Page 176 - MFB State Annual Meeting 2018 -- RESOLUTIONS BOOK

State Policies – Page
90
#64 FIRE FIGHTING
1 The fire fighter of today is expected to respond to
2 situations that require training and experience. State and
3 federal regulations mandate many hours of training in
4 preparation for an ever-increasing variety of response
5 situations including fire, medical and hazardous material
6 emergencies. Volunteers and paid on-call fire fighters in
7 all departments must make a substantial commitment of
8 personal time for this training. The state and federal
9 government should fund these mandated training
10 requirements.
11 When a property owner is conducting a legal burn,
12 the property owner should not be responsible for costs
13 incurred by an unnecessary fire truck dispatch.
14 Local units of government have begun charging farms a
15 fee for emergency preparation inspections. These
16 inspections are completed by a local fire department to
17 comply with requirements authorized by MI-OSHA. We
18 believe local units of government should consider the
19 following:
20  21
22  23
Farms already provide for fire protection service through the levy of property taxes.
Farms currently pay a tax on fertilizer and pesticides purchased to support the voluntary emergency tube program (E-Tube) through the Michigan Agriculture Environmental Assurance Program administered by conservation districts.
24 25 26 27
28 of government and fire authorities from charging for
29 emergency preparation inspections. Furthermore, the E-
30 Tube shall suffice as an appropriate level of information.
31 Per the Emergency Planning and Community Right-
32 To-Know Act, we encourage producers to comply with
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
The majority of Michigan residents get their drinking water from community water systems, most of which were built between 50 and 100 plus years ago. Many of these municipal systems have already exceeded their expected lifespan and do not meet today's state and federal drinking water, wastewater, and storm water standards.
Therefore, we support policy that prohibits local units
33 Tier II reporting of any threshold planning quantity
34 materials (EPA listed chemicals) to the Department of
35 Environmental Quality on or before March 1 of each
36 year.
37 Firefighters are welcome to visit farms to be prepared
38 for emergency planning and firefighter safety, but at their
39 own expense. 
#68 PUBLIC WATER & SEWER INFRASTRUCTURE