Some small fire departments, including those staffed with volunteers, would have trouble paying the financial costs of safety requirements if OSHA finalizes a new rule for first responders, federal lawmakers were told.
The average, small town volunteer department in Massachusetts has an annual budget of about $75,000 and 17 firefighters, Joseph Maruca, a director of the National Volunteer Fire Council, said Tuesday at a hearing before the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Emergency Management and Technology.
“These fire departments barely subsist and have no financial capacity to do anything more,” Maruca said.
The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued ...