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Welcome to the IAFF Frontline News Brief, distributed twice a month to IAFF affiliate leaders and IAFF members. We encourage you to forward this news to your members and others in the fire service.

The Frontline News Brief is delivered directly by email and is also published on the IAFF web site. You can view past issues at http://daily.iaff.org/frontline/morenews.html.

Your feedback is also welcome - email pr@iaff.org with questions and comments.
 

"IAFF Efforts Increase SAFER Funding" (International Association of Fire Fighters)
"Future 911" (Boston Globe)
"Schaitberger Joins Senator Lieberman in Tour of Connecticut " (International Association of Fire Fighters)
"Fire union, EMS chief question Nagin plan " (Times-Piscayune)
"First responders say incident a close call" (Providence Journal)
"Firefighters and Doctors Viewed As Most Prestigious Occupations " (The Wall Street Journal Online)
"Poster Is Used to Put a Face On Push for Voting Rights" (The Washington Post)
"No charges in '01 fatal fire" (Newsday )
"City Officials Debate Timing of Health Insurance Audit" (Herald & Review )
"Air Force firefighters still await hazardous duty pay " (Air Force Times)
"Police, Firefighters to Pre-Screen World Trade Center Movie" (CBC News (CAN)
"Massachusetts Firefighters Fume Over Possible Merging" (Firehouse.com)
"Local firefighter receives NYS Firefighter of the Year award" (10 NBC)
"New York Fire Fighters Win Trophy in Ireland" (International Association of Fire Fighters)
"Knoxville Fire Fighter Sings National Anthem for Ambassador to Poland" (International Association of Fire Fighters)
 

"Frontline News Brief" is Sponsored By:

IAFF Efforts Increase SAFER Funding
International Association of Fire Fighters; (07/17/06)

The U.S. Senate unanimously approved a spending bill that increases funding for the SAFER and FIRE Act grant programs. The bill also includes hundreds of millions of dollars for other first responder programs and proposes major reforms to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). As approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee in June, the bill only marginally increased funding over last year's level for SAFER grants, to $115 million, and slightly decreased funding for FIRE Act grants, to $540 million.
(Web Link)
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Future 911
Boston Globe (07/24/06); Cutler, Kim-Mai

Emergency call centers in Virginia and Texas are testing new technology that would revamp 911 communications by allowing 911 dispatchers to provide emergency responders with an array of high-tech information from emergency scenes. The technology, known as Next Generation 911 (NG911), has been introduced by a consortium that includes the National Emergency Number Association, Columbia University and Texas A&M University. NG911 is based on Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology, and it allows emergency responders to use cutting-edge communications technologies. For example, the system would allow witnesses to a highway accident to send cell phone video or text messages to the 911 center. The system also would allow sophisticated car security systems to automatically call 911 if the vehicle's air bags deploy, forwarding the driver's health history to the 911 call center. The system also could potentially allow first responders to send video demonstrations of the Heimlich maneuver to someone's cell phone or allow fire fighters to receive the floor plan of a building before reaching the building. The Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration has provided the consortium with a $570,000 grant.
(Web Link)
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Schaitberger Joins Senator Lieberman in Tour of Connecticut
International Association of Fire Fighters (07/17/06)

After making stops in Fairfield at the Fire Headquarters to visit members of Local 1426 and to cheer New Britain fire fighters in a charity softball event against the city's police officers, more than 100 fire fighters from across Connecticut joined IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger and Uniformed Professional Fire Fighters Association of Connecticut President Pete Carozza July 16 in support of Senator Joe Lieberman's re-election.
(Web Link)
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Fire union, EMS chief question Nagin plan
Times Piscayune (07/26/06); Donze, Frank

