Avagene Moore: Welcome to the EIIP Virtual Forum Round Table! Avagene Moore: After we hear from today's speaker, we will open the discussion to Q&A from the floor. At that time, I will review procedures for an orderly meeting. Avagene Moore: Please note any URLs used in today's discussion will show in blue. They are live links and will come up in your browser window if you click on them. Avagene Moore: Today's session is the monthly dialogue sponsored by the Congressional Fire Service Institute (CFSI). Steve Austin is with us today; Steve serves as Fire Service Advisor to the CFSI, and Director of Governmental Relations for the International Association of Arson Investigators. Avagene Moore: Steve made arrangements for our speaker today -- we are most appreciative of your involvement with us, Steve. I will now turn the floor to you to introduce today's speaker. Steve Austin: Wayne Powell is the Program Steve Austin: Chair for Fire Prevention at the National Steve Austin: at the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg MD... Steve Austin: Wayne enjoys a long tenure as a NFA Staff member starting Steve Austin: in 1977... Steve Austin: His life has been the fire Steve Austin: service... Steve Austin: Apart from his duties at the Steve Austin: Academy, Wayne is an active Steve Austin: member of Vigilant Hose Company Steve Austin: of Emmitsburg serving as a Steve Austin: volunteer... Steve Austin: Wayne is one of the recognized Steve Austin: leaders of the Maryland Fire Steve Austin: Service... Steve Austin: He draws on his experience Steve Austin: and his national vantage Steve Austin: point of being on the cutting Steve Austin: edge of fire service issues... Steve Austin: He is a recognized fire service Steve Austin: historian... Steve Austin: In 1994 he scripted and acted Steve Austin: in a Panorama depicting the Steve Austin: first meeting of the Maryland Steve Austin: State Firemen's Association Steve Austin: held in 1894 in Frederick Steve Austin: Maryland... Steve Austin: Wayne holds degrees in Fire Steve Austin: Science and Fire Administration... Steve Austin: Wayne will speak about the Steve Austin: Federal Fire Progams, the USFA Steve Austin: and the NFA. Please welcome Steve Austin: Mr. Wayne Powell. Wayne Powell: (actually, Wayne) along with Burt in his office. Everything was perfect and I had a couple of my colleagues look over my remarks and they said they were terrific. We'll dowload 'em later to the site's historical page for reference as a transcript ... Wayne Powell: As Burt just pointed out, technology is great until ... Wayne Powell: My presentation to you today was about the nature of fire protection and firefighting services, the history of USFA as it approaches its 25th anniversary next month, and our collective future. Wayne Powell: What is important is the fact that the history of the Federal Fire Programs begins long before the actual passage of the Public Law that created USFA and NFA as known today ... Allen Baldwin: Wayne, unfortunately I have to leave for another meeting. This is interesting and myself and the Chambersburg Fire Department will be participating in the future. Thanks. Wayne Powell: Essentially, it is with the first Wingspread Conference in 1966 (and every 10 years since) that the Federal Fire Focus becomes something that people nationally begin to see taking shape ... Wayne Powell: Actually, it is the Fire Research and Safety Act of 1968 that authorized the President to appoint a national commission to study the fire problem in America ... Wayne Powell: and to determine what if any role the Federal government might play in reducing the challenge ... Wayne Powell: Public Law 93-498, the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974, called for the creation of a Federal focus ... Wayne Powell: that focus became the National Fire Prevention and Control Administration, later to become the United States Fire Administration ... Wayne Powell: Originally placed with the US Department of Commerce, the USFA was then placed into the new ... Wayne Powell: Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) upon its creation in 1979. For the next 11 years, the USFA and its National Fire Academy (NFA) operated independently until reunified in January of 1991 owing to fire service demands for a more effective Federal Fire Focus ... Wayne Powell: In the past couple of years, some were happy with the USFA / NFA activity while many were not. Ultimately, FEMA Director James Lee Witt recognized the need to give more attention to his fire programs ... Wayne Powell: Wayne Powell: and the nationally fire protection community also helped the Director realize that it was clearly in everyone's best interest to have a more effective "fire program" within FEMA. ... Wayne Powell: Nearly 2 years have passed since the journey began to substantially improve