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Governmetal Affairs Committee |
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GAC Resources
HELP THE GAC!
Dear FAMA/FEMSA member: In January, you received an e-mail from the FAMA/FEMSA Governmental Affairs Committee (GAC) asking you to complete a survey that will help the GAC and its consultants learn what congressional relationships FAMA/FEMSA member companies have established. This information is essential to the GAC’s work to increase FAMA/FEMSA’s dialogue with federal government agencies in an effort to educate key officials on the important role our industry plays in providing equipment and services to the nation’s first responders. To help us enhance these efforts, we once again ask you to take a few moments to complete the enclosed survey. Specifically, this survey will help the GAC compile a comprehensive list of FAMA/FEMSA members’ locations and the congressional senators and representatives for those locations, an important step in establishing an educational network with the members of Congress and the administration. Please note that the survey can be conveniently completed online here. We also ask that the survey be completed as soon as possible. We have tried to keep this survey as simple and straightforward as possible. We thank you in advance for your assistance in this important effort. Sincerely, FAMA/FEMSA Governmental Affairs Committee
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The FAMA / FEMSA GAC would like to thank all the members who participated in the 2006 Home Day Program. Many of you had incredible results, and we encourage you to share those experiences with your fellow members. The GAC has posted a small website with information about some of the Home Day activities by FAMA and FEMSA member companies. Remember - Every Day is Home Day! Please click here to see the site.
Upcoming Events
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Fire and EMS Safety Stand Down to be Held June 17-23 NASE Members Still Struggle To Find Funding, Use Personal Finances Attack on US is Likely, Poll Finds BlackBerry outage underscores need for a backup plan Colorado’s Secret Disaster Plan is Too Secret Fire and EMS Safety Stand Down to be Held June 17-23 The Third Annual Fire and EMS Stand Down will take place June 17-23. This year’s theme, “Ready to Respond,” focuses on the proper training, preparation, and equipment necessary to answer a call and return safely. The Stand Down has an expanded schedule this year to provide departments with maximum flexibility for participating in the exercise, including weekend opportunities to better accommodate volunteers. The National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) urges every fire and EMS department to participate in the Stand Down by suspending all non-emergency activity in order to focus entirely on firefighter and EMS safety until all shifts and personnel have taken part. The NVFC joins the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), the IAFC Volunteer and Combination Officers Section, the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), and other emergency service organizations in encouraging participation in this event. “Firefighter and EMS personnel health and safety must remain a top priority, and the Stand Down offers a way to garner increased attention to this critical issue,” said Maggie Wilson, Director of Health and Safety for the NVFC. “The NVFC continues to work towards decreasing the number of line-of-duty deaths through programs such as the Heart-Healthy Firefighter Program, the Emergency Vehicle Safety Initiative, and the Emergent Health and Safety Issues Project. I hope all departments use the Stand Down as an opportunity to address important health and safety issues and move this critical topic to the center of focus.” For more information regarding the Stand Down and related activities, visit www.iafc.org/standdown. Source: NVFC NASE Members Still Struggle To Find Funding, Use Personal Finances Micro-business owners are facing considerable challenges when it comes to finding capital and maintaining finances for their businesses, according to a recent online survey by the NASE. These numbers remain similar to an NASE poll in 2005, which found that a majority of micro-business owners (57 percent) initially fund their businesses using personal savings, and 40 percent use personal savings thereafter. For the full article, visit http://advocacy.nase.org/washington_watch/2007/Apr11_07.asp Source: NASE Attack on US is Likely, Poll Finds Almost 80 percent of Americans believe it is “likely” that terrorists will launch a deadly attack on the United States sometime within the next five years, according to a new poll. The UPI-Zogby International poll asked almost 6,000 Americans if they believe a terrorist attack is imminent. According to UP, 79.2 percent of those asked said it was either “very likely” (42.5 percent) or “somewhat likely” (36.7 percent) there would be a terrorist attack in the next five years that will claim US lives and be within the country’s borders. The poll also found that 10.5 percent of people found the possibility of a terrorist attack to be “somewhat unlikely” and a mere 3.1 percent found the scenario to be “very unlikely.” “The opinions are only slightly better in the short term,” UPI says. While 8.4 percent of participants said a deadly terror attack in the United States is “very likely” in the next 12 months, 43.4 percent said it was “somewhat likely.” Another 27.7 percent said such an attack was “somewhat unlikely” and 10.3 percent said it was “very unlikely.” To read the full article, click here: http://www.upi.com/Zogby/UPI_Polls/2007/04/26/upi_poll_attack_on_us_likely/ Source: DISASTER RESOURCE GUIDE BlackBerry outage underscores need for a backup plan You don’t miss the water until your well runs dry. And when millions of BlackBerrys lost their e-mail capability April 17, it suddenly became clear how dependent many people in federal agencies and departments have become on the devices. “Certainly, the senior folks in the agency view them essentially as an extension of their bodies,” Corey Booth, chief information officer of the Securities and Exchange Commission, told Government Computer News. And when the e-mail service went out, Booth said dryly, “it was certainly a source of complaint.” At first, Research in Motion offered few details of why the service was down. Only two days later did the company explain the outage, chalking it up to insufficient testing of new caching software in its network operations center (NOC) in Canada. One factor that made the outage more