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[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 729 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 729

    Expressing support for designation of a ``National Firefighters 
 Memorial Day'' to honor and celebrate the firefighters of the United 
                                States.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 10, 2009

Mr. Poe of Texas (for himself, Mrs. Maloney, Ms. Schwartz, Mr. Brown of 
South Carolina, Ms. Bordallo, Mr. Burton of Indiana, Mr. Courtney, Mr. 
  Souder, Mr. Sestak, Mr. Cao, Mr. Duncan, and Mr. King of New York) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                   on Oversight and Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION

 
    Expressing support for designation of a ``National Firefighters 
 Memorial Day'' to honor and celebrate the firefighters of the United 
                                States.

Whereas firefighters are often the first to respond to an emergency, whether the 
        emergency is a fire, transportation accident, natural disaster, act of 
        terrorism, medical emergency, or spill of hazardous materials;
Whereas firefighters tirelessly promote fire prevention and safety to protect 
        our Nation;
Whereas people often do not recognize the important and dangerous work of 
        firefighters;
Whereas the United States has more than 1,000,000 firefighters, 71 percent of 
        whom are volunteer firefighters and approximately 15,000 of whom are 
        female;
Whereas there are 1,600,000 fires, on average, in the United States each year;
Whereas approximately 30,000 fire departments operate within the United States;
Whereas a fire department responds to a fire in the United States every 20 
        seconds;
Whereas fire departments respond to nearly 2,000,000 calls in the United States 
        each year without hesitation;
Whereas approximately 100 firefighters die in the United States each year in the 
        line of duty;
Whereas 343 New York City Fire Department firefighters died in the line of duty 
        at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001;
Whereas an estimated 32,500 structure fires were intentionally set in the United 
        States in 2007, resulting in 295 civilian deaths;
Whereas 103 on-duty firefighter fatalities occurred in 2008-2009 on the fire 
        ground, 11 at other emergency calls, 39 while responding to or returning 
        from alarms, 7 during training activities, and 17 during other on-duty 
        activities;
Whereas approximately 3,600 people die in the United States each year as a 
        result of fires, and over 19,000 are injured;
Whereas October 9 is the anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, in which 
        more than 300 people lost their lives;
Whereas President Harding declared the week of October 9 to be ``Fire Prevention 
        Week'' in 1922;
Whereas the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Service takes place each year 
        at the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg, Maryland, on the Sunday 
        before Fire Prevention Week;
Whereas the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation sponsors the annual memorial 
        service to pay tribute to firefighters who died in the line of duty 
        during the previous year;
Whereas given its significance, the Sunday before Fire Prevention Week would be 
        an ideal day to commemorate Federal, State, and local firefighters 
        killed or disabled in the line of duty;
Whereas the Congress created the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation to 
        honor America's fallen firefighters and their families; and
Whereas in 2001, President George W. Bush signed Public Law 107-051 requiring 
        that the flag of the United States at all public buildings be flown at 
        half staff in honor of the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Service 
        in Emittsburg, Maryland: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) urges the President to designate a day as ``National 
        Firefighters Memorial Day'' to commemorate Federal, State, and 
        local firefighters killed or disabled in the line of duty; and
            (2) calls upon the people of the United States to observe 
        such a day with appropriate ceremonies and respect.
                                 <all>
```