CQ Homeland Security Afternoon Update

Editor's Note: On the Numbers

Little did we know what a sandstorm we would kick up with what we thought was routine May 25 story on the opposition of firefighter trade associations and a union, the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), to a proposal from a George Washington University think tank that the Transportation Department's emergency medical services be consolidated in a new office in the Department of Homeland Security. Based on an interview with IAFF spokesman Jeff Zack, our reporter wrote that the union "represents about 85 percent of the nation's EMS workers."

Not quite so, said Daniel Kaniewski, deputy director of GW's Homeland Security Policy Institute, which made the proposal, in a heated e-mail. IAFF represents only about a quarter of the estimated 840,000 certified EMS workers in the country, Kaniewski said. Zack, however, countered that not all certified EMS personnel work on a regular basis and said they should not be included in Kaniewski's calculations.

At press time, after a flurry of additional e-mails and telephone conversations with both sides, those numbers remained in dispute. Kaniewski did not, however, contest Zack's statement that the IAFF represents about 82 percent of the nation's 266,000 paid, public EMS workers. It does not represent volunteers, or those who work for private services, Zack said. - Jeff Stein, Editor