widespread than it otherwise might have been is the BlackBerry system’s highly centralized message routing. All e-mails are routed though one of two NOCs — one in Canada serving the Western Hemisphere and one in England serving Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Booth said agencies and departments would be well-advised to plan on future failures. “The thing that everyone has to understand is that there are very few forms of technology, particularly of communications technology, that are foolproof,” Booth said. “You can have a RIM-related failure, you can have a telephone company-related failure, you can have a failure within our e-mail system, you can have a failure at any of the gateways between those various systems. There are a lot of places where problems can occur.” That’s why it’s critical for staff to have a Plan B. “Plan B can be pretty simple,” Booth said. “It can be just carrying around peoples’ cell phone numbers. Plan B can be knowing how to log in to your e-mail from home. There are lots of things that people can do that are in the category of somewhat inconvenient but workable workarounds.” Some analysts have also voiced concerns about the security and reliability of a system that depends on such a centralized architecture. And, particularly for federal agencies and departments, there may be concerns about routing e-mails through NOCs that reside in a foreign country. “If the software vendor can be forced to cooperate with government agencies, the possibility exists that the wireless e-mail software could include hidden eavesdropping capabilities in accordance with governments or intelligence agencies for various purposes,” a recent Gartner report states. For that reason, some governments — including France, Germany, Great Britain and the Netherlands — have opted not to rely on such systems. However, Booth said, not all federal agencies need to be concerned. “I’m not arrogant enough to believe that our business [at SEC] is so mission-critical that we would be unable to perform our mission without having two NOCs owned by RIM,” he said. On the other hand, “if we were, say, a first-response agency of some kind — like a FEMA or a DOD — I might have some concern.” RIM’s response to the outage is not likely to put concerned minds at ease. Apart from its brief statement citing the software glitch as the culprit, the company has been quiet on the issue. A week after the incident, no mention of the outage or its cause had been posted on the company’s Web site nor had RIM responded to a request for an interview. Source: GCN Colorado’s Secret Disaster Plan is Too Secret A new report says Colorado’s secret disaster plan in the event of a natural disaster or terrorist attack is just a bit too secret – even the lawmakers don’t know about the plan. The Associated Press is reporting the “clandestine blueprint, kept in a notebook carried by a state patrol trooper at the Capitol, includes secret locations to house legislative leaders and a chain of command if the governor and lieutenant governor were incapacitated.” But according to AP, most of the state’s lawmakers, including some who could potentially be named in the plan to run the state if other top leaders were injured or killed, don’t know how the plan will work. “We’re so essential they forgot to tell us,” Joan Fitz-Gerald, who is third in line if the governor and lieutenant governor are incapacitated, told AP. The plan, dubbed Continuity of Government, was developed with funds from the Homeland Security Department in 2003. It covers any disruption or attack that could shut down the Capitol or state agencies, ranging from a blizzard to total destruction. To read the full article, click here: http://www.whec.com/article/stories/S71240.shtml?cat=10036 Source: DISASTER RESOURCE GUIDE The United States Fire Administration (USFA) has received notice of the following firefighter fatality: Name: Billy A. Gafford Fire Department: Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service Department Incident Description: Captain Gafford collapsed during a fitness training exercise. ALS was on-scene for the training exercise so CPR was initiated almost immediately. Gafford was transported to the hospital where he later passed away. Funeral Arrangements: Pending Memorial Fund Contact and Address: cwmardis@ci.birmingham.al.us Tribute is being paid to Billy A. Gafford at http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/fireservice/fatalities/
The United States Fire Administration (USFA) has received notice of the following firefighter fatality: Name: Joe "Ed" Ivy Fire Department: Nacogdoches Fire Department Incident Description: Captain Ed Ivy had traveled to Houston, TX, to attend a high-rise fire training session. He fell ill early in the morning after his arrival and was transported to the hospital where he passed away from a heart attack. Funeral Arrangements: Visitation 04/30/2007 @ 1700-1900hrs at the Cason Monk Funeral Home, 5400 North St., Nacogdoches. Funeral will be 05/01/2007 @ 1400hrs at the Fredonia Hill Baptist Church, South Street, Nacogdoches. Procession to the Linn Flat Cemetery will follow. Memorial Fund Contact and Address: In honor of Captain Joe "Ed" Ivy, C/o Nacogdoches Fire Department, 214 E Pillar St., PO Box 635030, Nacogdoches, TX 75963-5030. Tribute is being paid to Captain Joe "Ed" Ivy at http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/fireservice/fatalities/
The United States Fire Administration (USFA) has received notice of the following firefighter fatality: Name: Eddy G. Ivers Fire Department: Concord - Greene Township Volunteer Fire Department Incident Description: Chief Ivers responded to a reported barn fire. Upon arrival on scene, it was determined that the fire was actually a controlled burn of brush and other agricultural products that had not been reported to the Sheriff's Office. The owner was advised of the burn laws and allowed to continue the burn. While returning to the station, Chief Ivers experienced a medical emergency and pulled off to the side of the road. The apparatus following him pulled off to the side of the road to assist him and request EMS. Care was initiated and he was transported to the local hospital and then flown to a larger hospital where he later passed away for cause still to be determined by the Franklin County Coroner. Funeral Arrangements: 03/18/2007 Memorial Fund Contact and Address: Fayette County (OH) Diabetic Association Tribute is being paid to Fire Chief Eddy G. Ivers at http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/fireservice/fatalities/ Source: USFA
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