Protecting and Serving Our Firefighters

Floor Speech

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Ms. ELFRETH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of Mark Falkenhan, a Baltimore County volunteer firefighter and Secret Service agent who perished on the third floor of an apartment building in 2011.

I rise on behalf of Nathan Flynn, a Howard County firefighter who tragically died in the basement of a large house fire in 2018.

I rise on behalf of Frederick County firefighter Captain Josh Laird, who we lost in 2022 when he, too, fell through a floor and into a basement fire.

After each of these tragedies and tragedies just like them across this country, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, or NIOSH, produced a report examining what went wrong and, crucially, how to prevent these tragedies from occurring moving forward. Those reports went on to save untold lives.

In Mark's case, the NIOSH report spurred a new emphasis on identifying and communicating the presence of a basement upon first arrival.

In Nathan's case, the NIOSH report exposed how outdated practices in building ventilation and fire flow management were killing firefighters across the country, ushering in nationwide changes in fire ground operations.

In Josh's case, the NIOSH report was instructive in identifying and operating over a basement fire.

Maryland's fire community, like so many in our country, is small and well-connected. Each fatality is felt widely and personally.

Following a tragedy, it can be difficult without the proper technical resources to make accurate and objective recommendations and changes, which is why the NIOSH investigations and reports are so crucial.

These NIOSH reports are critical for firefighting communities in Maryland and around our country because they save lives. When released, crews across this country gather around kitchen tables and read the reports together.

In Maryland, our firefighters have told me that in those moments and for the first time they were able to walk through an incident guided by photographs, construction drawings, timetables, graphs, and supporting scientific evidence and that recommendations from these reports can be revolutionary to how they fight fires and save lives.

NIOSH produces these reports through its Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program, which was already significantly understaffed, with only five investigators investigating these incidents across the Nation. At this staffing level, it would take up to 4 years to thoroughly research and release a report after each line- of-duty death.

That was until 2 months ago.

Under the banner of government efficiency and the claim to reduce waste, DOGE has fired three of the five investigators, which means longer wait times for our first responders who deserve answers as to how their brothers and sisters died in the line of duty and, critically, what changes need to be made to prevent such a death moving forward.

Another victim of the reckless work of DOGE was the National Firefighter Registry for Cancer, which tracked cancer cases and deaths of firefighters.

Cancer is now the leading cause of death for firefighters, and this database was critical to tracking health and safety improvements for firefighters and improving working conditions. In another sweeping effort to cut costs, DOGE eliminated the entire office. Now, this cancer registry is no longer maintained or updated.

When the President talks about DOGE and government efficiency, I am thinking about the firefighters whose lives he is putting in harm's way. We owe it to firefighters across this country who sacrifice so much to keep our families safe. At the very least, we can be there for them when they are exposed to cancer or lose members to line-of-duty deaths.

These jobs are difficult and inherently dangerous, but they do not need to be deadly.

These actions by the administration are cruel and unsafe. This is not what the American people wanted. This is not what they voted for.

Lost in this desperate mission to cut costs at all costs, we have forgotten the greater public good, the public good that government must maintain and deliver for our constituents, our obligations to one another, and, most importantly, our obligation to those who run into burning buildings and who keep our communities safe.

The Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program and the National Firefighter Registry for Cancer are the Federal Government at its best.

These civil servants who serve our first responders should not just be reinstated. Frankly, their offices should be doubled.

Perhaps these positions were eliminated as an oversight. Perhaps these hardworking, passionate civil servants were merely line items on a budget to some cost-cutter who didn't know any better.

That is why I rise today to give voice to these cuts, to put faces to these draconian measures, and to plead with my colleagues across the aisle and with the President himself to do what is right.

Restore these offices. Reinstate these civil servants. Protect and serve those who protect and serve us.

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