The New Year has arrived and Homeland Security still remains an active topic on the television, in the newspapers, and on Capitol Hill in Washington DC. While one firefighting periodical proclaims the success of the current Congress in awarding grants to individual fire departments across the nation in the name of Homeland Security, another blasts the administration for proposed budgetary cutbacks in areas of leadership training.

One thing is certain: When the call comes in for emergency response, our firefighters will be the ones to respond, not the politicians. What are firefighters to do when they respond to a call that could be one of national security? Whether it is a structure fire, a call for EMS services, a hazardous materials situation or a plane crash, it is up to the individual fire department to take charge and make the scene safe. In order to do this, training is critical.

Education and training in all areas of our mission must continue. We must take every advantage of local academy training, training offered by our own fire departments and training from the federal government. Without the commitment from our local firefighters to constantly improve, our mission will fail.

As far as the political situation goes, we must constantly be in touch with our elected representatives in government. That means everyone from our President, Congress, Governor and State Legislators, down to our local mayors and commissioners, must hear from us. Protecting our nation on a daily basis is our desire and our mission.

There is nobody more sensitive to this issue than The Michigan Association of Fire Fighters. MAFF will always seek to keep the safety of the fire fighters who respond and the citizens we serve on a daily basis, at heart.

On a final note, the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Fire Administration, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) have just published the firefighter fatality figures for 2004. Despite continued advances in fire fighting equipment, Incident Command System training, operations and safety training and improved communications, a total of 107 on-duty deaths occurred. Half of the firefighters died as a result of traumatic injuries, and the balance were attributed to non-traumatic injuries such as heart attack or stroke. The average age of a firefighter that died of a heart attack or stroke was 52; and the average age of firefighters who died of traumatic injuries was 42. A large number of fatalities were related to vehicles, either firefighters being struck by passing motorists, falling from department apparatus, vehicle collisions, or being run over by their own apparatus while being backed up.

Firefighters make sacrifices daily, for the security and safety of their communities. For additional information on firefighter fatalities, including the annual fatality reports, please visit www.usfa.fema.gov/fatalities/statistics.