On 9 and 10 November 1999, the State Fire Marshal and the Director of the State Fire Academy (University of Illinois Fire Service Institute) co-hosted a Volunteer Fire Service Summit at the Public Affairs Center of the University of Illinois Springfield campus. From the beginning of the project, the Summit was developed on a partnership basis with the leadership of fire service, business, government and educational organizations. The Summit brought into focus issues that affect some 30,000 volunteer firefighters throughout Illinois and was built upon the work of the National Volunteer Fire Service Summit held in June 1998 at the National Fire Academy sponsored by the National Volunteer Fire Council.

The Summit included 216 representatives of the five critical groups who must work together to create and sustain the volunteer fire service in communities throughout Illinois. These groups included firefighters and fire service leaders, mayors, city managers, 6 separate State government agencies, business leaders representing local and Fortune 500 corporations, and community/junior colleges. This was the nation's first state-level Summit built upon the National Fire Service Summit and as such is considered a template for other states. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Director Witt, the National Fire Academy, the North American Fire Training Directors and the National Volunteer Fire Council have all asked to be kept informed of the Summit results.

The central impact of the Summit was to create the feeling among the participants that together "we can":

Can create communications between these groups

Can develop a set of common issues

Can agree on a set of near-term goals and objectives

Can improve the ability of the volunteer fire service in Illinois to protect our communities

Three themes emerged from summit discussions:

1. Volunteer fire departments and firefighters may know what needs to be done but lack the time and resources to accomplish all of the community's expectations.

2. There must be better 2-way communications between the fire department and the community concerning community expectations and the needs of the volunteers to meet them.

3. The volunteer fire department is wholly a product of the community and, as such, the community has an obligation to provide human and material resources required to staff, train and equip the fire department to provide the services expected of it.

 

Summit Objectives.

The central goal of the Summit was to serve as a catalyst to bring together interested parties and create an action agenda to address critical volunteer fire service issues. Summit Objectives were as follows:

1. Create a forum for identification, discussion and clarification of local and regional issues affecting the operational capabilities of the volunteer fire service in Illinois.

2. Bring together interested parties who can create an action agenda to address the volunteer fire service issues identified in the statewide and regional forums. These parties should be drawn from local, state and federal government, the fire service, industry/business, and educators.

3. Create near–term and mid-term action agenda to address the volunteer fire service issues identified.

4. Identify how the State and other organizations can assist the Illinois volunteer fire service through research, scholarship and public service.

5. To identify linkages between the volunteer, paid-on-call and career fire service.

Presentation by Chief John Buckman

Chief John Buckman is the Director, Volunteer Section of the International Fire Chiefs Association and was a participant at the National Summit. He stated the "America is at Risk" and outlined the issues and conclusions of the National Summit as a starting point for the Illinois Summit. PowerPoint slides of his presentation are provided at Appendix C. The speech can be heard verbatim at the summit web site http://otel.uis.edu/summit  .

Keynote by Lieutenant Governor Corinne Wood

Lieutenant Governor Corinne Wood stated the importance of "civic pride" and "volunteerism" to our communities. She cited the "courage, selflessness and dedication of all firefighter that was making a positive difference in Illinois communities." She stated:

"Governor Ryan and I are committed to doing everything we can to ensure that our firefighters have the best training and tools…to protect their own lives while saving others."

"We want to hear the ideas for improvements that arrive from this conference."

"One person can make a huge difference… each firefighter in Illinois is such a person."

The speech can be heard verbatim at the summit web site http://otel.uis.edu/summit.

The first seminar session was designed around a questionnaire (Appendix to D) to determine the expectations each participant had for the fire service. Responses to this question fell into 3 categories:

Values.

Leadership - Serve as a positive role model in the community

Commitment – be professional and have a genuine concern for the community

Dedication – highly motivated

Integrity – wise stewards of public money, property and trust

Pride – self-initiated, keeping positive traditions alive

Performance

Response – rapid response to any emergency

Teamwork – work as a team within the fire service and with other emergency response agencies

Innovative - creative problem-solver willing and able to take on new challenges

Educate – educate community about fire and safety

Prevention – through inspection and education, help prevent loss

Preparations

Well trained and educated to national standards to meet emergency tasks

Know community safety needs

Fit and healthy

Communicate regularly with citizens, government, and business leaders

 

Issues Addressed

The Summit identified several underlying areas of concern that were common to most issues:

People. The volunteer fire service must continually attract and retain exceptional young people to serve

Time. Time demands exceed volunteer availability

Funding. Funding is required to support training, equipment and for benefits to attract and retain volunteers. Often volunteers must spend significant time fund raising.

Lack of understanding and knowledge. There is a lack of current, factual information about the fire service both inside and outside the fire service.

Standards. Should there be separate standards for volunteers? There was a consensus that standards are important safety and performance guides, that minimum standards should apply to all firefighters, that standards continue to proliferate, and that it is increasingly difficult for volunteers to reach and maintain all of the fire services standards.

