This has been a busy couple of weeks for those of us here at Respondersafety.com. It seems as though whenever we think that we are caught up, new challenges comes flying at us with the speed of light. So it has been in June.
We all hope that you like the new look of our website. We have worked diligently with Dan Ioven from Firecompanies.com to iron out some of the technical glitches which every new website must expect to encounter. From our side of the fence, we are finding it easier to create postings and update the many sections.
We are handling our website insertions in house now. It makes for a much faster turnaround time for our efforts. Now my friends let us move on to other items of importance.
On June 13 Jack Sullivan, our Director of Training, convened a brainstorming session in Richmond, Virginia to review and update our highway safety training program. A number of our instructors met with Jack to review the program and come up with suggestions to update and improve our primary training program.
Steve Austin called me to tell me of their success in ironing out several keys issues as to our instructor cadre and our delivery mechanism. He also indicated that the Emergency Response Safety Institute is investing in a number of traveling training packages to assist in the delivery of our training program.
Jack Sullivan sent me a real nice newspaper article from the Fort Wayne, Indiana Journal-Gazette. It spoke of the educational efforts undertaken by a number of Indiana Fire Departments as part of the 2006 Fire Department Stand Down for Fire Safety.
Fire Departments in Huntertown, Auburn, and Ft. Wayne, Indiana, among others devoted significant time to the issues of safety on the highways. They wanted to be full participants in the potentially life-saving efforts of the stand-down day.
Huntertown reinforced the importance of getting two fire units to the scene of highway incidents so that one can block the other while it handles the emergency incident. They also drew the outlines of 26 people at the station’s entrance Wednesday – one for each firefighter killed on America’s roads in 2005.
The Auburn Fire Department lowered its flag to half-staff and observed a moment of silence to remember those firefighters who were killed in vehicle crashes. Each of these agencies is to be commended for their devotion to issues involving highway safety.
I personally took part in the stand-down efforts undertaken by the career members of the Jackson Township District #3 here in Central New Jersey. My class on highway safety was very well-received by the members of that staff under the command of Deputy Chief Ken Byrnes. I was also treated to a very heart healthy luncheon meal.
During the period after my class was over, and before lunch, I had the good fortunate to make an emergency response with the staff. It was obvious to me from the professional way in which the responded and deployed that safety was an important part of their everyday operation.
On the move-over law front, our attorney Howard Cohen has been covering the newly enacted Alabama legislation. There are two sides to every story and we here at Respondersafety.com have come down firmly on the side of the folks who have battled long and hard for this. Georgia has also stepped its efforts to improve the use and enforcement of their move-over law.
Like I said my friends, thing have been very busy lately in the Respondersafety.com and Emergency Response Safety Institute world. Why not join with us in our efforts to eliminate death and injuries on the highways of North America.