Third Needs Assessment of the U.S. Fire Service: Virginia. Conducted in 2010 and Including Comparisons to the 2001 and 2005 Needs Assessment Surveys

摘要

This third Fire Service Needs Assessment Survey was conducted by NFPA in 2010 and follows two earlier surveys in 2001 and 2005, the latter two conducted under grants from the U.S. Fire Administration. These surveys have been linked from their inception to the USFA grant programs, including the broad spectrum grants set up under Public Law 108-767, Title XXXVI Assistance to Firefighters, and the staffing-focused program called SAFER. The goal has been to identify major gaps in the needs of the U.S. fire service, where needs are identified by comparing what departments have with what existing consensus standards, government regulations, and other nationally recognized guidance documents say they need to have in order to be safe and effective in conducting their many responsibilities. Once the grant programs began, targeted on many of these identified needs, a second major goal became to measure the success of the grant program in reducing these needs. This executive summary therefore includes not only a summary of the findings of the three needs assessment surveys but also a summary of the implications of those findings for the grant programs.