Reducing the red tape for firefighters

Our rural communities depend on volunteer firefighters to respond to emergencies, help staff local fire departments, and keep our families safe. These men and women dedicate their time to public safety and put their lives on the line to save others. They volunteer many hours to ensure that any call for help is answered swiftly and professionally.

Unfortunately, government bureaucracy threatens to make their already hard and strenuous work much more difficult for no reason at all.

Earlier this year, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration – better known as OSHA – proposed a major overhaul of the Fire Brigade Standard, which has governed the way that fire departments and other fire services operate. Enacted in 1980, this standard has worked well for decades, but that’s not good enough for the Biden administration.

At the command of the Department of Labor, OSHA’s proposed list of costly rules and regulations on volunteer fire departments would lead to devastating closures and limited fire and emergency services in our rural communities where we need them most. These outcomes are not just speculation, they are near certainties if OSHA gets its way.

That’s why, in May, I joined my colleagues in requesting that the Biden administration repeal these proposed regulations on rural and volunteer fire departments that lack both the financial resources and the manpower to comply with more government red tape. It is not the role of the federal government to impose blanket regulations on firefighters who are working around the clock to respond to emergencies and protect our communities.

Unlike urban areas, small towns cannot support fully staffed fire departments, and these regulations from OSHA would only create an emergency-response crisis in rural communities. As a former volunteer EMT in my hometown of Hull for 15 years, I will continue to work with my colleagues to prevent this OSHA rule from taking effect and protect our rural and volunteer firefighters from costly and unnecessary bureaucratic red tape.

This op-ed was originally published in the Marshalltown Times-Republican on August 31, 2024.