Chris Dodd: “I express the strong feelings of all of us across the country on the tremendous work these firefighters have done and…”

“I express the strong feelings of all of us across the country on the tremendous work these firefighters have done and note further that we just passed as part of the Defense authorization bill a provision, the Fire Act, which will, for the first time, provide financial resources much along the lines of the COPS programs for fire departments, the 30,000 of them that exist in this country--volunteer, paid, and combination departments--to assist local communities and States in providing the sophisticated technology today which firefighters need, particularly the volunteer departments, where chemical and toxic substances and the tragedies of this summer demand a talent, education, and training unlike people even imagined a few years ago.”