Contact your senators TODAY and tell them to affirm their support for AFG/SAFER and USFA

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Contact your senators TODAY and tell them to affirm their support for AFG/SAFER and USFA

In the next few days the U.S. Senate is expected to vote on whether or not to reauthorize the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) and Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant programs as well as the United States Fire Administration (USFA). This morning, Senators Lieberman (I-CT), Collins (R-ME), Carper (D-DE) and Brown (R-MA) filed an amendment to include language reauthorizing AFG/SAFER and USFA in S. 3254, the National Defense Authorization Act.

This legislation will also need to pass the House of Representatives. So, please contact your representative and ask him or her to support passage of the FIRE-SAFER reauthorization bill this year, too.

If you call your members of Congress, please be sure to highlight:

How the FIRE and SAFER Grant programs have helped your department.
FIRE and SAFER grant applications are reviewed by experienced firefighters using a merit-based system.
FIRE and SAFER grants are awarded directly to local fire departments to improve their all-hazards emergency response.
FIRE and SAFER grants require local communities to contribute a match to ensure accountability.

Because this Congress ends in December, this is our last opportunity to reauthorize the FIRE and SAFER Grant programs.

Contact your senators TODAY and tell them to affirm their support for AFG/SAFER and USFA by voting for the Lieberman-Collins-Carper-Brown amendment.

CFN - California Fire News 2012

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How fires get their names

Every year in California thousands of wildfires start throughout the state. In most cases, the dispatch center sending the initial resources to a wildland fire will designate a name for the fire, but the first on scene engine or fire official can also name the incident. Fires are usually named for the area in which they start – a geographical location, local landmark, street, lake, mountain, peak, etc. Quickly naming the fire provides responding fire resources with an additional locater, and allows fire officials to track and prioritize incidents by name. For example during the Southern California Fire Siege of 2003, the largest wildland fire in California history, the Cedar Fire in San Diego County, was named after the Cedar Creek Falls area where it started. The destructive Old Fire, which burned during the same time period in San Bernardino County, was named after the road along which it started - Old Waterman Canyon Road.

CAL FIRE is the largest fire department in California and the second largest fire department in the United States. CDF - CAL FIRE Firefighters answer the call more than 300,000 times a year. CAL FIRE Firefighters make up the fire department for 30 of our 58 counties in California and more than 100 local communities. We serve as the incident command during many of California’s most serious disasters. CAL FIRE Firefighters respond to many various types and forms of calls ranging from structural fires, to auto accidents, to earthquakes, to floods, to the spilling of hazardous materials, to every conceivable disaster; CAL FIRE answer's the calls. CAL FIRE is the largest fire department in California and the second largest fire department in the United States . CAL FIRE firefighters protect 33 million acres of State Responsibility Area (SRA). We have over 4,000 members within CAL FIRE and CAL FIRE is associated with the California Professional Firefighters (CPF) and the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF).

CFN - CALIFORNIA FIRE NEWS - CAL FIRE NEWS

Wednesday, November 28, 2012