by Colby Hall | 9:19 am, September 7th, 2011
When asked yesterday by Fox and Friends host Gretchen Carlson to opine on the controversial remarks made by Teamsters leader Jimmy Hoffa, GOP presidential frontrunner Rick Perry laudably avoided commenting, instead focusing on the deadly and out-of-control brush fires that were raging across his state of Texas. A new report suggests however, that Governor Perry placed lesser import on the state funded volunteer fire departments, at least evidenced by an effort to cut those budgets by 75 per cent.Writing for Opposing Views, Michael Allen reports:
According to KVUE-TV, the state of Texas, under Gov. Rick Perry, cut state funding for the volunteer fire departments that protect most of the state from wildfires.
Firefighters have actually been dipping into their own pockets to fight fires.
Volunteer departments that were already facing financial strain had their funding cut from $30 million to $7 million. There are 879 volunteer fire departments in Texas; 114 are paid fire departments, while 187 departments are a combination of volunteer and paid.
At a press conference Monday, Perry promised to seek federal disaster relief and said that FEMA would be in the state by Wednesday.The issue of funding a government run outlet like volunteer fire department cuts to the core issue of the size and role of government to prepare and battle unforeseen natural disasters like these brush fires that have already claimed lives.
Watch a local news report focused on these budget cuts from Texas ABC affiliate KVUE:
Video | News | Weather | SportsWed Mar 23 09:28:02 PDT 2011
Volunteer
firefighters in Texas struggle with financial crisis
Hundreds of firefighters from across Texas visited the State Capitol Wednesday morning for a Legislative and Appreciation Day for volunteer departments and the Marshals’ offices of emergency services. view full article
