"This was a bucket-list trip for me. I had always wanted to visit D.C. I didn't realize I was going to do it in a professional capacity," said Louisville Fire Chief Robert Hutto, of his recent trip to the nation's capitol, as part of the Mississippi Firefighters and Mississippi Fire Chiefs delegation.
The trip had a two-fold purpose, one to attend the annual Congressional Fire Service Institute's banquet, and the other to meet with the Mississippi Congressional delegation to voice concerns over issue dealing with fire services and firefighters. Hutto stated that their group consisted of eight people, four from the Firefighters Association and four from the Fire Chiefs Association, and were able to meet with both Mississippi senators and three of the four congressmen. Congressman Michael Guest was not available.
Some of the issue that were discussed were the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) Program Appropriations, Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant Program Appropriations, Volunteer Fire Assistance (VFA) Grant Program Appropriations, United States Fire Administration (USFA) Appropriations, the National Firefighters Registry Appropriations, Helping Emergency Responders Overcome (HERO) Act, and Support for the Volunteer First Responder Housing Act.
Hutto pointed out that the appropriations for a number of these issues have been cut rather drastically in recent years. For instance the AFG Program, a competitive grant program that provides matching funds in the form of direct grants to fire departments and non-fire-based EMS agencies to help them reach a baseline level of preparedness, has been cut from $565M in 2009, down to $360M in 2021. The Mississippi delegation was requesting that the AFG Program be fully funded at $750M in FY 2023.
Hutto added that small fire departments such as the City of Louisville have limited budgets and operating funds and depend heavily upon grants, and go after every one that is available.
The Volunteer Fire Assistance (VFA) Grant Program is a program that provides funding to rural fire departments on a 50/50 cost share basis to pay for training, equipment, and protective clothing to help them prepare for wildland fires. More than 80 percent of initial attacks on wildland fires in the United States are provided by volunteer fire departments that frequently lack the financial resources to adequately equip and train their firefighters. The delegation requested that this program be funded at $21M for FY 2023. And these are only two examples of the needs addressed by the Mississippi delegation.
Hutto said that the Mississippi senators and congressmen were very receptive. He added that the trip gave him a chance to meet with others in his profession, from different locations and settings, and to share knowledge with one another.
