For those members who have not
renewed their membership for 2012, please send in your registration ASAP.
Beginning, Feb 1st, those 2011 memberships will be inactive, so hurry and send
in your registration forms.
Indiana Fire Chiefs EMS Section is accepting nominations and or resumes for the position of EMS Section Chair.
Duties include, but not limited too:
• Attendance at Fire Chief Association Board Meetings
• Conference planning,
• Carrying out effective communications between the IFCA Board and the EMS Section,
• Working with other EMS related organizations.
Please forward your intent to Chuck Valentine
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or 317/557-4046 before February 7, 2012 at 1500 hours.
EMS Section meeting February 9, 2012 1000 at Decatur Township Fire Department
Agenda:
• Review nominations and resumes for EMS Section Chair
• Candidates will have 5 minutes to speak about their vision for the EMS Section and 10 minutes to answer questions.
• Nominations will be open
• Nominations will be closed
• Reports for Section
• Old Business
• New Business
• Adjourn
Next meeting March 1, 2012 1100 at Decatur Township Fire Department
Agenda:
Section votes for the new chair.
I will except email votes at
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on March 1, 2012 1000 hours EST to 1030 hours EST.
IFCA Legislative Alert
Sunday, 22 January 2012
IFCA LEGISLATIVE ALERT
ACTION NEEDED!!!
The Government & Regulatory Reform Committee of the Indiana House of Representatives is considering House Bill 1254 that would do the following:
1. Abolish township advisory boards 1-1-15 and have county councils exercise powers and duties of township advisory boards:
a. County councils approve township budgets and levy taxes
b. County councils approve fire service decisions for townships
2. Require referendum in each county in November 2012 to abolish townships.
3. If referendum approved, it would make fire service a county function:
a. County commissioners would provide fire and EMS service.
b. County council would develop fire and EMS plan.
c. Transfer township fire assets to county.
d. If township part of fire territory, county assumes role of township.
4. If referendum not approved, create a County Board of Trustees comprised of township trustees and mandate only one tax rate in county for fire and EMS.
The IFCA is greatly concerned about the impact that these changes would have on the fire service and opposes this bill for the following reasons:
1. While the IFCA strongly supports the ability of citizens to determine their own government at the local level, this legislation would allow the urban areas of a county to outvote the rural township residents and in effect deprive rural townships of their right to keep townships if they desire.
2. The IFCA opposes county control of fire service decisions because local taxpayers are best suited to make the decisions concerning their fire service because they know their needs as well as how much they are able and willing to pay for fire services.
3. The IFCA is concerned that county control over tax levies could result in tax levies not being commensurate with fire protection service, possibly resulting in higher taxes or reduced services for specific areas. With one uniform tax rate, higher taxes for some areas and reduced services for other areas will almost certainly result.
4. The indirect consequence of these bills may be forced consolidations. The IFCA believes that consolidation should be voluntary and from the "ground up".
5. Most counties do not want control of the fire service as they have enough responsibility already.
6. If the state's volunteer fire departments are weakened by county control, there will be increased responsibilities placed upon municipal fire departments.
If your state representative sits on this committee, we urge you to contact your representative to oppose this bill. If your state representative does not sit on this committee, there is no point contacting them at this time.
Please contact your state representative before Tuesday, January 24, because the committee might vote on the bill that day. You need to simply ask your state representative to oppose HB 1254, but feel free to add your comments as well.
You can contact your state representative at the State House by e-mail or telephone with the information provided for your convenience by following this link. Click here.
SAFER Grants Application Period to Open Soon
Tuesday, 24 January 2012
FY 2011 SAFER Grants
Application
Period to Open Soon!
The FY 2011 Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grants application period will open soon.
Three brief get ready guides on the FY 2011 SAFER Grant Application period have been posted on the AFG website to help you kick-start the application process. The first get ready guide covers the overall SAFER Grant program, and two other guides describe basic information about applying for the two SAFER grant activities:
Hiring of Firefighters and the
Recruitment and Retention of Volunteer Firefighters.
IDHS Hosts South Koreans for K-9 Training at Highly Esteemed Search and Rescue Center
Indiana Department of Homeland Security (IDHS) Search and Rescue Training Manager Lillian Hardy has trained thousands of individuals from various public and private organizations through the IDHS Search and Rescue K-9 Training Program located at Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center in Edinburgh. Her expertise in K-9 search and rescue has drawn interest from across the globe to learn how to properly train search dogs in a variety of techniques.
This month, IDHS is hosting three South Korean Police officers who are learning from Hardy’s expertise and knowledge about how to build and manage their own program based on the IDHS Mari Hulman George Search and Rescue Training Center at Camp Atterbury.
"Indiana is extremely fortunate to have a resource like the Mari Hulman George Search and Rescue Training Center, and knowledgeable individuals like Lillian Hardy to operate it," said Joe Wainscott, executive director of the Indiana Department of Homeland Security. "We have a world-class facility created in partnership with Camp Atterbury and we are more than happy to share this resource to increase public safety throughout the world."
Korean
officials were so impressed with what Hardy had to teach that they asked to
visit the IDHS Search and Rescue Training Center to continue learning.
For further information and to see Hejae Yang, one of a
group of Korean Police now learning how to train search and rescue dogs at the
Indiana Department of Homeland Security facility please click here.
Remembrance Rescue Project
Monday, 07 November 2011
Remembrance Rescue Project
The Remembrance Rescue Project is a not-for-profit created by firefighters to preserve awareness to the significance of 9/11 through the stories from FDNY Rescue 4. Rescue 4 is currently the only fire apparatus from 9/11 operating outside the City of New York and is currently touring as a 9/11 artifact, education project and fundraising tool for children of fallen firefighters. We want to explore Indiana Fire Departments as hosts during the 2011-2012 tour.
The Remembrance Rescue Project looks to local fire departments to host FDNY Rescue 4 during its road tour. Host departments are encouraged to utilize the project for 9/11 education, remembrance and charity fundraising. The Remembrance Rescue Project works with host fire departments to coordinate educational events and appearances, while promoting the benevolent campaign for children of fallen firefighters.
We would greatly appreciate the opportunity to discuss hosting the Remembrance Rescue Project. We sincerely appreciate your support.
Thank you.
Chris Gantz, Firefighter/Project Leader
877-597-3473 x801
877-834-1324 Fax
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www.TheRRP.org
Legislative Breakfast - Thank You
Monday, 10 January 2011
I would like to THANK all of you who attended our legislator breakfast at the state house for your time and effort. We had a large number of chiefs in attendance and as I watched the conversations taking place, we definitely had a lot of contact/”face” time with our state legislators. I received many positive comments from both chiefs and legislators and look forward to IFCA having a breakfast next year in the state house.
Regards,
Danny Sink
IFCA President
We're on Facebook!
Thursday, 17 March 2011
We have recently established Facebook pages for both Indiana Fire Chiefs Association (IFCA) and Indiana Emergency Response Conference (IERC). Please check them out and tell us what you think.
