fema cuts reimbursement payments to fire departments

The federal government, and that includes the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), is making many different cuts to programs that support state and local communities. One of them is described here, FEMA Cuts Reimbursement Payments to Local Fire Departments

As noted in the article, this is not chump change for small departments which are many times just scraping by financially. Staffing is another issue for volunteer departments—not addressed in this article.

One of the cost reductions that FEMA is pushing these days is that states need to pick up more of the tab for their emergency and disaster needs. That sounds well and good, until our system of mutual aid that dominates in the wildfire community falls apart. Taxpayers in a fire district are paying for services “in their district.” They don’t want to pay for a fire that is in another county but does not impact them. The payments to fire agencies that helped “out of district” fires helped support that type of sharing of resources.

If the cuts continue, expect fewer fire districts to come help others outside of their taxing district.