New Orleans, LA Local 632 has expressed its displeasure with New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin for his proposal to raise salaries for all city police officers by 10 percent and boost the annual starting pay for rookie fire fighters by $5,300.  Local 632 said the mayor is ignoring the sacrifices made by veteran fire fighters since Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast region nearly a year ago. Local 632 President Nick Felton said that although he thinks police officers deserve a raise, his membership's patience is wearing thin. Earlier this month,  International Association of Fire Fighters General President Harold Schaitberger and Felton met with Nagin to finalize the city's fire fighters' contract that was originally negotiated in August 2005 -- just before Katrina. The New Orleans Fire Department currently has approximately 680 fire fighters --about 100 less than a year ago when the department was already down from its peak strength.  "Morale is already low, and it has just gotten lower," Felton said. "I can tell you when this news hits fire fighters, they're going to be livid. And they should be." Under Nagin's proposal, Felton said, new recruits will be earning more than some fire fighters with two or more years of experience, some of whom stayed on after Katrina.    
(Web Link)
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First responders say incident a close call
Providence Journal (07/20/06); Mooney, Tom

Providence, RI Local 799 Lieutenant Brian Mahoney and fire fighter Joe Moreino responded to a port fire along the riverfront July 18 that they later said was "the most dangerous" in their 34 collective years as fire fighters and presented the potential for an unimaginable disaster. As thunder boomed and lightning struck, a docked tanker began burning. " If they didn't pull that ship out and that ship went up, there would have been a big problem," Mahoney said. "Those tanks are in a very vulnerable area, with thousands of people living within a mile radius and the state's only Level One trauma center, Rhode Island Hospital, perilously close. Let's just say we are very fortunate." The smoke was so intense, fire fighters could not immediately make out the stern of the ship sticking out into the river, or see the end of the dock. "It was an incredible sight," said Mahoney. "The whole skyline was lit up. There were fireballs exploding in the air, all this tremendous lightning, and all around this ship countless tanks of different kinds of fuel products. If we didn't get those valves shut down as quickly as we did, we wouldn't have been able to eventually fight the fire as aggressively as we did." With help from a crew experienced in extinguishing fuel fires, fire fighters spread foam along the dock to starve the fire of the oxygen it needed to burn. For almost three hours the fire burned up the estimated 8,000 to 10,000 gallons of gasoline that was left in the pipeline between the ship and the shutoff valve. More than 170 fire fighters were called to the scene, fighting the fire with foam and water.
(Web Link)
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Firefighters and Doctors Viewed As Most Prestigious Occupations
The Wall Street Journal Online (07/26/06)

According to a recent poll by Harris Interactive, Americans consider fire fighter and doctor the most prestigious professions. Sixty-three percent of respondents to the telephone poll said fire fighters have "very great prestige," while 58 percent said doctors do. Other professions rated as having "very great prestige" included: nurses (55 percent), scientists (54 percent), teachers (52 percent) and military officers (51 percent).
(Web Link)
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Poster Is Used to Put a Face On Push for Voting Rights
The Washington Post (07/21/06); Edwards, Audrey

A public relations campaign poster designed to draw attention to the District of Columbia's lack of voting rights in Congress features two Washington, DC fire fighters -- one a District resident and the other a Maryland resident. "Only one has a vote in Congress," reads the poster, which appears in subway stations  and bus shelters throughout the Nation's Capital. F ire fighters were chosen to dramatize the voting issue because their profession saves lives and helps people. "They both work in the District but get treated differently because of where they live," said Ilir Zherka with DC Vote, the advocacy group managing the campaign. "It's an absurd distinction." S imilar television and radio ads are expected to start in September. The campaign will run through April.
(Web Link)
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No charges in '01 fatal fire
Newsday (07/19/06); Destefano, Anthony M.

