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REMARKS OF SENATOR JOHN McCAIN AT THE 19TH NATIONAL FIRE AND EMERGENCY SERVICES DINNER

March 29, 2007

Thank you very much.  I am honored to share this morning with some of our Nation’s bravest and to visit with so many good friends.  I appreciate your invitation to speak with so many fire chiefs and emergency personnel.

Firefighting remains one of the most dangerous professions in the United States .  Today’s firefighters and emergency responders are required on a daily basis to put their lives at risk while they put out fires in their community and provide emergency assistance, just as their predecessors did.  However, fire fighters today are now also required to secure our homeland from the threat of terrorism.  It is for this reason and your safety that I believe our success in Iraq is essential.  If we do not succeed against the terrorists abroad, they will bring the war to our homeland again. 

As you know, we lost too many of our Nation’s first responders on 9/11, including 343 union fire fighters in New York City .  Unfortunately, their efforts were hindered by a communications system that failed to allow these first responders to communicate with each other.  The Sept. 11 commission found: “Command and control decisions were affected by the lack of knowledge of what was happening 30, 60, 90, and 100 floors above.” According to one of the [fire] chiefs in the lobby, “One of the most critical things in a major operation like this is to have information. We didn't have a lot of information coming in. We didn't receive any reports of what was seen from the . . . helicopters. It was impossible to know how much damage was done on the upper floors, whether the stairwells were intact or not.' . . . 'People watching on TV certainly had more knowledge of what was happening a hundred floors above us than we did in the lobby.’”

I have been involved in trying to pass legislation to provide spectrum and funding for interoperable radio communications since 1997.  I read the 9/11 Commission’s Final Report with great remorse and remain frustrated that Congress did not act faster to provide you the prime spectrum well before that fateful day.  I can only imagine how a robust, nationwide, interoperable communications system could have aided those 343 fire fighters in New York City who lost their lives, in addition to all the people the fire fighters could have alerted about evacuation routes if only they were able to communicate with their chiefs.

With all the technology innovations of recent years, how is it that first responders, those we depend on when disaster strikes, are still unable to adequately communicate with each other during an emergency, while we are able to watch the crisis unfold on our television sets?  It’s because public officials have yet to get serious about developing and funding a safety communications system for all local, state and federal first responders.

The federal government needs to develop a comprehensive, interoperable emergency communications plan and set equipment standards, fund the purchase of emergency and interoperable communications equipment, and provide additional radio spectrum that will allow first responders to communicate over long distances using the same radio frequencies and equipment. 

That is why I introduced the “SAVE LIVES Act of 2007,” which would make available 30 MHz of spectrum in these prime bands for a nationwide, interoperable broadband communications network, and set forth a long term plan for managing emergency communications networks.  I have continued to work with the Association of Public Safety Communications Professionals, the International Association of Fire Chiefs, the International Association of Police Chiefs, the National Sheriffs Association, and others on this legislation.  I look forward to working with your membership to ensure that when terrorists strike our nation again, and they will my friends, you will be prepared and lives will be spared.

As the co-chairman of the Congressional Fire Services Caucus, and a member of the caucus since its founding in 1987, I have supported funding for the U.S. Fire Administration, and specifically for the National Fire Academy that has trained so many fire fighters.  In addition, I have championed increased funding for the Firefighter Investment and Response Enhancement (FIRE) Act and Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Act grants.  The FIRE Act grants have provided almost a billion dollars to help fire departments purchase equipment like fire trucks, oxygen masks, turn-out gear, and any other tools necessary for firefighting.  The SAFER Act has provided millions to fire departments for the purpose of increasing the number of firefighters available for daily duty.  I was also proud to support the Firefighting Research and Coordination Act that directed the federal government to develop science-based standards for new firefighting technology, reestablished the position of the U.S. Fire Administrator, and authorized over $194 million for the U.S. Fire Administration.

I am not known in town as one who often supports increased federal spending.  However, ensuring our fire fighters are receiving adequate funding is a fine use of our hard earned tax dollars.  Every citizen is touched daily by a fire fighters’ work.  But Washington doesn’t always agree and we found ourselves taking dollars from worthy causes and putting them toward “bridges to nowhere.”  This is wrong.  Look at the Emergency Supplemental bill on the floor of the Senate today, it has almost $121.7 billion in unnecessary funding, approximately $19 billion above the President’s request, and is replete with earmarks and other non-emergency spending. 

We need to keep our priorities straight in Washington .  Our first and most important obligation is to provide for the common defense.  You are in the business of saving lives.  You bear that responsibility bravely.  We are supposed to share that responsibility, and we should show the same professional dedication you do.  You want us to help and not hinder your efforts to risk your lives on behalf of your fellow citizens.   It is gross negligence for us to refuse you. 

Firefighters are the classic symbol of American heroism.  They are men and women who face the intense daily pressures of saving lives, often at the risk of their own, in any given situation at any given time.  You have chosen a cause greater than yourself.  For this reason, I am proud to be with you this morning and thank you for your service to our nation.