Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) was made an honorary member of the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) yesterday.  Dodd is only the fourth non-fire fighter and the first elected official to receive this honor in the IAFF’s 90-year history.  IAFF President Harold Schaitberger presented Dodd, the Co-Chair of the Congressional Fire Services Caucus, with the award at the organization’s annual Legislative Conference in Washington D.C.

“For three decades, I’ve been proud to tell firefighters ‘I’ve got your back.’  And I know they’ve always had mine,” said Dodd.  “I’ve served in the United States Senate for more than a quarter-century, and I’ve been fortunate to have some real legislative victories. But none of them was needed more urgently than the passage of the FIRE and SAFER Acts. And neither would have happened without Harold Schaitberger and the IAFF standing with me.

“I am deeply honored to receive such a distinguished award from such a tremendous group of Americans.  I look forward to continuing to work with the IAFF to ensure that our nation’s fire fighters have the resources they need to keep our communities safe.”

“No one in the history of Congress has done as much for fire fighters as Chris Dodd has. These awards are the least we can do for him,” said President Schaitberger. 

Senator Dodd is a long time advocate for fire fighters and fire departments across the country.  In 2000, Dodd authored the FIRE Act, a law that gives local fire departments the ability to purchase new equipment and initiate education and training programs. Three years later, Dodd authored the SAFER Act, a law that gives local fire departments the ability to reduce critical shortfalls in professional and volunteer personnel. Since their inception, the FIRE and SAFER Grants have distributed nearly $3 billion in resources through 30,000 grant awards.

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