IAFF Calls for Halt to Air Force Staffing Cuts

October 17, 2007 --The IAFF delivered a strong letter of warning to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates urging the reversal of fire fighter layoffs currently taking place at Air Force installations until IAFF concerns about the staffing reduction and its ramifications for Air Force fire protection nationwide are addressed.

As a result of a 2005 budget directive from the White House, the Air Force is in the process of cutting as many as 920 fire fighters who protect Air Force assets and personnel, including 250 civilians, to pay for more aircraft. To accommodate these cuts, the Air Force has also initiated an overhaul of its fire protection standards and policies.

The letter from IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger demands that the cuts be suspended until the Secretary of Defense meets with the IAFF to ensure that the union’s concerns are addressed. “If the reductions are carried out, the Air Force is in danger of violating Department of Defense (DoD) Fire and Emergency Services (FES) Program regulations and National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards,” Schaitberger wrote. The cuts expose “Air Force assets and personnel to unprecedented and unacceptable levels of risk.”

The IAFF has been working with its allies on Capitol Hill to attempt to reverse the planned cuts, but the Air Force has not been deterred. Members of Congress who represent Air Force installations, including Armed Services Committee members Senator John Warner (R-VA) and Representative Jim Saxton (R-NJ), have raised questions about the Air Force cuts to no avail.

“The Air Force cuts could have detrimental effects on fire protection at our nation’s Air Force installations, including significant increases in incident response times,” says IAFF 16th District Vice President Jim Johnson. “For example, at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia, instead of dispatching one engine with four fire fighters, one ladder truck with four fire fighters, one rescue truck with three fire fighters, and one command truck to an incident, under the proposed reduction, only one truck will initially respond. That’s unacceptable.”