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Dear fellow
firefighter/first responder,
I am writing this letter
to thank you for your past volunteer service to the Pine Mountain
VFD and its members. I
realize that you have made sacrifices in your personal lives to
provide fire protection and basic medical services to the community.
It’s not easy to answer fire and/or medical emergency calls
at all hours. I am looking forward to your continued service.
However, there have been
some significant changes in the requirements to become a
firefighter, and to a lesser extent, to become a first responder, as
well as to continue in those capacities.
I’ll not get into the details, but the most significant
elements are that the last Legislature formalized many of the
previous minimum standards for training of firefighters and FEMA has
added a few requirements of its own.
Failure to comply with either may have adverse effects on the
fire department that could result in the fire department losing Act
833 grant monies as well as its eligibility for any federal grants.
Briefly, commencing in
July 2007, to become a certified firefighter, a person must complete
courses of instruction in Introduction to Firefighting, Protective
Equipment, and Wildland Firefighting.
This certification must be accomplished within one (1) year
of volunteering as a firefighter. The Intro and Pro gear courses can be taught by our in-house
Certified Training Officer.
The Wildland course has been expanded from 4 hours to 8 hours and
must be taught by a forestry instructor. Following certification,
firefighters must receive a minimum of twenty-four (24) hours of
additional training per year that is approved/certified by the
Arkansas Fire Academy. In other words, the informal, on-the-job training that we
have accomplished in the past will no longer be accepted as meeting
the annual requirement.
Training must now be more formal and organized, and the instructor
must be qualified to teach the particular course.
We now have a qualified instructor certified to teach all
courses leading up to a nationally recognized certified fore fighter
I We will make every effort to have the required
twenty-four (24) hours of instruction scheduled at Pine Mountain,
but it is the individual’s responsibility to ensure that he/she
attends the courses and meets the annual training requirement.
As time goes on, it is certainly conceivable that persons
will be attending courses they have already attended, but these
“refreshers” will count toward the training requirement.
If the fire chief cannot certify the individual’s compliance,
the firefighter must be dropped from the active roles until
compliance is achieved.
This is not a desirable situation because we have a very limited
number of firefighters as it is.
In addition to the above,
the Department of Homeland Security requires that all persons in
fire departments, including first responders, and all organizations
that could conceivably respond to emergencies or disasters must
attend two courses, i.e. National Incident Management System (NIMS)
Introduction, and Incident Command System (ICS).
At the present time, these courses are required by the end of
2007. Fire Chiefs
and Assistant Chiefs must receive additional training in Incident
Command. In order to
make it easier for us to comply with the FEMA requirement, I have
scheduled a full day of training on NIMS and ICS to be held at the
Community Center beginning at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 19.
Please make an effort to attend.
As you know, the Pine
Mountain VFD holds a business meeting on the 2nd Thursday
each month at 6:00 p.m.
Attendance has been very sparse of late.
I encourage all of you to attend this rather short meeting, where we
can present and handle the many administrative details necessary to
manage a functioning fire department.
More importantly, training is currently scheduled for the 3rd
Saturday each month from 9:00 a.m. to noon.
This schedule must now be more flexible, however, to
accommodate the new training requirements and availability of
qualified instructors.
Past attendance has been very spotty, however, and little benefit is
realized when most firefighters are absent.
I have heard comments from some firefighters that they are
not attending training because no meaningful training is conducted. Rest assured, that I will do what I can to ensure we receive
the pertinent training we need to provide the best fire protection
to our citizens while meeting the desires of FEMA and the State of
Arkansas.
I realize fully that many
of you are working in order to make a living and attendance at the
above events may not always be practicable.
All I ask is that you make an attempt, if possible, to
arrange your personal schedules in order to free up time for these
volunteer activities and to ensure that required training is
accomplished. I will
try to inform all of you in sufficient time of any changes to
training schedules at PMVFD and of scheduled training at nearby fire
departments. If anyone
has a suggestion or recommendation to make the business meeting and
training session more available, please let me know.
No suggestions will be discarded off-hand.
For those firefighters
not attending the last business meeting, you are receiving three
extra pieces of paper that are required to be kept in the department
files.
(1)
Personal information sheet.
Please complete and turn in at next meeting or mail to me
at 2164 MC 8094.
(2)
Your individual record of training. I have included training that is documented in our files.
If you have attended additional training, please add to the
form and return as above.
If no training has been received, so state and return.
(3)
A memorandum about PMVFD being a drug-free workplace.
Please acknowledge receipt by signing and return the bottom
portion of the memo.
If you have any questions
or suggestions, please feel free to contact me at 436-3309.
Sincerely,
R. H. Quinn
Fire Chief
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