109 HCON 180 IH: To support initiatives developed by the Firefighter Life Safety Summit and the mission of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation and the United States Fire Administration to reduce firefighter fatalities and injuries, to encourage implementation of the new U.S. House of Representatives 2005-06-16 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

IV 109th CONGRESS 1st Session H. CON. RES. 180 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES June 16, 2005 Mr. Hoyer (for himself, Mr. Weldon of Pennsylvania, Mr. Andrews, Mr. Boehlert, and Mr. Thompson of Mississippi) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Science CONCURRENT RESOLUTION To support initiatives developed by the Firefighter Life Safety Summit and the mission of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation and the United States Fire Administration to reduce firefighter fatalities and injuries, to encourage implementation of the new Everyone Goes Home campaign to make firefighter safety a national priority, and to support the goals of the national stand down called by fire organizations.

Whereas for over 350 years our Nation’s firefighters have dedicated their lives to ensuring the safety of their fellow citizens and communities; Whereas throughout our Nation’s history too many firefighters have died in the line of duty, leaving behind family members and friends to grieve their tragic losses; Whereas these volunteer and career firefighters served with pride and died with honor; Whereas in 1992 Congress created the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation to lead a nationwide effort to remember the Nation’s fallen firefighters and assist their survivors through a variety of programs; Whereas the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation is dedicated to preventing future firefighter deaths and injuries; Whereas the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation convened the first ever Firefighter Life Safety Summit in March 2004 to support the United States Fire Administration’s goal of reducing firefighter fatalities by 25 percent within 5 years and 50 percent within 10 years through a commitment of energy and resources; Whereas the Life Safety Summit developed 16 initiatives to significantly reduce firefighter fatalities and injuries, including the need to— (1)define and advocate the need for a cultural change within the fire service relating to safety, incorporating leadership, management, supervision, accountability, and personal responsibility; (2) enhance the personal and organizational accountability for health and safety throughout the fire service; (3)focus greater attention on the integration of risk management with incident management at all levels, including strategic, tactical, and planning responsibilities; (4)empower all firefighters to stop unsafe practices; (5)develop and implement national standards for training, qualifications, and certification (including regular recertification) that are equally applicable to all firefighters, based on the duties they are expected to perform; (6)develop and implement national medical and physical fitness standards that are equally applicable to all firefighters, based on the duties they are expected to perform; (7)create a national research agenda and data collection system that relates to the initiatives; (8)utilize available technology wherever it can produce higher levels of health and safety; (9)thoroughly investigate all firefighter fatalities, injuries, and near misses; (10)ensure that grant programs support the implementation of safe practices and mandate safe practices as an eligibility requirement; (11)develop and champion national standards for emergency response policies and procedures; (12)develop and champion national protocols for response to violent incidents; (13)provide firefighters and their families access to counseling and psychological support; (14)provide public education more resources and champion it as a critical fire and life safety program; (15)strengthen advocacy for the enforcement of codes and the installation of home fire sprinklers; and (16)make safety be a primary consideration in the design of apparatus and equipment; and Whereas the International Association of Fire Chiefs, the International Association of Fire Fighters, the National Volunteer Fire Council, and the Congressional Fire Services Institute have partnered with a number of other fire service organizations to call on all fire departments across the Nation to conduct a stand down for firefighter safety beginning Tuesday, June 21, 2005, during which fire departments are urged to suspend all nonemergency activity and instead focus entirely on firefighter safety in order to raise the level of awareness toward firefighter safety and call attention to the unacceptable number of line-of-duty deaths and injuries: Now, therefore, be it

That Congress— (1)supports initiatives developed by the Firefighter Life Safety Summit and the mission of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation and the United States Fire Administration to reduce firefighter fatalities and injuries; (2)encourages implementation of the new Everyone Goes Home campaign to make firefighter safety a national priority; and (3)supports the goals of the national stand down called by fire organizations beginning on June 21, 2005, and encourages all career, volunteer and combination fire departments across the country to participate in this important and life saving effort.