On May 5-7, 2019, the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, in partnership with the Key West Harry S. Truman Foundation, brought together the nation’s fire service leadership for the 17th Annual Harry S. Truman Legacy Symposium and Fire Forum. The Symposium’s theme was Historic Preservation and Harry Truman’s Legacy toward Fire Prevention. In 1947, President Truman called for a National Conference on Fire Prevention to “Bring the ever-present danger from fire home to all our people, and to devise additional methods to intensify the work of fire prevention in every town, and city in the Nation”. The May Symposium, held 72-years later to the day, revisited the historic event and discussions were held on the relevancy of the report published in May 1948.
We want to thank the Honorable Bill Pascrell, Jr. for entering this historic event into the Congressional Record.
Congressman Pascrell is a nationally recognized leader in Congress on the issue of fire safety. He authored the F.I.R.E. (Firefighter Investment and Response Enhancement) Act, which became law in 2001. This law established the only federal program that delivers grant dollars directly to fire departments. This program, administered by the Department of Homeland Security, is the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) program. Now, the nation’s 32,000 career, volunteer and combination fire departments can apply for federal grants to purchase the equipment, training, and vehicles needed to serve their communities. The AFG program also funds Fire Prevention and Safety Grants, for fire awareness and prevention activities, as well as fire safety-related research. The SAFER (Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response) grant program, which provides federal support for staffing of local fire departments, was also conceived by Congressman Pascrell. Congressman Pascrell is a true friend of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation and the fire service.
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