(2) The National Fire Protection Association 
estimates that there are 1,150,000 either career or 
volunteer firefighters in the United States. 
(3) The Centers for Disease Control and Pre-
vention (CDC) estimate that there were 240,800 
full-time Emergency Management Services (EMS) 
workers as of 2018, including paramedics and emer-
gency medical technicians. 
(4) According to the Federal Bureau of Inves-
tigation’s Criminal Justice Information Services divi-
sion, there were 670,279 law enforcement officers in 
the United States as of 2017. 
(5) 446 firefighters, paramedics, and police offi-
cers were killed while selflessly attempting to save 
others on September 11, 2001. 
(6) As of September 2020, 227 members of the 
Fire Department of the city of New York have lost 
their lives due to illnesses related to their heroic 
work at Ground Zero during or in the wake of the 
September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. 
(7) According to CBS 2 New York, two-thirds 
of Ground Zero first responders have at least one 
certified health condition in connection to their serv-
ice. 
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(8) Since 2010, there have been 670 firefighter 
deaths in the line of duty, according to the National 
Fire Protection Association. 
(9) Research from the CDC in 2017 found a 14 
percent higher rate of deaths from cancer for fire-
fighters in comparison to the general population. 
(10) The exposure to traumatic events in the 
line of duty has led to an estimated 15 percent of 
police officers experiencing post-traumatic stress dis-
order, according to the United States Department of 
Justice’s Office of Community Policing Service’s 
newsletter, The Dispatch. 
(11) A 2018 survey of 7,000 firefighters in 
New York and California found that 19 percent had 
experienced suicidal thoughts, and 65 percent are 
haunted by traumatic situations in the line of duty, 
highlighting the emotional toll of these essential and 
lifesaving jobs. 
(12) Firefighters have been bravely battling the 
fatal and destructive wildfires in the Western States, 
which have killed dozens of people, burned over 
3,200,000 acres of land, and destroyed 4,200 struc-
tures in California in 2020 alone. 
(13) The over 16,000 firefighters working to 
contain the 28 major fires in California have been 
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on the front lines of this crisis, working around the 
clock to salvage any lives, land, and property that 
they can. 
(14) Firefighters have battled physical and 
emotional exhaustion, and in some instances given 
their lives, while combating the destructive wildfires 
on the West Coast. 
(15) The mental burden carried by police offi-
cers and firefighters is somberly demonstrated by 
the statistic that, in 2017, there were more fire-
fighter and police officer deaths by suicide than in 
the line of duty, according to the Ruderman Family 
Foundation. 
(16) As of September 2020, there have been at 
least 100 confirmed police officer deaths as a result 
of contracting COVID–19 in the line of duty, ac-
cording to the Officer Down Memorial Page. 
(17) EMS workers provide critical and life-
saving care, often at great risk to themselves. 
(18) The CDC notes that EMS workers are at 
risk for physical injury and exposure to blood and 
harmful bodily fluids. 
(19) The CDC estimates that 21,200 EMS 
were treated in emergency rooms for work-related 
illnesses and injuries in 2017. 
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(20) The serious dangers faced by EMS work-
ers during the COVID–19 pandemic are highlighted 
by the 36 reported EMS worker deaths from 
COVID–19 as of September 17, 2020, according to 
EMS1, an online resource for EMTs and Para-
medics. 
(21) It is the sense of Congress that the sac-
rifices made by first responders and frontline work-
ers warrants the designation of making October 
28th a national holiday entitled ‘‘First Responders 
Day’’. 
SEC. 2. FIRST RESPONDERS DAY. 
Section 6103(a) of title 5, United States Code, is 
amended by inserting after the item relating to Columbus 
Day, the following: 
‘‘First Responders Day.’’. 
Æ 
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