That's only a very slight change from what is done now. For the most part, local responders are the front line -- we were the ones out the morning of Helene and for weeks afterwards -- with the state stepping in to provide support that the local organizations don't have. (For example, we have Swiftwater teams and rescuers -- I am one myself -- but the state has Swiftwater teams that have more equipment than we do locally, especially including boats.) The State governor declares a state of emergency, and that opens up a big funding window for local responders as well as increased ability for the National Guard to support us. FEMA's chief role is to coordinate providing additional Federal funding, and occasionally to provide personnel that mostly help fill out forms and verify the details so that money can flow.
Their direct aid provision role is quite limited; I never once saw a FEMA employee doing anything, although I've heard there were some teams triaged to other areas. Other states, though, will also send resources across state borders to help (as in California now, where fire departments have deployed strike teams from as far away as, yes, North Carolina in support of local crews).
In general I'm always in favor of closing down parts of the Federal government, or government in general. Making things voluntary whenever we can, privatizing when we can't rely on volunteer resources alone, localizing when we can't privatize, driving things down to the lowest possible level is always what I like to see. Therefore, instinctively I like this idea.
It would require some combination of cutting red tape on all those forms and verification processes, and/or funding state/local employees to do the same stuff where tape can't get cut.
16 comments:
I believe "Block grants" are a fairly common form of redistribution of Federal funds to support various programs. IIRC a lot of the WIC and other food assistance flows that way. Medicaid money, also, is directed to state agencies that are responsible for administering the funds. I agree that if we are going to have the Feds fund things, this should be the default method.
I favor a single block grant to each State equal to the total amount of grants and other transfers the State and any State institution received in [2023] as Year 0. Then each year reduce the size of the block grant by 10% of the Year 0 grant until no money is transferred.
Federal transfers should occur only on declaration of a regional or national emergency, or when a State certifies that all of its local private resources (vis., church and local charities), its local government resources, on up through the State's resources have been exhausted.
At that point, any Federal transfers should go directly to the individuals or via those local private entities to the individuals.
Governments don't need to be in the middle in nearly all cases.
Eric Hines
Just out of curiosity, Grim, how much does it cost to buy and outfit a swiftwater rescue boat?
So, first you need to decide what kind of boat you need for the water you expect to be on. The military-style RHIB models are popular, but you may have different needs depending on whether you're expecting flooded rivers near the mountains (very fast, not wide) or near the coast (not as fast, much, much bigger because all the mountain water has drained down there), or on big lakes, or oceans. That's going to be a big part of your cost, and if you want to buy one new it's going to be custom-made and expensive (much like a fire apparatus will be, but not on that scale -- thousands to tens of thousands rather than hundreds of thousands to a million or more).
If you want to buy existing ones from another department, you may be able to get a better deal. Still thousands at least.
Each member of the team for the boat is going to need a Class V PFD (say $300), a wet or drysuit (maybe up to a grand), a helmet (these are cheap), gloves, boots, and a knife (all Swiftwater rescuers carry knives, as you can get hung up in floating things and drown if you can't cut free; you may also need them to defend against drowning victims as a last resort if you can't restrain them or calm them otherwise).
Then the team will need throw bags, rescue rope, and whatever kind of carabiners or mechanical advantage systems you think you'll need. We trained on securing the boat on a high-line, for example, which requires quite a bit of quality kernmantle rope and good pulleys as well.
Of course you'll need a truck and trailer to haul your boat; a hauling truck isn't cheap even by itself.
So we're talking about a real investment. A county team with a couple of boats and a dozen guys, a dedicated truck and trailer, you could probably do it for less than a hundred grand (and much less to maintain year-over-year). Of course you have to pay to train the guys, too; and if they aren't volunteers but dedicated TR Swiftwater rescuers, each of them cost around fifty grand a year in salary plus benefits.
Note, though, that this is exactly the sort of thing that gets shared between states. If you are on one of the dedicated State Swiftwater teams (we have 30 teams of varying sizes in NC), they can be deployed anywhere in the USA. I know guys who've been deployed on major floods for months at a time.
A block grant specifically tagged for emergency disaster aid, with a few additional limits, would work far more efficiently than what FEMA has managed over the past, oh, 20 years or so. They don't seem to provide coordination assistance, or to smooth the way for individuals and businesses to get help, or to provide information about options and resources.
Full disclosure: I have a grudge against the foolishness of some field personnel going back to the 2006 wildfires in this region, so I am biased against FEMA in general.
LittleRed1
Yes, pretty much get the feds out and turn it over to the states. Weaning the states off slowly is a good idea.
Grim, I'd be curious to hear what you think of the state response thus far, as from far away it feels like I've heard nothing about the state agencies, heard nothing from the Governor, and the media only talks about the national political angle. Sorry if this is way off track here.
Subsidiarity is.refreshing.
Nothing should be done by a larger, more complex organization that can be done as well by a smaller, simpler organization. Thus, if a family can handle a problem, then the family should. If the family can't, then the extended family should. If the extended family can't, then neighborhood should. If the neighborhood can't, then the town should. If the town can't, then the county should. If the county can't, then the state should. If the state can't, then the federal government should. And so on. The larger, more complex entities should leave the smaller alone to their own self-governance as much as is prudent.
Decentralization makes for more effective, more responsive, more humane, and less wasteful governance of a natural institution. Pope John Paul II wrote of this in Centesimus Annus, 1991:
The state’s response has been criticized as well. The governor declared a state of emergency, but the legislature offered only paltry assistance tied to the usual Christmas tree bill of “pass all our other priorities if you want anything for the emergency.” All of the local WNC representatives voted against it in protest, though some of them switched their votes when it came back after the governor vetoed it.
Now in 2025 there’s a new governor and a new legislature, as well as a new Congress who might work with NC more than the previous one was willing to do. Thus, there’s renewed consideration of what to do about the disaster.
If your department ever decides to buy its own boat, I'm good for at least a few hundred towards the cost.
Thank you. That’s very generous.
It’ll be a while before we do that, partly because of another cost I hadn’t thought of: we don’t have anywhere to put it! Our building dates to 1978 and is quite full.
Grim, one part of FEMA is the Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) program. 28 teams across the country, all specialists is difficult structural collapse search, rescue and recovery tasks, all ground or air deployable. We also have water/swiftwater capacity.
My roll in California Task Force 3 is a canine search specialist. We’ve recently started training and certifying dogs for human remains detection. I have many friends with HRD dogs who worked hard in NC and California.
Most of the team members are professional fire fighters, and the skills and gear they have are most likely to be used locally. We only get activated when the local resources are inadequate. Most of us wish we’d been propositioned for Helene so that you would have seen us at work.
If FEMA goes away, I hope the USAR system is kept.
Robert Macaulay
...we don’t have anywhere to put it! Our building dates to 1978 and is quite full.
Got room to add one of these?
https://www.steelmasterusa.com/quonset-huts/kits/storage/
https://www.curvcosteelbuildings.com/product/50x100-quonset-hut-home-kit/
Eric Hines
We also have state level urban rescue teams run by the department of public safety (as opposed to the fire marshal, who runs the technical rescue program). I have a separate certification from them for their Wilderness rescue program, as well as the TR Wilderness cert from the fire marshal.
https://www.ncdps.gov/our-organization/emergency-management/em-operations/em-resources/search-rescue/urban-search-rescue
Probably the FEMA teams could be absorbed by the several states.
It would take some bulldozer work. We're kind of on a mountainside here.
We're getting a bit astray, but the county and we are in talks about whether there might need to be a new building with a bit more facility.
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