- Fire departments are using Homeland Security
grants to buy gym equipment, sponsor puppet and clown shows, and turn first
responders into fitness trainers.
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- The spending choices are allowable under
the guidelines of the Assistance to Firefighters grant administered by
the Homeland Security Department, which has awarded nearly 250 grants since
February totaling more than $25 million out of the current spending pot
of $545 million.
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- Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff
vowed to redirect grant spending based on risk of a terrorist attack, but
Congress has ignored his pleas, federal officials say.
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- "The administration has not supported
the funding for physical fitness equipment as part of the fire grant program,"
says Marc Short, Homeland Security spokesman. "Physical fitness is
an individual responsibility."
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- The Bush administration has specifically
asked Congress not to allow funding for physical fitness, but the members
who run Congress' appropriation committees keep inserting the language
into the department's budget, officials say.
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- The House last year passed the Faster
and Smarter Funding for First Responders Act by a 409 to 10 vote to require
several first responder grants be based on risk, however the firefighter
grant was excluded from the legislation.
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- In Florida, the Plantation City Council
recently voted to use its $28,000 grant for treadmills, stationary bikes
and training machines for police and firefighters. The Crawfordsville Fire
Department in Indiana is using its $55,000 to buy gym equipment, provide
nutritional counseling and instruct firefighters on how to become fitness
trainers. Congress also requires 5 percent of the grant be spent on fire
prevention funding, says Brian Cowan, director of the fire grants program.
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- Mr. Cowan says 18,000 applications for
the current round of funding were reviewed by fire officials including
fire chiefs, firefighters and association leaders, then recommendations
are given to Homeland officials as to who should receive awards.
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- The LAFS for Life program which received
a $69,000 grant, partners with the Des Moines, Iowa, fire department to
teach fire safety through puppet and clown shows. The Onalaska Fire Department
in Wisconsin also has an $8,000 grant for clowns and puppet shows, and
Grants Pass in Oregon will use a $22,000 grant to buy an educational robot.
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- Virginia has been awarded the largest
amount of funding through seven grants totaling $2,764,551; Washington,
D.C., is second with three grants totaling $2,499,873; Massachusetts is
third with $2,055,234; Indiana has eight grants totaling $2,040,064; and
Maryland has five grants totaling $1,911,574.
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- The Home Safety Council in Washington
won a $1 million grant to study safety education needs and to train officials
to teach fire safety during its first "National Fire and Life Safety
Education Best Practices Conference" this fall.
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- http://www.washtimes.com/national/20060420-110852-8296r.htm
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