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AZ Reels as Fire Marshal’s Office Suspends Programs
Arizona Reels as Fire Marshal's Office Suspends Programs
By Shannon Pieper
The State of Arizona is officially without a system to certify fire instructors or train firefighters. On Thursday, Jan. 7, following budget cuts announced by the Governor’s office, the Arizona Office of the State Fire Marshal (OSFM) announced suspensions in its programs and changes to office policies (PDF).
The cuts appear to be part of a program Governor Jan Brewer (R) introduced in her state-of-the-state address Monday: “I’m establishing the Commission on Privatization and Efficiency, or COPE,” she said. “COPE will identify state services and agencies whose functions can be eliminated, consolidated, streamlined or outsourced to achieve greater operational efficiency in meeting the needs of our citizens.”
The Cuts in Detail
Specifically, cuts to the OSFM include but are not limited to:
- Suspension of all training and certification programs conducted by the Training Division.
- Reduction in OSFM involvement in the State Fire School (its role will now be limited to supporting the initiatives and work of the State Fire Training committee).
- Discontinuation of regional outreach planning and coordination.
In addition, the OSFM will no longer:
- Coordinate statewide fire training curricula and validate fire instructor qualifications.
- Accept any training programs for national accreditation.
- Coordinate and certify high school fire science and community college fire career preparation programs.
- Apply for the annual fire training grant from the National Fire Academy.
- Support or offer assistance for the National Fire Incident Reporting System.
- Make available statewide fire life and property loss information and statistics.
- Participate in the State Fire Mutual Aid Plan.
- Compile, catalog and track the availability of fire resources in Arizona.
- Develop and support a centralized Juvenile Fire setter tracking database.
- Investigate fires in school, state and county buildings.
- Provide fire investigation assistance to local fire jurisdictions.
- Conduct regular fire inspection of business occupancies in unincorporated areas.
Ron Dennis, executive director of the Arizona Fire Chiefs Association (AFCA) notes that although these cuts don’t officially close the OSFM, they come pretty close. “There’s two different kinds of Arizona legislation as it relates to the fire marshal,” Dennis says. “There’s legislation that specifies what the Fire Marshal is obligated to do, with language such as shall. And then there’s language that’s uses the word may—it may conduct training, may do fire investigations, may assist communities, etc.” Certification and training fall into that “may” category; there’s no legislation in Arizona that requires firefighters to be certified, although Dennis stresses that 30 years of voluntary cooperation has made for a very strong system in which most departments see the value in training and certification and choose to participate.
Next Steps
What’s probably on most readers’ minds—and certainly the minds of fire service personnel in Arizona—is what happens next. Dennis stresses that everything is very much up in the air right now, with the Governor’s office scheduled to reveal its executive budget on Friday.
“Right now, the state training director is being retained to participate in the possible transition of training to some other type of state fire service entity,” Dennis says. “The AFCA, along with other major Arizona fire service groups, including labor, volunteers, districts and metro departments, is currently conducting meetings to determine how such a transition might work—in such a way that the training curriculum, coordination and certification isn’t lost. Those are the questions that we’re trying to deal with. What are the moving parts, the administrative nuts and bolts and costs? What can be transitioned and how will it function? How can it maintain cohesiveness? Who will control training in the state of Arizona?”
One of the challenges in this process: lack of precedent. Dennis says he’s unaware of states where “the state had control of training but all of a sudden said, ‘Stop, we’re not required to do this, so we’re not going to.’”
He welcomes information about how other states coordinate and fund fire training and certification. “In Missouri, fire training is delivered through the college system through a memo of understanding with the fire marshal’s office, from what I understand,” he says. “But that may not be an option for us.”
For now, the AFCA is focused on ensuring that it’s part of any discussion involving state fire training and certification, and trying its best to work toward a unified solution that doesn’t leave the state’s training program fragmented and inadequate.
“This is the most challenging situation from the standpoint of state training that I’ve seen in my entire fire service career,” Dennis says “I’ve seen significant lack of support for training, but I’ve never seen a move to completely abolish it. We spent 20 years working with the OSFM, working through some issues to build a good program. But with this, everything is taking a huge step back. As a state, we’re worse off than before the fire marshal’s office was established 1970.”
Shannon Pieper is managing editor for FireRescue magazine.
To reach Ron Dennis, email him at ronboden@cox.net.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Shanna Davis on
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Wow, that's nuts!! And people think Gov. Ritter of CO has made some crazy budget cuts! I think this Gov. has him beat!
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Permalink Reply by Hellcat1 on
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Bottom line Ladies and Gents!!! WE ARE EXPENDABLE IN THE EYES OF THE GOVERNMENT!!! EMS, Fire, Law Enforcement, the Military, and Teachers are all EXPENDABLE!!!! The government knows that when one of us dies, that there will be someone right there to try and fill our shoes...
I have been a firefighter for going on 24 years now. I have been a fire instructor for going on 14 of those years... This is a travesty. You will be reading about much worse things out of Arizona in the years to come if nothing is done about this.
For those of you whom are old enough to remember how training used to be and how it has evolved, think about what it is gonna be like when all of the decent folks up and move to a state that actually cares about the training and leaves the training to the folks that don't know their ass from a hole in the ground and start getting folks hurt or killed. THINK ABOUT IT.... It has often been said that there are those that are meant to teach and those that are meant to be taught....
God Bless us all, but especially those of you in Arizona for what is about to possibly become precedent all across our fine nation of idiots elected to office...
GOD BLESS!!!
