chemical attacks to small-town fire departments.
"Not every fire department has that kind of stuff, and they wouldn't know what to do with it if they had it," Feher said.
While he has his own wish list, Saunders said he thinks it is a good thing small-town departments are getting equipment, too.
"While major cities and more populated areas have planned more for terrorist activities, that doesn't exclude smaller areas from being a target," Saunders said. "No one knows the mind of terrorists and what they are going to do."
Fitzgerald, who did not run for re-election, said he is confident a bill he sponsored that passed in September will help control the money that is being spent in the name of homeland security.
The new law, Fitzgerald said, will force the Department of Homeland Security to require specific information about how grant money will be used and a follow-up to make sure the money is spent for its intended purpose.
U.S. Rep. Jerry Costello, a Belleville Democrat, agreed.
"The intent of the law was pretty well spelled out," Costello said. "It's clear that there are abuses in almost every program. But I think the Homeland Security Department has received the message loud and clear that they have to use the money for what it was intended."