Funding for rural fire protection cut
Congress cut funding for the Rural Community Fire Protection (RCFP) program for the 1996 fiscal year from $3.5 million to $2 million, reports the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC). The reduction, the NVFC says, will drastically affect the money available for the education and training of many rural firefighters.
For more than 20 years, the NVFC explains, the RCFP program had made $3.5 million available annually to rural fire departments for improving local fire protection capabilities. Volunteer fire departments received more than 95 percent of these funds through state forestry agencies.
The NVFC, in conjunction with the National Association of State Foresters, has begun a campaign that will seek to have Congress “provide proper funding ” for the program in the future. For information about the NVFC`s national fax and phone campaign, call (202) 887-5700.