Areas of Concern

Human factors

Benefits

Time commitments and constraints

Training

Community

Actions to be taken

Develop and implement on-going local community education programs about the volunteer fire department.

Develop public and corporate partnerships.

Identity and develop recruiting and retention resources and make them available through centralize sources such as web sites and libraries.

Initiate alternative staffing programs. Re-look at fire department staffing requirements.

Develop / expand inter-government agreements to share resources and support.

Examine other state benefit systems.

Create a sub-committee to continue to meet to consider and expand recruiting and retention opportunities.

Hold follow-on summits / discussions at the local and regional level.

 

Issue: Firefighter Health and Safety

Leadership

Equipment

Training

Personal Health

Department Policies

Government

Action to be taken.

Educate Leaders.

Create a central Information clearinghouse.

Standardize personal protective equipment.

Create Routine maintenance programs.

Tailor training programs.

Develop policies and procedures.

Improve ordinances and laws.

Create Training scholarship fund.

Funding.

 

Issue: Training

Areas of Concern

Training Standards

Training and Performance are directly related

Training should be an incentive to retention

Instructor quality

Access to "Other" training resources

Testing

Lack of a clearinghouse for training information and materials

Partnerships for training

Funding

Actions to be taken.

Governor's Blue Ribbon Panel should address issues

Designate and fund a training clearinghouse

Improve access to certification testing

Expand use of on-line technology

Continue cooperative efforts between State Fire Marshal and Fire Service Institute

Create training partnerships

Form a training sub-committee from Summit participants

Conduct a statewide survey of business and industry training programs and facilities

 

Issue: Relations with Business and Industry

Areas of Concern

Business/Industry has resources and is willing to share/partner

Resources are a 2-way street

Lack of communications

Lack of a common fire service voice

Dialogue and programs are reactive

Public Information

Actions to be taken.

Summit participants should open communications lines

Attend local meetings and training sessions

Seek joint training opportunities

Develop a common voice on emergency response and safety issues

Issue: Public Education

Areas of Concern

Public fire education programs focus on traditional fire safety programs

Public education programs do not focus on educating decisionmakers at the local, State and national level on the real issues of the fire service

Public education is not why firefighters join the fire service

The same individuals do it all and then often burn out

Actions to be taken.

Seek non-traditional volunteers

Create a clearinghouse for public education information

Look outside the "box."

Create alliances for public education

 

Issue: Volunteer fire service communication, cooperation and collaboration

Areas of Concern.

Internal Communications barriers

Regional cooperation

External Communications

Lack of use of technology to enhance communications

Action to be taken.

Create a statewide Mutual Aid Box Alarm System (Statewide MABAS)

Establish a statewide public safety information consortium

Conduct a statewide fire Explorer and Cadet jamboree in 2000 at the Fire Service Institute.

Issue: Relations with Government and the Public

Areas of Concern.

Funding and resources

Lack of training for fire chiefs

Image of the fire department is important

"We have more in common than what keeps us apart."

"Too much, Too fast."

Actions to be taken.

Commission and publish a White Paper on alternative funding sources

Create, mandate and fund a training course for new fire chiefs

Create a clearinghouse for public information.

Write and publish articles on the fire service in non-fire service publications

Review and update the fire service strategic plan

Conduct a follow-on summit

Governor's Blue Ribbon Panel should address summit issues

 

Issue: Funding

Areas of Concern

Communities have an obligation to provide the equipment and training required for the volunteer firefighters to perform the duties demanded of them

Department funding is tax base-dependent and varies greatly

Many volunteer departments spend significant time and effort in fundraising

Equipment and training needs are increasingly expensive

Standards and needs for volunteer and paid departments are similar, funding is not

Actions to be taken

Increase communication between fire department and government leaders

Examine and modify taxing authority

Reduce / eliminate unfunded mandates

Improve access to "sharing" programs

Various fire service associations should work together to address funding issues

A web site was created to provide every interested individual in Illinois with access to Summit plenary sessions and a means to directly contribute to the issue discussions. The site address is:

It was the common assessment of the Summit participants that the Summit objectives were accomplished that there should be follow-on Summit, that the Governor and local government leaders should receive the results of the Summit. Participants almost universally expressed the belief that they had gained a much better understanding of the issues facing the fire service and the resources available to address those issues. All asked that the "effort continue" and expressed the common feeling of being "greatly encouraged."

On 9 and 10 November 1999, the State Fire Marshal and the Director of the State Fire Academy (University of Illinois Fire Service Institute) co-hosted a Volunteer Fire Service Summit at the Public Affairs Center of the University of Illinois Springfield campus. The summit was partially funded under a University of Illinois Partnership Illinois grant and by the State Fire Marshal. The Summit built upon the work of the National Volunteer Fire Service Summit held in June 1998 at the National Fire Academy sponsored by the National Volunteer Fire Council.

