HD27 - Roster of Firefighting Equipment
Executive Summary: The fire services community is providing an invaluable service to the citizens of Virginia. The Department of Fire Programs conducted a study of the cost savings of volunteers in Virginia. It was determined that the cost saving of salaries alone amounted to $469,000,000 per year. To fund these services is cost-prohibitive. We are very fortunate to have so many professional firefighters in Virginia. The greater majority volunteer their time, talents, and resources to serve their communities and their state. In 1984, the General Assembly passed Section 38.2-401 of the Code of Virginia which established a "Fire Programs Fund." Since 1985, $44,028,797 has been collected and returned to the localities to purchase firefighting equipment and train firefighters. The professionalism of our firefighters and the quality of firefighting equipment has risen to an all-time high in Virginia. The services provided by the fire services community of Virginia are second to none in the nation. However, the cost of equipment and training continues to rise. Several years ago, the Department of Fire Programs saw a need to coordinate surplus equipment from one department to another. This has been done by the authority granted in Title 9, Chapter 25 and Section 38.2-401, Code of Virginia, 1950 (amended). Since 1984, the agency has collected and distributed to other localities certain types of firefighting equipment and protective clothing (self-contained breathing apparatus, helmets, bunker coats and trousers, etc.) All of this equipment has been transferred at little or no cost to the receiving localities. Item 442, Chapter 893 of the Acts of Assembly of 1992, directed the Department of Fire Programs to determine the feasibility of establishing and maintaining a "Roster of Firefighting Equipment" which has been declared surplus by local fire agencies and which may be available for acquisition by other localities. |
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