Now, more than ever, it’s important to take care of the ones who take care of us. I’m proposing three bills to help our NorthCountry fire departments. One will create the Volunteer Firefighter Training Fund which will focus on helping volunteers complete over a hundred hours of required training by covering the costs of travel and missing work. The second bill creates the Volunteer Firefighters Scholarship Program and Fund to assist firefighters in going to college after being a member for eight years. Lastly, the final bill establishes the Volunteer Fire Department Capital Fund to help departments make improvements, build new stations, and buy equipment while helping take the burden off of local taxpayers. Our fire departments need help, and I believe this is a step in the right direction. It’s time we have the backs of our volunteer firefighters like they have ours.