City prosecutors will not bring criminal charges in the case of a tragic 2001 Father's Day fire in Astoria, New York,  that took the lives of three fire fighters. Investigators probing the June 17, 2001, fire at Long Island General Supply Store in Queens said there is a lack of "legally sufficient evidence" to support criminal charges. The decision clears the way for further proceedings in a lawsuit begun against the hardware store, as well as other possible defendants. Three fire fighters -- Brian Fahey and Harry Ford of Rescue Company 4 and John Downing of Ladder Company 163 -- died as a result of injuries in the fire and the collapse of part of the structure . A number of other fire fighters were injured.
(Web Link)
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City Officials Debate Timing of Health Insurance Audit
Herald & Review (07/21/06); Frazier, Mike

Decatur, IL Local 505 President Adam Ruderman and the City Council have agreed to allow outside auditors to examine the city's health benefits package. Decatur's health care package for municipal employees costs $5,200 more per worker than the average package of nine comparable Illinois cities, reports a 2004 study sponsored by Decatur. Ruderman says that some city employees need doctors' notes to justify sick days, and this could factor into such costs. City Manager Steve Garman says that he welcomes an audit, but adds that he fears the audit could affect collective bargaining with employee unions.
(Web Link)
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Air Force firefighters still await hazardous duty pay
Air Force Times (07/19/06); Jordan, Bryant

Although President George Bush signed legislation authorizing hazardous duty incentive pay for Air Force fire fighters nearly two years ago, there is still no money budgeted.  A rewriting of federal fire fighter pay scales in the early 1990s included hazardous duty incentive pay for civilian government service workers, but not military. In fact, none of the services have implemented hazardous duty incentive pay for their fire fighters. T he Air Force has more than 3,000 fire fighters.
(Web Link)
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Police, Firefighters to Pre-Screen World Trade Center Movie
CBC News (CAN) (07/17/06)

New York and New Jersey fire fighters and police officers are invited to free private screenings of Oliver Stone's new movie, "World Trade Center," about the collapse of the twin towers on 9/11. The movie features Nicolas Cage as one of two officers who survived the collapse of the towers after being dug out from the rubble. "Emotionally, it's important that these men and women have the opportunity to see the film first, though only if they feel comfortable," says Michael Shamberg, one of the film's co-producers.
(Web Link)
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Massachusetts Firefighters Fume Over Possible Merging
Firehouse.com (07/16/06); Murphy, Matt

A proposal to combine the Billerica, Massachusetts, civilian police and fire dispatchers into a single division has local fire fighters concerned. The proposal was submitted to improve the efficiency of the city's response to emergency calls and save on future salaries. But Billerica Local 1495 fire fighters argue the plan will cost the city more money down the road. "We think it's wrong. I can't see where there would be any cost saving to the town unless they plan on laying people off," said one fire fighter. Critics add that the volume of calls handled by the police and fire departments is too large to eliminate positions. The dispute is expected to be raised during the bargaining session between the town manager and Local 1495.
(Web Link)
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Local firefighter receives NYS Firefighter of the Year award
10 NBC (07/19/06)

Robby Villa, a fire fighter with Rochester, NY Local 1071, has been named  New York 's Firefighter of the Year.  "It's a little overwhelming," Villa said. The title was awarded for Villa's actions on March 9, 2005, during a house fire. Tacara Mason's four- month-old baby was still inside the house. Villa went inside the burning, smoke-filled home and found something on a bed. It took a thermal imaging camera to show he had the child. Villa says it was a team effort, but Fire Chief Floyd Madison says Villa's recognition is an honor to the entire department. "It just makes all of us proud," he said. Villa was honored as New York's Firefighter of the Year July 20 at a convention in Niagara Falls .
(Web Link)
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New York Fire Fighters Win Trophy in Ireland
International Association of Fire Fighters (07/19/06)

The Fire Department of New York Emerald Society Bagpipe Band competed for and won a trophy in the All Ireland Bagpiping Championship held in Letterkenny, Ireland.
(Web Link)
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Knoxville Fire Fighter Sings National Anthem for Ambassador to Poland
International Association of Fire Fighters (07/18/06)

Scott Warwick, a fire officer and member of Knoxville, TN Local 65 received a personal invitation from Ambassador to Poland Victor Ashe to sing the National Anthem for his Fourth of July celebration. Ambassador Ashe served as mayor of Knoxville for 16 years and enjoyed a positive relationship with Local 65 fire fighters during his administration.
(Web Link)

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