Summit Organizing Committee. From the beginning of the project, the summit was developed on a partnership basis with the leadership of fire service, business, government and educational organizations that create, operate and support the fire service in Illinois. Organizing committee members met several time between June and Oct 1999 to develop Summit objectives, attendee list, methodology and to train to serve as seminar leaders. As a result, the organizing committee brought a rich diversity of views and issues into the agenda. A list of the organizing committee is provided at Appendix A.

The summit brought together 216 representatives of local government leaders, state organizations, businesses, community/junior colleges and universities and fire departments. 130 attended the Springfield summit and 80 attended regional sites. Individuals were selected to ensure that there was a geographic distribution of attendees from throughout Illinois. A list of attendees at the Springfield Summit location is provided at Appendix B.

A central goal of the Summit was to ensure that participation was "inclusive" not exclusive. Therefore, partnerships were developed with Fire Service leaders and selected community colleges to create 6 regional sites that could receive real time/near real time streaming video coverage of plenary sessions, conduct local/regional discussions and provide feedback to the Summit. Input from these groups has been included in the issue papers in this report. The regional sites represent significant effort on the part of each region to include local representatives, who were unable to attend the Summit in Springfield. Participation included representatives of all 5 target groups. The regional sites and coordinators were:

Location Site Coordinator

Carbondale John A. Logan Community College Chief Jeffery Anderson

Mary Ellen Abell

Champaign Fire Service Institute Dave Clark

Chief Mick Humer

Dave Lawrence

Galesburg Galesburg Regional Fire Training Center Chief John Cratty

Capt Brad Stevenson

Godfrey Lewis and Clark Community College Chief John Sowders

Joliet Joliet Junior College Jim Arie

Lake County College of Lake County Chief Don Mobley

A web site was created to provide every interested individual in Illinois with access to Summit plenary sessions and a means to directly contribute to the issue discussions. The site address is:

The University of Illinois sponsored the site and provided near real-time streaming video of the first days' plenary sessions. The site includes a web board for interactive discussion of issues and access to Summit related documents. The site will remain active for at least a year following the summit.

Summit Issues. The Summit organizing committee reviewed the results of the June 98 National Volunteer Fire Service Summit as a starting point to identify the issues that confront the volunteer fire service today and then examined these issues from the broader perspective of the entire fire service. The committee identified the following issues to serve as the basis for Summit seminar discussions.

Relations with government

Firefighter health and safety

Recruiting & Retention

Training

Relations with Business and Industry

Public Education

Volunteer fire service communication, cooperation and collaboration

Relations with Government and the Public

Funding

The Summit program included 2 plenary sessions, 2 seminar sessions, a dinner forum and working lunch, as follows:

1-3:00 PM* Welcome – State Fire Marshal Tom Armstead

Overview of Summit – Summit Director Richard Jaehne

National Volunteer Fire Service Summit Report – John Buckman

Keynote Address – Lieutenant Governor Corinne Wood

Group Photo

3-5 PM "Expectations" breakout session

6:30-9PM Dinner with a presentation by the Illinois Propane Gas Association

8:30-9AM Short plenary session to set day's agenda

9AM – 1PM "Issues" breakout session with working lunch

1-4PM * Plenary session to report on break out session work

Summary and closing remarks

* connotes video taped and distributed to regional sites

National Fire Service Summit Issues. Chief John Buckman is the Director, Volunteer Section of the International Fire Chiefs Association and was a participant at the National Summit. He stated the "America is at Risk" and outlined the issues and conclusions of the national Summit as a starting point for the Illinois Summit. PowerPoint slides of his presentation are provided at Appendix C. The speech can be heard verbatim at the summit web site http://otel.uis.edu/summit.

Keynote by Lieutenant Governor Corinne Wood.

Lieutenant Governor Corinne Wood stated the importance of "civic pride" and "volunteerism" to our communities. She cited the "courage, selflessness and dedication of all firefighters that was making a positive difference in Illinois communities." She stated:

"The Governor Ryan and I are committed to doing everything we can to ensure that our firefighters have the best training and tools…to protect their own lives while saving others."

"We want to ensure that regulations are not unduly burdensome."

"It is important that Illinois support fire service efforts…"

"We want to hear the ideas for improvements that arrive from this conference."

"It is important to keep the citizens informed about the scope of fire service work,…and that while the scope has changed is importance has not."

"Death, injury and loss from fire has been reduced significantly in Illinois in the past 5 years, because of the efforts of the fire service."

"One person can make a huge difference… each firefighter in Illinois is such a person."

The speech can be heard verbatim at the summit web site http://otel.uis.edu/summit).

Responses to this question fell into 3 categories values, preparation and performance.

Values.

