Note: Full coverage of Firehouse's 50th Anniversary

Although Benjamin Franklin founded the first volunteer fire department in 1736 and was highly involved in fire service advocacy, his political focus was primarily at the colonial and state levels. Fire service involvement in the federal political environment is said to have begun around 1918 when the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) was chartered in Washington, D.C., and became a lobbying voice for municipal firefighters. In 1938, the fire service mounted a federal lobbying effort to oppose retroactive federal income taxes on municipal and state workers. These efforts led to Congressional legislative intervention that favored the workers. The initial partnership between the federal government and fire service leaders came about in 1947 when President Harry S. Truman convened the first White House Conference on Fire Prevention to address national fire safety. This early history began a longstanding and continuing relationship between fire service leaders and elected, appointed and employed federal officials.

With the formation of the Joint Council of Fire Service Organizations (Joint Council) in 1972, work to enhance the professionalism of the fire service began. Although the Joint Council wasn’t formally part of the Presidential Commission that produced the “America Burning” report in 1973, it greatly influenced key outcomes, such as the creation of the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) and the National Fire Academy; the call for professional standards for firefighters (including entry standards); and the founding of the National Professional Qualification System, the board of which became known as the Pro Board. The Joint Council alliance was discontinued in the late 1970s.

The Fire Politics column

Firehouse has covered political activities that significantly affect the fire service since it was founded by Dennis Smith in 1976. That same year, the Fire Politics column began its run. Hal Bruno, who was a beloved volunteer firefighter and journalist and later became the ABC Political News Director, was the author of the column for about 25 years until 2004. I wrote the column for about two years during a time when Bruno was ill and then became the permanent author in 2004. After a decade in that role, I stepped away from the column in 2014. Shane Ray of the National Fire Sprinkler Association and IAFF’s Kevin O’Connor became the co-authors at that time.

Political involvement evolves

For the fire service to achieve long-term success through legislation, policies and regulations at the national level, it became clear that working from a nonpartisan position was essential. Partisan politics would result in having good years and bad years, depending on which party was in power.

The fire service works continually to avoid being branded as partisan and, thus, maintains consistent influence over time. This never was clearer than when Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pennsylvania) reached across the aisle to form the Congressional Fire Services Caucus in 1987, which became one of the largest caucuses in Congress. Over the years, the co-chairs of the Caucus have included some of the most prominent Senate and House leaders from both parties. Historically, a few of these co-chairs have included Weldon, Sen. Sue Collins, Rep. Steny Hoyer, Sen. John McCain, Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. and Sen. Paul Sarbanes.

In 1989, the Congressional Fire Services Institute (CFSI) was formed as a nonpartisan, nonprofit policy institute to educate members of Congress on the needs and challenges that the nation’s fire service faces. Working with the CFSI National Advisory Committee (NAC), which comprises approximately 40 member organizations, CFSI strives to reach agreement on resolutions that might affect federal legislation, policy decisions and regulatory requirements. Many of these organizations have very able government affairs managers. The CFSI staff and NAC members work closely with the Caucus leaders and members to keep individuals informed and to be responsive to their questions.

Legislative, regulatory and policy wins

The fire service can boast many major legislative, regulatory and policy accomplishments over the past 50 years. Some of these were achieved by individual organizations, and many others resulted from collaboration, often through the CFSI structure. I urge readers to research each of these to enhance their historical knowledge and understanding of fire service political achievements at the national level:

• Prevention and Control Act, including the “America Burning” and “America Burning Revisited” reports.
• National Fallen Firefighters Memorial and authorization of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation.
• EMT and paramedic training and certification.
• Urban search and rescue.
• The federal Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) and the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant programs.
• Public Safety Officers’ Benefits Program.
• Hometown Heroes Act.
• Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations.
• Sustaining 9/11 health programs.
• Firefighter occupational cancer.
• National Firefighter Registry for Cancer.
• FirstNet.
• Issues surrounding codes and standards.
• Fire sprinkler legislation.
• National Incident Management System (NIMS).
• Replacement of the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) with the National Emergency Response Information System (NERIS).
• Social Security Fairness Act, repealing the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset.
• Founding of the World Fire Congress by the USFA.

Some current high-priority issues include:

• Emerging technologies, such as lithium-ion batteries, devices, systems, etc.
• Appropriations for AFG and SAFER Grant Programs, the USFA and other fire service-related funding.
• Occupational cancer and other firefighter health and wellness issues/benefits.
• Wildfire/interface issues, fire sprinklers, and other fire and life-safety technologies and initiatives.
• EMS.
• Tax and retirement issues.
• Creating and sustaining a strong fire service infrastructure.

Sustaining success

I encourage you to visit cfsi.org and other major fire service organizations’ websites for more information concerning these and other important topics and initiatives. A history of all CFSI Resolutions is available on the CFSI website. Many of the fire service-related political issues that are addressed at the federal level require ongoing attention (at least, periodically) to continue to sustain them as priorities for the future.

It would require a lengthy manuscript to document the fire service’s entire past and current federal political involvement. Such a document would cover myriad issues and priorities that keep our work timely, relevant, and focused on the often-changing fire service needs to keep the public and firefighters safe.

Building and maintaining close relationships with Congressional leaders and federal officials throughout the administration, as well as continuing to work with fire service partners through the CFSI NAC, are critical to sustaining success in addressing our priorities. The fire service is fortunate that Firehouse, throughout its 50 years of existence, has made it a priority to communicate the political challenges that the fire service faces and what’s being done to address them. The Fire Politics column played a critical role in that essential communications process. I am blessed to have been a part of that. Thank you, Firehouse.