FEMA's Federal Fire Programs ... Wayne Powell: and it is Director Witt's leadership that so many positive things are now occurring at USFA, NFA and here at the National Emergency Training Center (NETC) at Emmitsburg. Wayne Powell: Wayne had wanted to summarize all this and then turn to the future of the nation's fire protection delivery system ... Wayne Powell: with a specific focus on some 25th anniversary events and the dramatic change in the FEMA - "fire" relationship ... Wayne Powell: In view of the technology glitch, let's pause here to see what anyone in the audience might wish to ask. Avagene Moore: Thank you, Wayne. At this time, you are asked to input a question mark (?) to the chat screen if you have a question --- compose your question or comment, but hold it until you are recognized by name. Then send your question by hitting 'Send' or by clicking on Enter on your keyboard. Wayne Powell: Back to you Steve and Avagene - any questions anyone? Frank Livingston: Wayne: How would you suggest the fire and emergency services community "spread the word" on the good things happening within FEMA/ USFA/ NFA? Avagene Moore: Questions will be taken in the order they come to the screen. Please pay attention and participate in an orderly fashion. First question of Wayne, please. Avagene Moore: Wayne, please respond to Frank's question. Wayne Powell: Frank - I think it's a matter of our folks coming to understand that we must begin to speak with one voice on the really big issues that matter. We have for too long, taken pride in going our separate ways, even to our detriment. All of our people speak to our inability to come to agreement on the big picture issues thus making it easier for public policy makers to ignore the fire and emergency services. John Buckman: ? Avagene Moore: Amy will handle the Q&A. Amy Sebring: John go ahead please. John Buckman: Wayne / Does FEMA / NFA / USFA have any plans to market the accomplishments? Wayne Powell: John - the strongly held belief is that we will actually be handling the dissemination of information far better than before ... Amy Sebring: ? John Buckman: GREAT Wayne Powell: and that we will do an improved job of marketing the great work of the men and women of the USFA ... Wayne Powell: More importantly is that we likely will see that by working in more partnership kinds of approaches, all will benefit. Amy Sebring: Won't the 25th Anniversary Celebration be part of that marketing effort and can you tell us some of what is planned? James Tyree: ? Wayne Powell: Yes, stating within the next few days, a series of on campus events will begin the process of acknowledging all the outstanding accomplishments of the USFA staff, contractors, and are traditional partners at the state and local levels ... Wayne Powell: One interesting thing is that for the first time ever, NETC will hold a Public Open House to welcome in the local community on October 8th ... John Buckman: Thanks to all / I have to go do work! Go Figure. Goodbye Wayne Powell: where some have predicted that we may see 600 - 1000 visitors on a walking tour of USFA, NFA , the Emergency Management Institute, etc. Amy Sebring: James please. Teresa Deen: ? James Tyree: How will this information be presented to the small rural departments Wayne Powell: Hey, Jim - one of the things that I'm most proud of is that we've just been finishing a terrific 2-day outreach course "Fire Prevention for First Responders and small Department" ... Wayne Powell: that will be going on line early next year. It is all about advocacy and is a motivational package -- nothing like it in our history ... Wayne Powell: The course will be delivered via State Fire Service Training Agencies with the support of state fire marshal's offices. Amy Sebring: Teresa please. James Tyree: That will be great as I would have known nothing about this if I had not got on FEMA's e-mail list Teresa Deen: My question goes perhaps more to substance than to the marketing.. .. how do you see the relative roles and degree of focus developing at NFA into this next century relative to fire protection via prevention vs. fire protection vs. suppression.. .. and is the unification you spoke of earlier extending (hopefully) to these two groups? Teresa Deen: (correction, the last should read fire protection via prevention vs. fire protection via suppression) Wayne Powell: Terry - hello in Vermont. Great question. It is still very early in the process, but it is clear to many observers that with a renewed interest on the part of FEMA ... Kevin Farrell: ? Wayne Powell: it should be easier to bring the fire service (in all its aspects) into the mainstream of strategic planning, see more effective linkages with emergency managers, etc ... Wayne Powell: Such things as FEMA's Project Impact actually are identical to what was identified in America Burning 26-1/2 years ago