- WASHINGTON - New warnings
that firefighters and police on the front lines of the war on terrorism
remain lacking in training and equipment put an even grimmer cast on predictions
by government leaders of the imminent threat of another terrorist attack.
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- There is increasing focus on the importance of the "first
responders" who rush to disaster scenes like New York's World Trade
Center, where 450 of them died Sept. 11. According to experts and researchers,
8-1/2 months after the attacks on New York and Washington too few are adequately
trained or equipped to recognize signs of a biological or chemical terrorist
strike, and federal funding is still lagging.
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- The White House has allocated $3.5 billion to homeland
security in next year's budget, of which $2.2 billion is earmarked for
equipment and the rest for training, exercises and planning.
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- However, San Francisco Fire Chief Mario Trevino, who
is on the terrorism committee of the International Association of Firefighters,
said police and fire departments were still waiting for money.
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- "Our primary concern is that while there is always
a time lag because the government works slowly, this is a gamble because
none of us knows when the next attack will happen, or where," said
Trevino.
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- Defense experts pointed out that it was impossible to
precisely predict the timing, target or dimensions of a terrorist assault.
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- Noting the continuing problems of Israel as a terrorist
target despite its intelligence expertise, Trevino warned, "It is
impossible to prevent these attacks. Even in a locked-down environment
you can't stop stuff from happening. All we can do is try to be prepared
and ready with the right equipment and enough training."
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- R. David Paulison, chief of the U.S. Fire Administration,
which operates under the umbrella of the Federal Emergency Management Agency,
said the $3.5 billion for the rescue community was no more than a "first
step" in terms of what is needed. "The first responders are the
basic integral part of homeland defense," he said.
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- Paulison agreed that more training and better equipment
were needed, especially in response to biological attacks involving anthrax
or diseases like smallpox and plague. He reported that new technologies
like improved filter masks , long-term breathing apparatus and tracking
mechanisms were being developed, but few had reached local agencies so
far.
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- According to a report by the Gilmore Commission, set
up three years ago under then-Virginia Gov. James Gilmore to advise Congress
on domestic response capability to terrorism, of the nation's 9 million
police officers and firefighters only 134, 000 have received training in
biological or chemical weapons, and only 2 percent of those received hands-on
instruction regarding chemical agents like sarin or nerve gas.
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- Commenting on a survey of state and local first responders,
the commission warned that unless such deficiencies were remedied, "far
too few of America's first responders will be adequately prepared for a
terrorist attack utilizing chemical or biological weapons."
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- The concerns of firefighters and police who fight terrorism
were emphasized in a two-day conference organized by the Rand Science and
Technology Institute late last year in New York.
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- Jim Bartis, a senior policy analyst at Rand and co-author
of a report on emergency responders, said the more than 100 firefighters,
police , emergency medical technicians, union officials, construction workers
and representatives of local , state and federal agencies at the conference
complained they were not provided with "the necessary information,
training and equipment to cope with the challenges of a major disaster."
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- "The question is how can we make our lives safer?
How much training is enough? The answer is we don't know," admitted
Bartis.
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- http://www.knoxstudio.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=RESPONDERS-05-26-02=AN
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