Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Portsmouth Herald, NH -Fire chief blasts state government

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 11:42:56 -0500

Portsmouth Herald, NH -Feb 1, 2004

Fire chief blasts state government

By Susan Morse
[email-masked]

SEABROOK - Seabrook is on the books for receiving
$35,000 in Homeland Security grants over the past two
years, but in reality, has gotten no money from the state in
federal funds earmarked for the town, according to
Seabrook Fire Chief Jeff Brown.

After screaming and hollering at state officials and
threatening to refuse to take part in annual emergency
drills for Seabrook Station, Brown told the Board of
Selectmen Wednesday, his firefighters will finally get
weapons of mass destruction training from the state.

The Seabrook Station nuclear power plant is in the town’s
backyard, Brown said. Seabrook is responsible should
anything go wrong, and yet getting federal Homeland
Security funds from the state for training and equipment is
at the point of being "ridiculous," Brown said.

"At first it was a headache, and then a pain, and now it’s downright stupid," he
said.

Brown puts the blame squarely on the state Department of Safety, the agency
responsible for
distributing federal Homeland Security grants. The state’s distribution formula
was based on
population, rather than a town’s infrastructure factors.

On Wednesday, Brown accused the Department of Safety of using $8 million in
Homeland
Security money to build an underground bunker for emergency management in
Concord; for
hiring personnel out of Homeland Security money; and for generally controlling
the purse strings
of money intended for individual towns.

"The money is definitely staying in Concord," Brown said. "Most is staying in
the Department of
Safety for their own use."

Department of Health and Human Services employees were laid off from that
department only to
be picked up by the Department of Safety, Brown said.

"Not through our choice," said Assistant Commissioner of Safety Earl Sweeney on
Friday.
"Department of Health and Human Services looked at their mission. There were
people who
were doing planning for radiological emergencies. The Department of Health and
Human Services
felt they were more appropriately placed in the Department of Safety."

Sweeney said some of the money to pay for the positions came out of Homeland
Security money
earmarked for the state. None came from money slated for local communities, he
said.

"We’re just the messenger and I think we’ve been more than generous," Sweeney
said. "I resent
the idea of the Department of Safety being this big monolith, gobbling up
everything."

As to the underground bunker, Sweeney said there is none. The state received $9
million in
federal funds, separate from Homeland Security, for an above-ground secure
emergency
operations center in Concord and for an alternative site in Laconia, he said.
Part of the money is
going towards cameras on highways to help the State Police see accidents on the
highways.

"They won’t have to wait until someone crawls out of the wreckage to call 911,"
Sweeney said.

The federal government has given New Hampshire two Homeland Security grants,
both awarded
in 2003, according to Pam Urban-Morin, grant administrator for the
Commissioner’s Office,
Department of Safety. For Homeland I, the state received $5.7 million, she said.
For Homeland II, it
was given $15.2 million.

The federal government mandates 80 percent of the equipment fund go to local
communities,
Urban-Morin said. This totaled $13.7 million for both grants.

In training and exercise grants, Urban-Morin said, local communities received
$1.3 million in total,
the bulk of those funds.

The state was eligible to keep $3 million of the equipment grant, but kept
closer to $2 million,
Urban-Morin said, giving up $800,000 to local communities for the state to
purchase radios for
the towns to use.

"A good percentage of the state money went to the locals," said Bruce Cheney,
director of the
Bureau of Emergency Management, Department of Safety.

Cheney was referring to $8.3 million in First Responder Radio Interoperability
radios the state is
buying for town fire and police departments and other emergency town and state
personnel. The
radios will work on multiple frequencies so agencies may talk to each other
during an
emergency.

The first of the 2,500 mobile radios have arrived, Sweeney said. One of the big
complaints that
came out of the 9/11 terrorist attacks is that emergency workers couldn’t
communicate with one
another, Sweeney said.

Brown has complained the radios are sitting in Concord, unusable because they’re
not
compatible with Seabrook frequencies.

"The whole term is radio interoperability," Cheney said. "The old radios will
work with the new
radios."

Members of the Fire Chiefs’ Association, made up of fire chiefs, chose the
equipment, he said.

Seabrook’s share for Homeland II is $19,363. For Homeland I, $18,728, according
to a state Web
site. Brown has cited $14,000 as the amount the Seabrook Fire Department is
supposed to get in
one of the grants.

Towns do not receive Homeland Security money directly. Fire, police and
emergency operations
officials apply for grants to receive the funds and may choose equipment from a
designated
federal list of acceptable items (See related story on Hampton grant).

"Instead of the state giving the money directly to the towns, it says, ‘we know
better,’" Brown
said.

Many of the items in the "catalogue" of acceptable items come from supplier
Fisher Scientific in
Hampton, Sweeney said. The list is handed down by the federal government, he
said. The state
does not control what towns may buy.

So far, Brown said, Seabrook has acquired no equipment because there is nothing
on the list he
can use.

"On paper, it’s $35,000, so far - zero," he said.

Brown said he asked for an emergency generator with light towers that can be
towed to the
four emergency shelters in Seabrook.

"They told us, it’s not on the list," Brown said. "Electric street signs to give
directions in case of
an evacuation, not on the list.

"The state said, ‘We won’t give you those things. We’ll give you these things
you can’t use,’"
Brown said. "That’s the way it will continue as long as the feds continue to
funnel money to the
states. The feds are sending money to us, it’s actually going through a middle
man who’s keeping
the money."

Seabrook asked for $18,000 for a mobile message display trailer which was
considered ineligible
by the federal government, said Sweeney.

"Basically, if they follow the rules, they’ll get the grants," Sweeney said.

"I wouldn’t be sounding greedy about federal grants," Brown said, "The fact is,
it’s Homeland
Security grants, not a welfare grant and we’re responsible for Seabrook
Station."

Funds are distributed based on town population, another frustration to Brown.

"Newington is really getting nailed. Every drop of fuel goes through Newington
and they’re
getting $1,000 a year. We’re getting $14,000." (See related story)

His firefighters need training in weapons of mass destruction more than anything
else, Brown
said. This would include training for radiological, biological and chemical
incidents. The state has
finally agreed to do minimal training, which is supposed to take place this
spring, Brown said.

Sweeney said firefighters may receive free training at any time through the NH
Fire Academy in
Concord.

Brown said he will take his plea for funds to Washington, D.C. in March.

"Citizens of Seabrook want to know where their money is," Brown said. "I had to
cut my training
budget in half to maintain my budget. Money is being thrown away ... I’m not
really worried about
a big terrorism incident. But if something ever happened, we would want to be
prepared for it."

http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/02012004/news/73620.htm
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