Early in my first term, I was alarmed by the smell of smoke while working late one evening in the Longworth House Office Building. Upon further investigation, I discovered a fire in the office of then-Speaker Jim Wright. After years of experience as the Fire Chief of Marcus Hook, I was able to extinguish the blaze. Unfortunately, after the fire was out, I realized that not only did the building not have a fire alarm, but none of the extinguishers in the building worked.

As a result of the incident, I was able to work with Speaker Wright and demand that Congress abide by the same fire safety codes imposed on the rest of the American public. Today, every building in the Capitol complex is equipped with fire alarms and working extinguishers. Working that important issue, I realized that fire and emergency services personnel had no presence on Capitol Hill, and that their needs were going unanswered. In response, I founded the Congressional Fire Services Caucus to better educate Members of Congress on fire safety issues. Today, the Caucus is the largest on Capitol Hill with over 300 members.

Each year, in conjunction with the Congressional Fire Services institute, I host a dinner to salute our nation's first responders. Routinely attended by nearly 2,000 fire and emergency service personnel, the dinner continues to draw the attention of our national political leaders. Keynote speakers over the past eight years have included President Clinton, President Bush, Vice President Gore, Vice President Quayle, Speaker Newt Gingrich, Republican Leader Bob Dole, former Speaker Jim Wright, former speaker Tom Foley.

I continue to be active on a wide variety of life safety issues ranging from the need for carbon monoxide detectors to the much publicized church arson fires. In addition, I have utilized my role as the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Research and Development of the House National Security, to help coordinate the transfer of technology from our military so that it can be utilized by the civilian first responders.