Leadership - Serve as a positive role model in the community

Commitment – be professional and have a genuine concern for the community

Dedication – highly motivated

Integrity – wise stewards of public money, property and trust

Pride – self-initiated, keeping positive traditions alive

Performance

Response – rapid response to any emergency

Teamwork – work as a team within the fire service and with other emergency response agencies

Innovative - creative problem-solver willing and able to take on new challenges

Educator – educator community about fire and safety

Prevention – through inspection and education, help prevent loss

Preparations

Well trained and educated to national standards to meet emergency tasks

Know community safety needs

Fit and healthy

Communicate regularly with citizens, government, and business leaders

All agreed that the fire service serves each person in, around and traveling through the community in times of crisis. Specific groups within the community include: businesses, citizens with special needs (very old or young, impoverished, handicapped) industrial/manufacturing plants. Local government leaders and other emergency response agencies were identified as customers because of the shared responsibility for public safety. The fire service itself was identified as a customer, particularly other fire departments engaged in mutual aid agreements. Finally, each firefighter was judged to be a customer of the fire department for training, support and leadership.

There was a direct and very significant correlation between the expectations of the fire service and the actual contributions made. There was a consensus that fire departments contributed to improved public safety and reduced cost of insurance coverage in communities. However, there were concerns that public safety was a "fulltime" job and difficult for volunteers to manage at the level they felt was needed on a part-time volunteer basis. This developed as a basic theme throughout the Summit; i.e.,

Volunteer fire departments and firefighters may know what needs to be done but lack the time and resources to accomplish all of the community's expectations.

The fire service delivers services based upon public demand. Often this demand is the result of a no-notice emergency. The wide range of emergency and other services provided by fire departments are tailored to local needs and include:

Emergency Response

First responder to emergency

Fire Suppression

Emergency medical services (EMS)

Rescue ( trench, above and below grade, collapse, farm, water, ice,

Automobile Extrication

Disaster support

Hazardous materials mitigation

Terrorism response to chemical agent release

Prevention Activities

Public safety education

Public, commercial and residential building Inspections and code enforcement

Fire investigation

Assist in community planning and development

Fire stations as safe areas for children

There was a consensus that the fire service should have the respect and confidence of the public. Key words used include:

"Above reproach"

"Can do"

Compassionate

Courteous

Dependability

Efficient

Fiscally responsible

Helpful

Integrity

Knowledgeable

Professional

Trusted

Well managed

A consensus believed that the public had the same expectations for the fire service, regardless if it was volunteer or paid. However, within the fire service there were significantly different expectations based largely upon time and resource limitations among the volunteers. There was general agreement that the performance standards for any particular task should not vary for volunteer or paid firefighter; however, the range of services that volunteers were fully trained and equipped to provide often was reduced. This could lead to a gap between community expectations and actual performance capabilities. A significant concern was expressed about the time and resource demands for training to maintain the skills to nationally established standards. This reinforced the basic theme as stated above for expectations versus time and resources. Many felt that the volunteer fire service should aggressively seek to educate the citizens and leaders in their community on the services demanded of the fire service and resource requirements to provide those services.

A second theme that developed was that:

There must be better 2-way communications between the fire department and the community concerning community expectations and the needs of the volunteers to meet them.

 

A third theme was that:

The volunteer fire department is wholly a product of the community and, as such, the community has an obligation to provide human and material resources required to staff, train and equip the fire department to provide the services expected of it.

On the second day of the Summit, seminar participants were provided with a short vision presentation for Illinois public safety in the 21st century (slides at Appendix E) and then convened to discuss selected volunteer fire service issues. Each seminar group discussed 1–2 issues in detail and then presented their conclusions using a pre-formatted outline to the all Summit participants in the final afternoon plenary session. The full assembly of participants then had the opportunity to discuss the issue. The following provides a summary of the seminar work and open discussions.

The Summit identified several underlying concerns:

People. The volunteer fire service is attract and retain exceptional young people to serve

Time. Demands exceed volunteer availability

Funding. To support training, equipment and for benefits to attract and retain volunteers. Often volunteers must spend significant time fund raising.

Lack of understanding and knowledge. There is a lack of current, factual information about the fire service both inside and outside the fire service.

Standards. Should there be separate standards for volunteers? There was a consensus that standards are important safety and performance guides, that minimum standards should apply to all firefighters, that standards continue to proliferate, and that it is increasingly difficult for volunteers to reach and maintain all of the fire services standards.

The volunteer fire service:

Has a lack of time, money and public understanding for volunteer fire service missions and resources needs.

Needs to educate itself, its community, State and national officials about its missions, contributions and needs.

Needs to speak with a common voice but does not yet do so.

Has unknown and untapped resources available to it.

Must "think outside the box."

Should look at other models as part of its self-assessment process.

 

Areas of concern. The Summit identified 5 factors that have a significant impact on recruiting and retention.

Human factors. Each volunteer has a unique set of personal factors affecting his/her availability and willingness to commit time and energy to the fire department. These include age, family commitments, health, financial/ employment status and demands, and personal goals such as continuing education. Recruiting and retention programs must consider and incorporate these factors.

Benefits. It was felt that provision of benefits is a significant incentive for volunteers to join and remain active in the fire department. These benefits should include reimbursement for expenses related to fire service training and work, longevity credit for employment and retirement, monetary retirement benefits, and insurance (life and disability).

