Stand Up America US Foundation
PO Box 1596, Bigfork, MT 59911
standupamericaus.org
July 14, 2026
The Honorable Donald J. Trump
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Trump:
On behalf of the Stand Up America US Foundation, I am writing to propose that your Administration host the first-ever White House Conference and Celebration honoring America’s Fire and EMS service — timed to two anniversaries converging this September. September 11, 2026, marks the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. September 2026 also marks the 290th anniversary of the American fire service, founded by Benjamin Franklin’s Union Fire Company in Philadelphia in 1736. No sitting President has ever formally recognized this workforce as a national body. This is the moment to change that.
The Ask
We respectfully request that the White House host this Conference on September 8th or 9th, 2026, immediately ahead of the 25th anniversary of the September 11th attacks, so that the recognition of Fire/EMS and the solemn observance of 9/11 stand together as one unified national moment.
Who This Reaches
America’s Fire and EMS service comprises roughly 2 million active personnel, some 85% of them volunteers, operating out of approximately 55,000 local stations in nearly every community in the country. Including their families and the broader Fire/EMS network, this community represents an estimated 5 million people — a constituency that has never been formally recognized by a U.S. President, and one that touches every state, county, and congressional district in America.
P.O. Box 1596, Bigfork MT 59911
The Ceremony
The event would center on honoring 9/11’s first responders and the intelligence professionals who serve alongside them, together with the 17 U.S. Navy sailors who survived the USS Cole bombing. We can arrange for 500 fire apparatus from all 50 states to parade in the nation’s capital, giving the ceremony a visual scale befitting the occasion and giving departments in every state a direct stake in the day.
The Fire/EMS 290 Task Forces
At the conference, we propose that your Administration announce eight Fire/EMS Task Forces to be carried out through partner NGOs, designed to ignite, motivate, and engage this workforce nationwide:
1. Firefighter/EMS Health, Safety and Welfare Task Force — assessing existing multi-agency efforts to prevent and treat the illnesses, diseases, and injuries incurred by Fire/EMS personnel.
2. National Firefighter/EMS Technology Directorate — bringing DOD and intelligence community technology (satellites, GPS, telehealth data transmission, AI) to bear on predicting and preventing fires and disasters before they occur.
3. Next Generation Firefighter/EMS Community Empowerment — building K-12 pipelines into the fire service using existing civic-education templates.
4. Firefighter/EMS Member Empowerment — a CEO Responder Lifeline Task Force to develop financial incentives that recruit and retain young people in local Fire/EMS departments.
5. National Wildfire Strategy Council — coordinating multi-agency recommendations to strengthen wildfire response and control.
6. National Fire/EMS Legacy Center and Museum — completing the only Washington, DC-based national tribute to Fire/EMS, anchored by DC Engine 3 and the National Fire/EMS Museum.
7. International Fire/EMS/Disaster Training Center — a San Diego/Imperial County training center linked to more than 25 million firefighters and EMS personnel worldwide.
8. Fire/EMS Rescue Task Force — added at the request of the FDNY to ensure EMS and technical rescue operations are represented at full parity with fire suppression.
Why Now
This convergence of anniversaries will not come again. Pairing the 290th anniversary of Franklin’s fire service with the 25th anniversary of 9/11 gives your Administration a natural, non-partisan occasion to launch what we are calling the Trump/Franklin Revolution to Protect
P.O. Box 1596, Bigfork MT 59911
and Save America — a sustained agenda to strengthen the departments and personnel who answer roughly 240 million emergency calls a year, largely as volunteers, without ever having been thanked by the White House. The Assistance to Firefighters Grant program (2001) and the SAFER program (2003) were both built on bipartisan support; this conference would build on that legacy rather than depart from it.
What We Are Asking of Your Team
We ask for a short briefing with appropriate White House staff to walk through the program, logistics for the apparatus parade, and the guest list for 9/11 survivors, intelligence personnel, and USS Cole survivors. Full program details, the by-the-numbers case for the Fire/EMS community, and a video overview of the Fire/EMS 290 National Agenda are available at fireems290.org.
Thank you for considering this request. Fire and EMS personnel have carried this country through its worst days for 290 years without asking for recognition. We believe your Administration has a rare opportunity, on the 25th anniversary of 9/11, to be the first to give it to them.
Respectfully,
MG Paul E. Vallely, U.S. Army (Ret.)
Chairman, Stand Up America US Foundation
This letter was published at Paul Vallely’s Substack
