On September 10, the Subcommittee on Disaster Management, District of Columbia, and Census of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee held a hearing entitled “Sounding the Alarm: America’s Fire Apparatus Crisis.” The hearing was chaired by Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) and attended by the ranking subcommittee Democrat, Senator Andy Kim (D-NJ).
The IAFC submitted a written statement for the hearing on behalf of the chair of the IAFC’s Emergency Vehicle Management Section, Jason Shivers, the Division Chief of Technical Services of the Forsyth County (GA) Fire Department. Chief Shivers’ statement discussed how labor and supply issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic started the crisis, which became worse as fire departments surged their orders for fire apparatus, ambulances, and other vehicles. Chief Shivers also explained how federal policies like the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 2027 emissions standards and billions of dollars in aid from the CARES Act (P.L. 116-136) and American Rescue Plan Act (P.L. 117-2) unintentionally also helped to fuel the increase in fire apparatus orders. These problems caused the cost of fire apparatus to skyrocket while delaying delivery times for as long as four years.
Chief Shivers also discussed how the supply chain problems affected community safety. For example, fire departments had to extend the lifetime of existing fire apparatus or use their reserve fleet. Both of these options require firefighters to operate older apparatus without the up-to-date safety requirements. Also, fire departments did not have fire apparatus to use for consistent and reliable response to mutual aid response requests from their local neighbors or from across the nation. Without fire apparatus, fire departments could not open new fire stations. The escalating costs of fire engines and other vehicles cut into personnel budgets, reducing the ability to hire new fire and EMS personnel.
Chief Shivers asked Congress and the federal government to take action to reduce the costs and number of back orders. For example, he called for the Trump Administration and Congress to work with the parts manufacturers to prioritize the delivery of semiconductors, chassis, engines, and other fire apparatus components to both the fire apparatus manufacturers and the Emergency Vehicle Technicians (EVTs) that maintain existing fleets. He also recommended that the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) work with the national fire service organizations and fire apparatus manufacturers to develop standardized models for the basic types of fire apparatus. In addition, he also called for the National Fire Academy to develop model education programs to help technical colleges train more EVTs.
The IAFC EVMS section is also working with the Metropolitan Fire Chiefs Association, the Wisconsin State Fire Chiefs Association, the Fire Apparatus Manufacturers Association, and other groups to develop a white paper with recommendations that fire departments, the fire apparatus industry, and the federal government can take to resolve this problem.
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