medics with the tools they need to perform their jobs. The union also provides a strong voice in the development and implementation of new training and equipment, and has worked hard to advance the proper staffing of fire and EMS departments.
Building for the Future The IAFF is actively engaged in all facets of the modern fire service and domestic preparedness. While always respecting the past, the union is focusing with single-minded purpose on preparing its members for the challenges they face today and will confront tomorrow. Nothing better exemplifies the IAFF’s efforts than the successful six-year campaign to enact a comprehensive staffing and deployment standard for professional fire departments. The entire fire service coalesced behind NFPA 1710, with the IAFF leading the way. The standard was endorsed by the International Association of Fire Chiefs (including both its career and volunteer sections), the National Association of State Fire Marshals, and numerous other fire organizations. Now the IAFF is working with its affiliates to implement this historic standard.
But that’s just the beginning of the IAFF’s current work. Since the mid-1980s, under grants from several U.S. federal agencies, the IAFF has developed the nation’s premier
hazardous materials training program for first responders. The IAFF has directly trained more than 160,000 professional and volunteer fire fighters. More than 400,000 emergency responders have received hazardous materials training from course materials developed by the IAFF. The IAFF is also seeking to prepare its members for developing a new program to train fire fighters and paramedics in responding to situations involving the use of weapons of mass destruction. Because fire fighting is still one of the most dangerous occupations in North America, with nearly one in three fire fighters injured in the line of duty each year, the IAFF remains a leading voice for fire fighter health and safety issues. The IAFF sponsors a major biennial conference on occupational health and safety in the fire service, as well as a comprehensive conference on emergency medical service issues. This year EMS conference took place in Houston, Texas. The next Redmond Symposium on Occupational Health and Hazards of the Fire Service will be in Chicago, Illinois.
The members of the IAFF are fully committed to the political process. They understand that they can only achieve so much without engaging their elected leaders and holding them accountable for the policy they make. Thanks to its total commitment to politics, the IAFF has secured, and continues to fight for, heart, lung and other disability laws at the local, state and federal levels to protect fire fighters who become ill from on-the-job hazards. The union also won enactment of federal benefits for the survivors of fire fighters killed or totally disabled in the line of duty, as well as a host of other advances that affect every citizen. IAFF members work for others off the job as well. The IAFF and its 2,700 affiliates support numerous charitable activities at the local and national levels. The union is the largest national sponsor of the Muscular Dystrophy Association, having contributed more than $150 million to MDA over the last 45 years. The IAFF also underwrites scholarships for the children of fire fighters killed in the line of duty, and the organization’s Burn Foundation gives more money for burn research than any organization outside of the federal government. It also sponsors an annual National Children’s Burn Camp in Washington, D.C. and provides funding to many of the 40 regional burn camps across North America. As the IAFF moves ahead with its ambitious agenda to build a better future for its members and the public they serve, it does so always with an eye on its proud legacy and on the brave work of those who came before. FA L L 2 0 0 7 | F I R E WATCH 19