now ... Wayne Powell: It appears that senior FEMA leaders now understand why it is in FEMA's best interest and that of the public to have such a tie ... Wayne Powell: Again, it is still coming clearer, but if the national fire and emergency services family continues to step up to the opportunity, only good things will occur. Amy Sebring: Last question, Kevin please. Teresa Deen: Wonderful, thank you. Kevin Farrell: Are there plans to upgrade the IT infrastructure at the NFA? Will always-on 'net access be available to every desktop at some point? Dial-up, in this day and age would seem to be unacceptable in an agency such as the NFA. Wayne Powell: Hi ya Kevin - yes, we've been going through a series of technology upgrades here ... Frank Livingston: Wayne: The fire service needs to develop a strategy to involve their customers, our taxpayers. Their voices must be made for our Congressional leaders to place a higher priority on the fire service. As far as our customers are concerned, everything is fine within the fire service, especially their local department. Wayne Powell: and in fact, that is probably the nature of the glitch of today -- we've been making a major phone system upgrade since last Friday evening to allow for many improvements in technology ... Wayne Powell: one primary example is the NFA Simulation Lab that is nearing completion which will allow for interactive exchange between users and all kinds of campus-based systems for training and information exchange ... Wayne Powell: Stay tuned and if anyone wants to rely on the old tried and true system (the phone), feel free to call us at 1-800-238-3358 or reach us via the internet. Amy Sebring: Frank, perhaps we can discuss your comment after in open discussion. We are about out of time. Wayne to wrap up, would you like to tell us briefly of your hopes/vision for the next 25 years? Wayne Powell: Frank - right on! Again, too all, we'll get the original material uploaded to the "emforum" as soon as we can ... Wayne Powell: in it there's some insight to what occurring here. Lastly, keep an eye on us and make sure we do what we say we're gonna do. ... Wayne Powell: Thanks to everyone for hangin' in there with us today. Bye! Amy Sebring: Thank you very much to our participants today and all our guests. For those that came in later on, see Amy Sebring: http://www.usfa.fema.gov/about/25thann.htm for further info on the anniversary. Amy Sebring: We will get a copy of Wayne's prepared remarks and append them to today's transcript which you can access from our homepage at http://www.emforum.org Amy Sebring: We would like to acknowledge four new pledges today, Jim Cook of Essential Technologies, Juan A. Fuenzalida, a fire protection consultant from Chile, James Tyree with the Limestone Volunteer Fire Dept, and Frank Livingston, NFAAA. Amy Sebring: //bell http://www.emforum.org/pledge.wav Thanks Jim, Juan James and Frank! Avagene Moore: Great!! Amy Sebring: If you have not made a pledge to join us for at least one session per month, please consider doing so and see http://www.emforum.org/eiip/pledge.htm for further info. Amy Sebring: Tomorrow we are pleased to welcome Bill Turnbull, Deputy Director, High Performance Computing and Communications for NOAA, to the Tech Arena. Amy Sebring: Bill is involved with the administration's research program for Information Technology for the Twenty-first Century, dubbed IT2, and will talk about applications for Emergency Management and Response. Amy Sebring: Next Tuesday, Marg Verbeek will join us from Canada, to provide an update on the activities of IAEM's international committee, and on Wednesday, a special session with Dr. Wayne Blanchard and others for an update on the Higher Education Project. Amy Sebring: We will adjourn for now, but you are welcome to stay for open discussion. [Prepared text presentation is appended below.] Thank you, Steve, it's a great pleasure to be here today. I'm certainly pleased to see so many folks on-line with us and certainly recognize many of the names -- you all can help us deliver today's program. As this is my first time in such a venue, the "Virtual Forum," I'm bound to make some typos and may even miss an important point while struggling with this technology ... We're also expecting some long-time veterans of the fire service community, several USFA staff members, and interested folks from emergency management to look in on us during the next hour. Welcome and y'all help us, please! For the first few minutes, we'll describe in a compressed fashion the past 30 years ... We'll be chatting about how the Federal Fire Programs came to be. Our style is informal and upbeat. I would like to start with a short conceptual view of the fire service, briefly capture the importance of "America Burning," and then interact with you about the upcoming 25th Anniversary of today's United