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Permalink Reply by Jeffrey Bryant on
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To start they should tell the gov. "we can't train, we can't respond to you house for a fire".
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Raymond, you are so right!
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Raymond, you are correct, but it is not just the Reps doing this stupid crap... Politicians suck ass and there is no other way to look at it.. From the President, all the way down to the little politicians... They all suck... They have all sucked for a LONG time.... It just sucks that we have to rely on them....
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The problem with that is, as much we might like to do that, it's against our nature not to help everyone we can. That's why we became firefighters in the first place. I will take just the first civilian fire fatality and the State of Arizona will face a big lawsuit. Whether or not training had anything to do with it.
Maybe this is the wake up call we all need. Instead of each state doing what they damn well what to, let the US Fire Administration run the training and funding program, in general, and the states add-on from there.
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Permalink Reply by Art "ChiefReason" Goodrich on
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I have heard of states raiding their Fire Prevention Funds to balance a budget, but this goes well beyond that.
But remember; Arizona isn't telling you to stop training. They are telling you that they aren't going to provide for it.
Do you honestly think that Scottsdale or Phoenix is going to throw in the towel and take a "wait and see" posture. I strongly doubt it.
I would continue to do what you do, because your training will keep you safe.
TCSS.
Art
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Permalink Reply by Bob Allard on
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Here we go again , ending useful programs and you can almost bet the money is so or later going to raises to the same people that cut the programs.
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Permalink Reply by FETC on
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Many states in this economic crisis have reduced funding to support what the bean counters call non-essential programs or services. This is the first I have heard with pretty much abolishing it. I have seen funding reduced to the bare minimum. Support for the basic curriculum and delivered at the bare minimum. All advanced stuff put on hold for a while.
The bottom line is like Art says, it is up to you and your department to train your personnel in house. The funding or support is going to dry up and eventually return in better times...
Where I am, the govenor has a huge deficit, if he doesn't shift the priorities to survivability, you will have roads never plowed, completely un-passable so you can't get to work in the winter. No work, no pay, no cash, no food or housing, no way to maintain a quality of life. So I guess in my opinion, that I can wait a while to take a funded advanced tech rescue class until a later date...
Wanna really get pissed off? That banker is still getting his big annual bonus and they haven't repaid our taxpayer bailout yet.
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Permalink Reply by Scott Thomas on
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I keep hearing of this type of BS taking place and its just baffles me! What are these "leaders" thinking. (probably, I dont want to take a pay cut even though I should) Let their house be the one to burn down or their daughters or sons be the one in an accident and a poorly trained if at all trained person arrive to try and help and cant they will change their tune. Its ridiculous and very dangerous. Does AZ have the powerball lottery? If so where are all those funds going? During times of recession I agree that jobs are lost and cuts need to be made but also when this happens people get desperate and do stupid things. To any of you fighting fires in AZ, I wish you the best and pray for your safety! Stay strong brothers and sisters!
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Permalink Reply by Kevin on
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What's going on here! Does Arizona's Governor Know how important it is for training yet for the training for instructor's as well for Fire Fighter's. I got to say why don't the Governor take a cut in pay instead of getting way extensive raises for mostly sitting on thier buts where the money could go for more important things like education for kids and for the fire service. If we don't get the proper training it leads to more fire fighter fatalities or even serious injuries due to lackof knowledge and training. This also can be a detriment to the fire service's itself leading to cut backs in fire protection.
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Permalink Reply by Mike Schlags (Captain Busy) Retd on
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Ok, so maybe my perspective is going to be a little different but here goes. I'm not making a speculation on Arizona firefighters but instead my comments are based on interactions with several AZ firefighters over the course of my 30-year career. Having taught courses in Flagstaff, Phoenix and Tucson, and spending time in Camp Verde, I have had the chance to get to know people personally and to observe both the professionalism and level of service that is provided. This is regardless where you are in the state, the level of service is consistent, which is nothing less than excellent. With this said alone, I have absolute confidence that the Arizona firefighters will move on, maintaining their own training and doing so within the individual departments or jurisdictional boundaries.
Milestone advances for the fire service came from a Phoenix Fire Chief, not the state fire marshal. the University of Arizona came up with the toxmed program and the concept of advanced hazmat life support. Consider the fact that Arizona allows folks to carry a sidearm. These are VERY independent people we are talking about who in some cases are no different than folks of the west over 100 years ago. Arizona is a harsh environment that requires folks to adapt or perish. Imagine living somewhere where it stays over 110˚F for days on end?
Keep in mind that the Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is the one who came up with putting prisoners in tents in the desert heat. When folks cried out in protest, he simply explained that if it was good enough for our soldiers in the middle east, then it was good enough for the prisoners. Arizona is a tough state that has zero tolerance for people who break the law. There is no 'babying' prisoners and in fact, even the uniforms are meant to inflict humiliation for being a convicted fellon.
The Arizona firefighter's are survivors and innovators in fire science for the rest of the world. I for one am not concerned about whether or not there is a bureaucracy to keep track of things statewide. There is a national reporting network used in Arizona that is no different from the incident reporting program (Firehouse) that my department uses in Santa Barbara, CA.
These are really tough fiscal times and when it comes to making the decision as to whether administrators go or the actual 'boots on the ground' firefighters, well... the firefighters are going to win every time.
When times get better financially, we may see the fire marshal's offices re-open and programs returned but for now, we all have to find ways to maintain a level of service. In Arizona, the public holds people accountable for their actions and this includes fiscal responsibilities.
CBz
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