Time commitments and constraints. There was a consensus that the individuals who volunteer for the fire service often volunteer for other activities in their communities. Their willingness to commit time and energy often results in over-commitment. Volunteer fire departments must recruit and retain a significant number of volunteers to ensure that sufficient volunteers are available for the department to be available for emergencies 24 hours each day. Workload must also be balanced.

Training. Volunteer fire departments have a demanding set of minimum training needs based upon the level of standards and missions set for the department. Firefighter II is the basic level of firefighter training and requires over 250 hours of training. Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) has similar basic training demands. Specialized tasks such as rescue, HAZMAT, automobile extrication, and investigation can exponentially increase the training demands for the department and individual firefighters. The volunteer has limited time to attend, and departments normally very limited funding to pay for such training.

Community. The extent to which the community understands and actively supports volunteer firefighters and the department often has a dramatic effect on the recruiting and retention of volunteers. The absence of such visible support also has a negative effect on recruiting and retention.

Actions to be taken.

Develop and implement on-going local community education programs about the volunteer fire department. Educate the entire community about their volunteer fire department – what it can and cannot do, what it takes to respond to emergencies, what it has done in the community, how the community can help. Specific target audiences should include: families of firefighters, business leaders, local and regional government leaders, service groups such as Rotary, etc., community groups and citizens.

Develop public and corporate partnerships. Reach beyond the fire department to create a support network. This could include the creation of auxiliary memberships, support commitments from service clubs, scouting/cadet programs, and public information campaigns and newsletters.

Identity and develop recruiting and retention resources and make them available through centralize sources such as web sites and libraries. Create a consolidated set of recruiting and retention assistance products and make them available to individual departments using web sites, libraries and other means.

Initiate alternative staffing programs. Re-look at fire department staffing to identify positions and skills that can be provided by volunteers with specialized skill who are not required to be firefighters. This can include maintenance, administration, and other types of support to free firefighters time for training and emergency response. Duty schedules can also be implemented to allow volunteers to schedule there availability

Develop / expand inter-government agreements to share resources and support. Work with the support network to identify alternative sources of funding and support. Work actively with state and national representatives and organizations to secure additional funding for the fire service.

Examine other state benefit systems. Provide selected short and long term benefits to volunteer firefighters.

Create a sub-committee to continue to meet to consider and expand recruiting and retention opportunities.

Hold follow-on summits / discussions at the local and regional level.

Issue: Firefighter health and safety

It was recognized that some 100 firefighters die in the line of duty each year, and tens of thousands are injured. 50% of line of duty deaths each year are related to cardiac arrest. To reduce death and injury to firefighters, the Summit focused of 6 areas of concern.

Leadership. It was felt that leaders are often lacking the knowledge and skills required to deal with firefighter health and safety issues. They must be able to make meaningful assessments of the health and safety condition of each firefighter and the department as a whole, to include systemic and individual weaknesses, motivation, and standing operating procedures.

Equipment. Equipment must be maintained and operated with a clear set of safety policies and procedures. There is a lack of standardization in such basic equipment as breathing apparatus and passive alert devices to the point that there is confusion during emergency operations.

Training. Fire department training programs must include personal health training and also include safety training as an integral part of operations training. In general, there must be an increased awareness of health and safety in every aspect of fire department operations.

Personal Health. The health of an individual firefighter is a personal issue; however, it must also be made part of the fire service culture. It should begin with pre-select standards, and be included in every stage of training and operations.

Department Policies. Often clear health and safety policies are lacking in volunteer fire departments, perhaps because it is a voluntary activity. Nevertheless, clear department policies concerning individual firefighter health/wellness and safety must be created in every fire department. This should include periodic medical assessment standards and procedures and on-going wellness/fitness programs.

Government. It was felt that government regulation is viewed and functions like a "stick" with little "carrot" to create incentives for departments and communities to invest in firefighter health and safety programs. Volunteer departments are particularly challenged to meet standards and procedures established for paid departments. It was felt that State and federal agencies should institute a no-fault assessment and assistance program.

Action to be taken.

Educate leaders. Leadership must educate themselves, acknowledge and take the lead in dealing with firefighter health and safety issues. This should include fire department, local and state government and fire service related industry leaders.

Create and central Information clearinghouse. A central clearinghouse for information related to firefighter health issues, standards, sample polices, standing operating procedures (SOP's) and programs should be established.

Standardize personal protective equipment. Recognizing that the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has an integrated fire service standards development process, there should be addition work between fire equipment manufacturers and fire service organizations focused specifically on standardization of personal protective and life-saving equipment, such as personal alert safety systems (PASS).

Create routine maintenance programs. Each fire department should consider implementation of comprehensive routine maintenance and scheduled replacement programs to reduce catastrophic failure during an emergency.

