WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Joe Biden thanked his local fire fighters for saving his sons from a fatal car accident took a speech to a major firefighters' union Friday.

The accident killed the Delaware lawmaker's first wife and daughter in 1972.

"I really owe you. I really owe you. And I owe the firefighters in my state and the firefighters nationally," Biden said to the International Association of Fire Fighters in Portsmouth, New Hamsphire. He added, "I wouldn't be a United States senator were it not for the Delaware firefighters. That's no malarkey, that's flat-out no malarkey."

Many of the other Democratic presidential candidates met with the union to appeal for their votes by promising them more support and resources than the current administration gives them. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, Connecticut Rep. Chris Dodd and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton traveled to Portsmouth to speak to the group and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama addressed the convention via phone.

--CNN Associate Producer Lauren Kornreich