Threat seen to search-and-rescue funding Threat seen to search-and-rescue funding (September 15, 2004)

** House committee may ask for funding cuts of 75 percent.

By David Boyce
Almanac Staff Writer

As the federal government struggles to decide on priorities for homeland security, a local fire official is voicing concerns about possible deep funding cuts for urban search-and-rescue units -- including Task Force 3, sponsored by the Menlo Park Fire Protection District.

Members of Task Force 3 were on security detail at both political conventions this summer and have assisted in the aftermath of many major disasters, including the recent Florida hurricanes, the Okalahoma City bombing, and the terrorist attack at the World Trade Center. California disasters included the Northridge earthquake in 1994 and winter flooding in Northern California in 1997-98.

Fire district Chief Paul Wilson, who serves on an advisory committee to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, told the Almanac he has gotten signals from FEMA that the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee is considering allocating $7 million for all 28 task forces nationwide and diverting some $22.5 million -- 75 percent of the task forces' current budget -- to other purposes, such as protection of transportation and the country's coasts and ports. The Senate is recommending task force funding of $30 million, Chief Wilson said.

In response to a letter from Chief Wilson, Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, D-Atherton, has written to the Appropriations Committee's chair and ranking member requesting support for the higher funding levels.

Task Force 3's 2004-05 budget is $1 million, said fire district Division Chief Harold Schapelhouman, who heads Task Force 3. FEMA is asking for $1.2 million to $1.5 million per team, he said. With a budget of only $250,000 -- the amount of money Task Force 3 would receive under the Appropriations Committee's proposed $7 million budget -- he would have to mothball the equipment and suspend training for the task force's 210 members, he said.

"Personally, I don't think (funding) will go that low, but my concern is where will it end up," Chief Wilson said.

One ray of hope is seen in another Senate bill with bipartisan support that would give the force of law to all the recent 9-11 Commission recommendations, one of which creates benchmarks for assessing a community's security needs and capabilities.

Under the current system, funding requests for the task forces must be resubmitted every year, Mr. Schapelhouman said. Passage of this bill could, in effect, give task-force funding a line item on the budget.

Highly placed friend

At a lunch Thursday for about 200 people at the Stanford Park Hotel in Menlo Park, former White House counter-terrorism chief Richard Clarke mentioned this bill and the need to communicate with senators. Mr. Clarke was in town to endorse the candidacy of Republican state Assembly hopeful Steve Poizner, who worked for him for six months in 2001-02 as a White House fellow.

"Go home and send a telegram," Mr. Clarke said. "We can't just sit back and assume things won't happen as was done prior to 9-11. Homeland security begins at home, at the local level."

"We're insurance for the whole country now," Division Chief Schapelhouman told the audience.

Task-force funding is supposed to be shared by the federal government, the state, and the sponsoring agency but state funds have dwindled to nothing, said Chief Wilson. The fire district contributes some $200,000 annually in unreimbursed administrative costs, while the feds pay for everything else.

Reimbursement can be a headache during deployments. When called upon, a 70-member team is assembled within six hours from a roster of 210 specialists in search and rescue, medicine, and hazardous-material handling, most of whom are firefighters from agencies in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties.

While the team is deployed, the Menlo Park fire district picks up the tab for their salaries on a promise of federal repayment. The district was only recently reimbursed for services following the February 2003 Columbia space shuttle disaster.

"We want to be the sponsoring organization, but (the fire district governing board) believes that (the bulk of the funding is) the federal government's responsibility," Chief Wilson said.

Mr. Schapelhouman and Chief Wilson said their presence at the lunch was not an endorsement of Mr. Poizner. "It's more trying to educate this candidate or any candidate as to what our needs are," Mr. Schapelhouman said.

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