It has been a truly exciting summer so far. Our work on the highway safety issues has taken us to a wide variety of places. We have worked hard to improve our effort, and your response to our efforts is heartening indeed. A number of us came together at the Cumberland Valley Volunteer Fireman's Association (CVVFA) 103rd Annual Convention on August 5, 6, and 7 in Hancock Maryland. We had an interesting series of discussions on the efforts we intend to deliver in the months to come. It was the consensus of all in attendance that the issue of struck-by incidents is gaining focus and impact in the world at large.

Jack Sullivan, the Director of Training for the Emergency Responder Safety Institute (ERSI) conducted an in-depth training opportunity for potential training instructors. More than 40 people attended the session. There will be more of these courses in the future.

Other sessions were held by your curriculum development committee. In-depth discussions were held on the content and direction of our future course development efforts. We set our sights on completing our core curriculum this fall.

Gary Morris retired Chief of the Seattle Fire Department, and a member of the ERSI Board of Directors addressed the annual banquet of the CVVFA on Friday night. He spoke of the unique journey he and his wife had made to reach the conference. They had hiked more than 1,000 miles along the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to West Virginia to reach our conference.

Chief Morris also spoke of the need to maintain our commitment to highway safety. Chief Morris' efforts on the safety front have made a difference in our national approach to the issue of safety. As an active member of the safety committee of the International Association of Fire Chief's he keeps our responder safety issues in the forefront of our national fire service's attention.

Your highway safety pilgrims next journeyed to the International Association of Fire Chief's Fire Rescue International Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana. We made our presence known in the hall and handed out a wide variety of literature, information, and advice.

The ERSI would like to thank Jack Peltier of Massachusetts, Mike Chiramonte of New York, and Jim Cubbage of Delaware for their hard work in our informational booth. Additional thanks are due to Mr. Brian Yoder general manager of the Mifflin Valley Reflective Apparel Company for his work at the booth and his continued support of our efforts.

On August 25, the Emergency Responder Safety Institute conducted a ground-breaking effort in the area of highway scene safety. Thanks to the efforts of Alan Baldwin, Incident Manager for the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, created and photographed a series of actual "best practices" for highway responders.

A number of different scenarios were set up and filmed during the course of a fairly busy, 12-hour filming session. Using an unopened segment of the Pennsylvania Turnpike in southern Pennsylvania, we created a series of actual scenarios on the highway using fire, police, EMS, highway worker, and privately-owned vehicles.

Thanks to the support of VFIS, Provident Insurance, and IFSTA we were able to create both video and digital photos of each scenario. At some point after these videos and photos are reviewed and edited, we will make them available to you through our Respondersafty.com website.

A great many fine, dedicated people came together in Uniontown, Pennsylvania for this effort. Representatives begin by meeting on Tuesday evening August 24 to put the finishing touches on the photo shoot scenarios.

This is a critical undertaking. When this task is fully completed and everything is edited, we will be archiving it on the Respondersafety.com site for your use. People have been asking for video and digital images of best practices. When this project is completed, we will have it ready and waiting for you.

We know that you are out there. We have received literally thousands of requests for our "Ten Cones of Highway Safety Video." While there have been some issues involving our fulfillment of your orders, we want to assure you that our staff is working diligently to make sure our information reaches you.

You, my fellow responders, are the reason for our existence. Take care and stay safe.