It's actually the pandemic plan that recognizes firefighters as part of the emergency medical provision. From the plan, they take the sequencing guideline and in that translation to the guideline for H1N1, firefighters were somehow separated from other emergency medical responders and placed in a different tier. We don't really understand this. Maybe when the guideline was developed the people involved didn't fully understand the role firefighters play in emergency medical responses.
On October 4th, 2012. See this statement in context.