States Fire Administration (USFA) and its National Fire Academy (NFA) ... Steve Austin, who is in Delaware, has a weath of information to share with us, too. Feel free to indicate your desire to join in the discussion while Avagene Moore in Tennessee will acknowledge you in the order she receives your indication of individual interest. A bit of background follows here to get us "all on the same page" then I'll stop and let others join in ... First, we here often tell international visitors to the Emmitsburg campus that the best example of "Colonial American thinking" in our country today can be found in our approach to fire protection. Such is obvious to see in our country's fire and emergency services -- how they're organized, equipped, trained, and go about delivering services ... The sense of independence, freedom, and autonomy that characterized the early days of this new country are typified in the way we in the fire service do business. And, such is still true today, but of late it's beginning to change for the better -- more about this later on ... The publication of "America Burning" in May 1973 resulted from America's appalling fire losses, higher than any industrialized country in the world as related to death rates, injuries, and dollar losses. President Richard Nixon appointed a panel of national experts to study the Nation's fire problem and recommend what, if any, role the Federal government might play toward effectively decreasing the unacceptably high losses ... It was back in 1968 that the Federal Fire Safety and Research Act authorized the President of the United States to appoint a commission to study the nation's fire problem. Unfortunately, nothing much happened until the national fire services organizations met in Williamsburg, Virginia in 1970 and launched a unified approach to get the envisioned National Commission on Fire Prevention and Control to become a reality. The combined push by the fire services is what it took to get the President to make those appointments and get the ball rolling ... Once appointed, the Commission held hearings across the country and became united in their belief that only a coordinated effort could bring about a downturn in the losses then believed to be on the order of 12,000 fire deaths annually ... "America Burning" was a landmark report and is still considered the most significant document about the nation's approach to fire safety and the delivery of fire protection services. It shaped the fire protection approaches of today ... Originally, the Federal Fire Programs were established within the U.S. Department of Commerce and were initially known as the National Fire Prevention and Control Administration (NFPCA). NFPCA then became the USFA in late 1978 and was moved into the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) upon its creation on April 1, 1979. In early 1980 the USFA and NFA were split and remained separated for 11 years until reunification in January 1991 ... After the Emmitsburg site was purchased in March 1979, the NFA facility was officially dedicated on October 8, 1979, as the "National Fire Academy." The current facilities at Emmitsburg are now known as the National Emergency Training Center (NETC) which also includes the Emergency Management Institute (EMI) ... Back in 1979 and '80, as NFA was being relocated, the rest of USFA remained in DC until the USFA portion was "zero-funded" in 1982 and almost went out of business. The nation's fire and emergency services demanded that the Federal government remain faithful to the commitment for a Federal Fire Focus and thus the USFA came alive again ... Shortly thereafter, the USFA portion was also re-established at Emmitsburg. Although the above is confusing to many, the story wasn't over. The nation's fire services continued to lobby the Congress for an even more effective Federal Fire Focus which ultimately led to USFA and NFA being reunified within FEMA ... Now, from today's perspective --> Many benefits have resulted from "America Burning" and the Fire Act over the last 25+ years. Among them are: Development of a more coordinated approach to dealing with America's fire problem ... Recognition of needed resources to quantify and explain the nature of the problem and appropriate solutions requiring the partnering of groups, organizations, and agencies at all levels of government and the private sector focused on common goals ... Substantially decreased fire losses. Deaths from fire dropped to some 5,000 per year over the past 10 years and at one point even less that 4,000. Firefighter death rates have declined accordingly ... Almost amazing is that the losses due to fire have dramatically declined even while the population increased and demands on fire departments, career and volunteer, has dramatically increased ... All has not been rosy --- there were some difficult