Tailor training programs. Training programs must be tailored to the time and skill levels of the volunteer firefighters with the goal of getting each individual firefighter involved throughout each training period (as opposed to one performs a drill while everyone else watches).

Develop policies and procedures. Each fire department should develop and maintain written local policies and procedures for firefighter health and department safety programs.

Improve ordinances and laws. Fire service leadership should work at the local, State and federal level to improve ordinances/laws and funding to underwrite for firefighter health and safety programs, to include life safety and building codes.

Create training scholarship fund. A training scholarship fund should be established and private contributions sought to underwrite the cost for firefighters to attend training.

Funding. Adequate funding for health and safety related training programs must be programmed by departments and funded by governments.

It was recognized that most training is done within the fire department. Specific areas of concern were:

Training Standards. There was consensus that standards-based training, tailored to the missions and conditions of each fire department was a fundamental requirement for the volunteer fire service.

Training should be an incentive to retention. Training can and should be a very significant incentive to recruit and retain volunteers; however, it often is not. Why and how can this be achieved?

Instructor quality. Instructor quality does make a significant difference in the effectiveness of training programs. How does a department find and pay for qualified, effective instructors to support every aspect of its training program?

Access to "Other" training resources. Discussions among Summit participants clearly pointed to fire departments do not know of the existence of or how to access training materials and programs available to them. In particular, there was a lack of knowledge about training programs created and offered by business and industry.

Testing. Testing for certification is a statutory responsibility of the State Fire Marshal. There were concerns that testing needed to be more accessible. The State Fire Marshal in attendance stated that he had begun an internal review of the testing program and welcomed Summit participant input.

Lack of a clearinghouse for training information and materials. No single clearinghouse exists in the State that has knowledge of and access to all fire service training materials. However, several organizations including the State Fire Marshal, Fire Service Institute, Fire Chiefs Association, Fire Service Instructors and Fire Protection Districts Association have created web sites to provide information on training programs and access to training materials. Funding, copyright policies, information-sharing protocols would have to be developed to create a clearinghouse.

Partnerships for training. Several partnerships for training exist through various fire service associations such as the Fire Protection Districts Association, the Fire Chiefs, and Firefighters Association. In addition, industry programs such as the National Propane Gas Association training program on propane safety provide new high quality training materials for all departments. How can knowledge of these programs existence and access to qualified instructors be provided?

Funding. New missions, increased compliance standards, increased training costs and the amount of funding for training are all concerns. State funding for training has been reduced without inflation adjustment from 1990-levels. Local budgets have not kept up with increased training costs and added training requirements. New sources and strategies for funding are required.

Training and Performance are directly related. The quality of performance is directly related to the quality and relevance of training. As the fire service is expected to take on new missions training programs should be provided to develop the additional skills required. Volunteer time and additional funding for such training is an area of significant concern.

Actions to be taken.

Blue Ribbon Panel Address issues. The Governor's Blue Ribbon Committee on the fire service and State legislature should specifically address funding requirements and sources for training.

Designate and fund a training clearinghouse. The State should designate and fund a clearinghouse for sharing of fire service training information, materials and programs.

Improve access to certification testing. The State Fire Marshal should continue efforts to improve access to fire service certification testing.

Expand use of on-line technology. On-line technology should be used to expand access to training for firefighters.

Continue cooperative efforts between State Fire Marshal and Fire Service Institute. The State Fire Marshal and Fire Service Institute should continue to work together to clarify and reinforce their distinctive roles as statutory fire service certifying and training institutions.

Create Training partnerships. Efforts throughout Illinois by fire service organizations, business, government and educational institutions to create training partnerships should be encouraged and expanded.

Form a Training Sub-committee. A sub-committee from the Summit should be created to continue to study, inform, report and work training issues with the goal of clarifying and unifying the fire service set of training needs. The sub-committee should develop and implement a short- and mid-range action plan.

Conduct a statewide survey of business and industry training programs and facilities. There should be a comprehensive, statewide survey conducted and disseminated to the fire service to identify training programs and facilities available from business and industry for fire service use.

Areas of Concern.

Business/Industry has resources and is willing to share/partner. Business participants stated that "we've got lots of resources but you (fire service) are not doing enough to go after us." "We are willing to partner with you, but don't know what you need."

Resources are a 2-way street. There was a consensus that the fire service and business/industry have mutual needs and contributions. It was felt that while business/Industry have significant resources to offer, the fire service is not aware of their existence. Business/industry is more effective in generating support from the fire service than the fire service Is from business/industry.

Lack of communications. There is a lack of 2-way communications between them, which hampers sharing of resources. The Illinois fire service and business/industry need to establish an on-going dialogue at the local, region, and State.

Lack of a common fire service voice. Because there is the lack of a common, clear fire service voice, business/industry does not know what the fire service needs and who to coordinate with to provide support and resources when available.

Dialogue and programs are reactive. The fire service and business/industry tend to have a reactive rather than a proactive relationship. New regulations, safety mishaps, code violations, emergency response cleanup tend to be the catalysts for dialogue. Dialogue and cooperative efforts should become proactive to mitigate crisis before they occur.

