International Association of Fire Chiefs
The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) today announced a plan to ask Congress to establish a new federal program to create an additional 75,000 firefighter jobs across America in the next year to help meet the growing demand for specialized services from fire and rescue responders around the nation.
Preliminary figures for the new program indicate that it could require at least $3.75 billion to create the new positions based upon an average salary- plus-benefits cost of $50,000 per position.
Additional details of the program including how it would be funded and administered are still being determined, but it is likely that the coordination of the program would be handled through FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Fire Administration.
According to Fire Chief John M. Buckman, IAFC President, the recent terrorist attacks on New York City and the Pentagon have highlighted the changing role of America's fire departments, and focused significant attention on the resources which are allocated to support them in their mission.
"Our firefighters are truly America's 'first responders'," Buckman said, "and they perform the duties of true 'domestic defenders' because they must deal with incidents that occur on our own soil." "If we are preparing for a war overseas," Buckman concluded, "we must not fail to prepare for war here. And that means we must staff up our nation's fire service because that mission will be carried out by America's fire and rescue personnel more than anyone else."
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