years when resources decreased and many in the nation's fire protection community noticed that things were in decline as the early successes were no longer being matched by continued marked improvements ... While some were satisfied with efforts, many others were not. Eventually, FEMA Director James Lee Witt began to take notice and expressed great concern for the rebuilding of the agency's fire programs to parallel the successes he had forged with other agency programs ... All indications now clearly show a renewed commitment by FEMA leadership to building strong programmatic ties to the nation's fire protection community and America's first responders ... Recently, Director Witt has received high marks for his strong leadership and commitment to do all possible to assure that USFA and its NFA have strong viable ties to the mainstream of FEMA's good work ... Just a month from now, the upcoming 25th Anniversary will have a partly therapeutic theme while at the same time a very strong thrust toward acknowledging all the outstanding accomplishments made along the way to the betterment of the American people as well as for those in the first responder community to include fire, rescue, emergency medical services, and emergency management ... A number of special events are in the works to recognize the tremendous support of those from all over the country who have contributed to the success of FEMA's USFA and its NFA. Included in these events will be the formal recognition of several collateral activities that became intertwined with the evolution and thus the history of USFA and NFA ... During this past year, a series of comprehensive reviews, studies, reports, and high-level meetings occurred by both public and private sector agencies and organizations, and together there has been a refining and defining of expectations and outcomes ... Such has been a healthy process with much excitement and accompanying anticipation of a substantially improved relationship between the nation's fire and emergency management communities which is to everyone's advantage ... Bottom line, it is 25 years later --- where are we as far as "America Burning?" Even with the sharp decline of civilian and firefighter fire deaths the losses remain unacceptably high ... More people die in America from fires than all other disasters combined. The original goal of cutting by half the losses from fire within a generation has been met, but, especially for the fire service, the challenges have become greater as well ... Where do we go from here? It is time to re-dedicate ourselves and our Nation to continuing the struggle. We know we can accomplish further fire losses by means of national leadership and advocacy ... Both are included in the mission of the USFA and its NFA. Following more than a year of discussion and debate, the way is again becoming clear with regard to solutions ... By building linkages, developing and expanding partnerships, and with a clear articulation of goals and intended outcomes, the path to success is more likely today than ever ... While government alone is not the answer, experience has shown that FEMA and its Federal Fire Programs can combine forces and accomplish dramatic things ... FEMA's "Project Impact," which embodies exactly that which was laid out in America Burning more that 25 years ago, has the potential for solidly reducing the losses from a whole host of natural and man-made events ... This Round Table is an opportunity for all interested to be involved in the live interchange of information about current resources and important aspects of history as relate to a stronger future for those who serve and those served ... Additional information regarding FEMA, USFA, NFA, EMI, and NETC are available at the agency's web address of ... Thanks for your attention -- I know it was long. I will be happy to take questions. There will be a variety of on-campus events to include a Public "Open House" (the first-ever in our history) on October 8th, another Open House just for FEMA personnel, a "Theme Dinner" for on-campus students, instructors, and staff, plus various recognition efforts throughout October and continuing during the 25th anniversary year ... It is also important to point out that this is the 20th Anniversary Year of FEMA (created on April 1, 1979), and the 20th Anniversary of the NETC (originally established here at the NFA on October 8, 1979). My personal thanks to all who made this opportunity possible and to those of you who participated. If I can help, please feel free to contact me at or at 1-800-238-3358. Check USFA's web page for inforamtion about the October 2-3 National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Weekend as well as the upcoming 25th Anniversary of the Federal Fire Programs. On behalf of everyone at the United States Fire Administration, ALL THE BEST!