Public Information. The media can and should but seldom are asked to facilitate information sharing.

Actions to be taken.

Summit participants should open communications lines. Each Summit participant should serve as a catalyst for opening communications by seeking to attend and speak about the Summit at business/industry meetings in the next 3 months.

Attend local meetings and training sessions. Each fire department should invite local business/industry representatives at regular local and regional fire service meetings and training sessions.

Seek joint training opportunities. Opportunities for joint training between the fire service and business/industry should be identified and conducted at the local, regional and State level.

Develop a common voice on emergency response and safety issues. The fire service and business/industry should work together to develop a common voice on emergency response and safety issues to direct and improve public policy.

 

Issue # Public Education

Areas of Concern.

Public fire education programs focus on traditional fire safety programs. Fire departments are well known for their children's fire safety programs such as "Stop, Drop and Roll". However, communities remain relatively uninformed about the issues affecting the ability of the fire department to provide expected services.

Public education programs do not focus on educating decisionmakers at the local, State and national level on the real issues of the fire service. Educating decisionmakers about the issues and needs of the fire department has not been viewed as a public education program for the fire department, but it should be.

Public education is not why firefighters join the fire service. Providing the public with information and education programs is not a reason most volunteers join the fire service. However, there are many individuals in the community who do volunteer to help with education and who might be trained by the fire department to assist with public education programs.

The same individuals do it all and then burn out. Significant concern was expressed that volunteers burn out because they are asked to "do it all". It was felt that fire departments should seek to involve more members of the community in volunteering to perform specific support and education tasks that would set firefighters free to focus on preparing for and responding to emergencies.

Actions to be taken.

Seek non-traditional volunteers. Fire departments should seek to recruit non-traditional volunteers to perform education and support roles as part of the volunteer fire department. (note: departments can exempt such individuals from ISO ratings requiring minimum training hours for each firefighter)

Create a clearinghouse for public education information. A clearinghouse / pool of resources for public education and information should be created for fire departments to draw upon, which provides facts, literature and education materials on the life safety and building codes, operation, staffing, funding and support issues of the volunteer fire service. This could include a speakers bureau, presentations, information fact sheets and other resources available on-line.

Look outside the "box." Each Summit participant should seek to find solutions "outside the box", by analyzing what is inside organization's traditional box and seeking to define options outside that paradigm. Such analysis should consider mission, geographic, staffing, operational, support, and resource parameters.

Create alliances for public education. The fire service should seek to create alliances for mutual public education with other fire service, as well as, non traditional, non-fire service organizations.

Issue: Volunteer fire service communication, cooperation and collaboration

Areas of Concern.

Internal Communications barriers. Within the volunteer fire service there are individuals from at least 5 age generations, all races and diverse backgrounds. There was consensus that all fire departments had institutional communication barriers between generations, which could be addressed.

Regional cooperation. Mutual aid between departments is now an institutional reality in the fire service. Summit participants believed that this could be expanded to equipment joint purchasing agreements, specialized team development, and consolidation of some services to regional response.

External Communications. It was again stated that the fire service lacked a clear, unified voice with organizations outside the fire service. This includes other public safety sectors, business, government decisionmakers and citizens. Such a unified voice will clarify and strengthen the understanding and influence of the fire service.

Lack of use of technology to enhance communications. It was felt that the fire service has been slow to capitalize and is still largely ineffective in the use of internet, electronic training aids and other technologies, that could expand access to fire department information, particularly outside the fire service.

Action to be taken.

Create a statewide Mutual Aid Box Alarm System (Statewide MABAS). Create a statewide MABAS to provide statewide protocols, agreements, structure and procedures for mutual and emergency aid. Such an organization could facilitate joint training and operations and provide for rapid identification through the State Fire Marshal representative in the Emergency Management coordination center of fire departments willing and able to provide assistance during catastrophic emergencies.

Establish a statewide public safety information consortium. Establish a statewide public safety information consortium to interface training, recruiting, resources, technical information and operational protocols.

Conduct a statewide fire Explorer and Cadet jamboree in 2000 at the Fire Service Institute.

 

 

 

 

Issue: Relations with Government and the Public

Areas of Concern.

Funding and resources. There is a lack of knowledge on the part of government officials at all levels about the resource needs of the fire service. There is also a lack of knowledge in the fire service and government about the alternative sources of funding available to the fire service, including fees, corporate assistance, grants, etc.

Lack of training for fire chiefs. There is no standard measure for the fire chief of a department in Illinois and no single education/training program by which the standard might be created. Other states, such as California, have a required state-funded course for fire chiefs who must attend within 1 year of appointment. Such training also mandates annual continuing education.

Image of the Fire department is important. Most participants agreed that the image of the fire department was a critical source of community support. It was felt that the image was currently positive, but that it was only as good as the performance of each individual in the department. This pointed to the criticality for strong, positive leadership at the department and local government level, and the continuing need to attract and retain exceptional volunteers.

