From the IAFF: President Barack Obama on Friday outlined an aggressive plan to provide more than $1 billion to hire and retain firefighters, while giving preferences to jurisdictions for hiring veterans after returning from their tours of duty abroad.

“Jobs protecting our communities shouldn’t be the first on the chopping block,” the president said while speaking to firefighters in Arlington, Va. “Let’s get more firefighters on call, and in the process we will put veterans back to work. It’s good for the economy.”


Prior to the event, IAFF President Harold Schaitberger met with Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar about the Veterans Jobs Corps program about how the IAFF’s union structure and how the organization could work to get veterans on the job.

The Veterans Job Corps program will allow former service members to use the skills they learned overseas to work alongside fire fighters and police officers to protect America at home after a career of protecting America abroad, the president said.