Alaska Professional Fire Fighters Association Endorses Lisa Murkowski for Senate

Press Release

The Alaska Professional Fire Fighters Association today announced its endorsement of Lisa Murkowski in the race for U.S. Senate. Tom Wescott, president of AKPFFA, praised Murkowski's unwavering support for Alaska's first responders in making the endorsement.

"The Alaska Professional Fire Fighters Association is happy to once again endorse Senator Murkowski in her bid for the Senate. Lisa has always listened whenever we have brought important issues to her attention. In the end, our support for her comes down to her actions. She is not all talk, she is about results," Wescott said. "She has also been influential in supporting a comprehensive solution to address the wildland fire problem that is growing across our state and our country. Just this past year, after meeting with us in Washington, she committed to signing onto a bill aimed at creating a cancer data base for firefighters. Cancer in the fire service is a big issue and this database is seen as a way to gather information in order to make changes and decrease the number of firefighters coming down with cancer."

Murkowski earned the backing of Alaska's firefighters for consistently promoting policies at the federal level that support and protect firefighters. She has been nationally recognized for her role in enacting and extending the James Zadroga 9/11 Act, which provides health monitoring and compensation to heroes from Alaska and across the country who were exposed to toxic substances at the World Trade Center following the events of Sept. 11, 2001. Murkowski is a champion of the SAFER and fire grants programs that help fire departments throughout Alaska acquire apparatus, staffing, training and safety equipment.

"I am honored to have the support of our state's firefighters," Murkowski said. "Alaska's firefighters face a daunting challenge keeping our communities safe. That is why I am working to ensure they have the funding and the tools necessary to protect our families and our neighbors."

Murkowski has led efforts to address the nation's growing wildfire crisis through increased funding for fighting forest fires -- while working to stop the U.S. Forest Service's practice of borrowing from other programs to cover firefighting costs -- and better forest management policies, including increased hazardous fuels reduction and timber programs to improve forest health and improve firefighter safety.

The Alaska Professional Fire Fighters Association represents first responders in Anchorage, North Pole, Fairbanks, Shemya, Juneau and Ketchikan.

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