Once again I find myself on the road, traveling with my friends in the Cumberland Valley Volunteer Fireman’s Association (CVVFA). Here we are once again, meeting at the Indian River Volunteer Fire Company in Millsboro, Delaware. We are holding the meeting of the President’s Council before moving into the nuts and bolts of our association business. We are sharing knowledge and information on our work in a variety of organizational areas.
Each of the states which participate in the affairs of the CVVFA spent a period of time sharing what their associations are doing to make the fire service better in their states. Some of the key issues covered involved a number of legal issues, state laws, cancer and health issues, as well as IRS and auditing matters. A great deal of concern was expressed and a number of important decisions were made.
Some of the best news came from the area of our Respondersafety.com Learning Network. We now have well over 32,000 people who have completed one or more of our on-line training offerings. In addition, a number of our CVVFA members participated in a move-over law educational session at the Pennsylvania visitor’s center on Interstate 81 in Greencastle, Pennsylvania. Knowledge was shared with more than 700 people during the six hours that our team was working at that site.
We are now entering the busy season for our organization. We will be in Washington, DC for the Fire Service Caucus Dinner. We will be using our display booth to share our knowledge with the attendees. We will also be sharing our message with as many people as we can. At the end of April a number of us will be heading off to the Fire Department Instructor’s Conference (FDIC) in Indianapolis, Indiana. I look forward to be meeting with a great many friends to share knowledge and training information.
Our association has gotten behind the National Traffic Incident Management (TIMS) certificate program. You can meet the requirements of this nationally-recognized training effort by taking ten specific courses which are being offered by our Respondersafety.com Learning Network.
We believe that this is an important part of our mission to improve highway safety among the fire, EMS, police, and towing industry groups. It is hard to believe that we have been doing this important work since 1999. Our training staff is on the road each month bringing new members into the highway traffic safety fold.
As much as we have accomplished, and as hard as we have worked, we still have a great deal to do. The number of people we need to reach is still large indeed. Thanks to the support we have received from a number of federal agencies over the years we will be able to continue our critical efforts. We have traveled a long road. However, there are still many more miles to travel. And we are planning to do this for quite some time to come. I would like to invite you to join with us. Please consider becoming a part of the highway safety world.