"We have more in common than what keeps us apart." This was a theme that developed throughout the Summit. In fact the ethos of the Summit became "We can." It was felt that the fire service can take the lead in establishing and expanding communications with government officials and citizens, and that networks needed to be created and reinforced to accomplish this.

"Too much, Too fast." It was felt that new government rules and implementing regulations were imposed upon the fire service at a rate, which exceeded the ability of the volunteer fire service to absorb and implement them. A rule of thumb ought to be no new rules in a particular area more than once each 5 years and that volunteers should be given at least a year prior to implementation to prepare for the new rules, after all implementing regulations are agreed upon.

Actions to be taken.

Commission and Publish a White Paper on alternative funding sources. Publish a white paper on alternative funding sources, protocols and structures for fire departments, which should be published at the State level.

Create, mandate and fund a training course for new fire chiefs. A 2-3 day training course for new fire department fire chiefs should be created and legislation sought to fund and mandate the requirement statewide.

Create a clearinghouse for public information. A central clearinghouse for public information should be created, perhaps by the State Fire Marshal's Office.

Write and publish articles on the fire service in non-fire service publications. Articles on fire service issues and solutions should be written and published in the Illinois Municipal League magazine and other government and business/industrial association newsletters and information periodicals. A list was circulated and commitment made the write articles for the IML for the next year.

Review and update the fire service strategic plan. The statewide strategic plan developed by the Fire Services Association should be reviewed and updated with information from the Summit.

Conduct a follow-on summit. A follow-up summit should be conducted, which includes a expanded participation of government, business and citizen associations.

Blue Ribbon Panel address summit issues. The Governor's Blue Ribbon panel should address issues raised in the Summit.

 

Issue: Funding

Key Factors

Communities have an obligation to provide the equipment and training required for the volunteer firefighters to perform the duties demanded of them. A theme repeated throughout the Summit was the feeling that volunteer firefighters donated their time, health and safety but should not be expected to provide the resources to equip and train themselves. There was significant concern expressed that this leads to a mismatch between community expectations and the fire departments actual capability to provide services.

Department funding is tax base-dependent and varies greatly. The majority of fire department funding must be achieved at the local level. State funding in the form of the Fire Prevention Fund 1% tax on fire insurance premiums has been the primary source of State funding, and this funding has decreased in value by 40% during the past decade. Illinois First grants have provided important infrastructure improvements to some departments, but little additional funding has been applied to training. National grants and funding is limited to special interest areas such as HAZMAT, terrorism and National Fire Academy courses.

Many volunteer departments spend significant time and effort in fundraising. Unfortunately, many volunteer fire departments spend significant time fund raising, as opposed to training.

Equipment and training needs are increasingly expensive. Fire Apparatus have increased in price as much as 10-fold in the past 20 years. New missions such as automobile extrication, rescue and HAZMAT have significantly increased the requirement for specialized equipment. It costs at least $2500 to equip a firefighter with proper personal protective equipment.

Standards and needs for volunteer and paid departments are similar, funding is not.

Actions to be taken

Increase communication between fire department and government leaders. Community and fire department leaders must work together to define mission and matching resource requirements.

Examine and modify financial support structure to the fire service. The Governor's Blue Ribbon Fire Service Committee should examine the existing financial support mechanism to the fire service. The goal should be to establish a reliable baseline funding level for Illinois fire departments, training establishments and State Fire Marshal's Office.

Reduce / eliminate unfunded mandates. Each community and it's fire department should examine mission mandates and funding provided to train, equip and operate the fire department to accomplish the mission. The Governor's Blue Ribbon Fire Service Committee should examine State mandates and state funding to the fire service, such as Firefighter II certification requirements and training to achieve this.

Improve access to "sharing" programs. Regional training opportunities, training information clearinghouses, team curriculum development and funding of curriculum development for Statewide distribution are all positive opportunities.

Various fire service associations should work together to address funding issues. The significant efforts of Illinois fire service organizations to work together over the past several years should continue and be expanded.

Summit participants left the Summit with positive desire to ensure that the Summit continued to live in their actions in their local communities, businesses and institutions. Participants agreed to:

To these ends, the participants were asked to:

Speak to at least 3 different groups about the Summit experience and issues.

Define their own "box" relative to their fire department / institutions either as a member of the fire service or as a fire service "customer."

Work together to establish and strengthen a Statewide communications network.

Inform their individual State legislative representatives about their Summit experience and fire service perceptions.

Communicate with Governor's Blue Ribbon Fire Service Committee

Publish information regularly in diverse publications

The Fire Service Institute and State Fire marshal's Office agreed to:

Establish / sponsor sub-committees that would continue to meet on:

Recruiting and Retention

Training

Fire science education programs

Funding

Work with the fire service to conduct a Fire Explorer & Cadet Jamboree in July 2000 at the Fire Service Institute

Work to help create information clearinghouses