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Threats to our security require support for our first responders
NFPA Journal®, July/August 2003

These are valid questions. But these are not ordinary times.  Since September 11, 2001, I have spent a great deal of time with fire service personnel from all over America. Their time, energy, and resources are stretched to the breaking point because of the demands placed on them by the new threats for which they must prepare. In big cities and small towns across America, we expect and the federal government expects our first responders to be prepared to deal with a range of threats that had not been serious concerns just two years ago.

A needs assessment that NFPA conducted for FEMA (PDF*, 1 MB) demonstrates how severe the problem is for our whole fire service.

• Only 1 in every 10 fire departments has the personnel and equipment required to respond to a building collapse or the release of chemical or biological agents. One in ten.
• Half of our firefighting force lacks the formal training in technical rescue, which involves unique or complex conditions—precisely the situation they would encounter in a terrorist attack.
• As we send our firefighters into a building or any rescue situation, one-third of the protective clothing they are wearing is more than 10 years old.
• At least 65 percent of cities and towns nationwide lack sufficient fire stations to achieve widely recognized response-time guidelines.
• On a typical fire department shift, 45 percent of first responding firefighters lack portable radios. Thirty-six percent lack self-contained breathing apparatus.
• Forty-two percent answer an emergency call without a PASS (Personal Alert Safety System) device. For those of you who don't know, PASS devices help locate firefighters who are trapped inside buildings. They are crucial should an attack like the one on the Twin Towers occur.

The role of our fire service and other first responders is different today from what it has been at any other point in our history. Never before have enemies from outside threatened America like this. Our fire service is being asked to respond to a national emergency by our national government. The national government is equipped to assess the threat and coordinate through the Department of Homeland Security preparedness efforts. America's fire service and community of first responders have answered the call admirably and done their best to protect us all. However, the only way the gaps identified in our needs assessment can be closed is with some federal assistance. That is how this situation is different and why NFPA is doing everything it can to urge the federal government to help our fire service and other first responders to do the job we have asked them to do.

James M. Shannon
NFPA President and Chief Executive Officer

*  Information about PDF files.