Whereas four out of every five firefighters in the USA are volunteers and there are over 800,000 volunteer firefighters serving virtually every community in the USA and,
Whereas volunteer firefighters serve without pay, devote hundreds of hours of time away from family, spend their own money on fire fighting gear and transportation expenses, and risk their lives to protect our communities and,
Whereas when natural disasters like tornados, hurricanes, forest fires, chemical spills or terrorist attacks happen volunteer firefighters are the first ones on the scene protecting your employee’s homes and your company factories and buildings and,
Whereas if all volunteer firefighters in the USA had to be replaced with paid firefighters it would cost taxpayers including your business and your employees an additional $139 BILLION in state and local taxes each year and,
Whereas an effective volunteer fire department in communities where your company does business contributes to dramatic reductions in your company property and casualty insurance and,
Whereas volunteer fire departments in the USA are facing a situation where many firefighters and departments are operating with outdated and potentially unsafe equipment and,
Whereas large businesses and their employees are major beneficiaries of our volunteer fire departments. Yet many companies penalize employees who are volunteers by making them take personal leave and vacation time to respond to emergencies and for volunteer training and,
Whereas many companies do not financially support local volunteer departments to a degree commensurate with the many benefits they receive nor do companies provide hands on support to their local volunteer fire departments in the form of help with accounting, vehicle and facility maintenance, legal support, and benefit management.
Now therefore we the Undersigned do hereby petition you as the President and CEO of one of the largest companies in the USA to make a firm commitment to support the volunteer fire departments and firefighters in all the communities where you operate by doing the following: