Where there’s smoke…
It has been quite a summer. Last year in my little part of the world it was hot and dry. The crops had pretty well been done in and there was little to burn. Not so for 2023. We’ve had lots of rain. The crops look okay - despite a couple weeks run of very warm temperatures. The weeds are taller than some trees. There is lots of stuff to burn and it might be a wild fall for us all.
Throughout the summer I’ve been privileged to attend state firefighter conferences in Louisiana, Kentucky and Delaware. You’ve heard me say before that firefighters everywhere are the same. I believe that even more now than before. The firefighters in those states and all of our states are so committed to our mission of helping people when they need it the most.
By now you’ve read or heard about the KSFFA being the recipient of a 4 year $1.3 million dollar grant for retention and recruitment of volunteer firefighters in the state. Because of the grant criteria we had to tailor this to volunteer departments and for them, training, physicals and gear are going to be a great deal for our state. Also included, though, is training and education on how to recruit, how to retain and how to lead. Those classes, I believe, will be open to all and will serve the state well. Additionally, while some departments struggle to get new volunteers or retain old ones, this directly relates to the ability of career fire departments to recruit. A strong volunteer fire service will result in a stronger career fire service and, on the whole, a stronger fire service combined. Your executive board will be meeting next month at Herington with our grant administrators to plan the details of this grant. Stay tuned! In the meantime, if you have ideas about any of this, contact one of your KSFFA officers with your input. It will be welcomed.
We have had quite a run on book sales in the past couple of months - and it is great to see our fire departments taking advantage of the KSFFA as a distributor of books from IFSTA, Delmar, Fire Protection Publications and others. Many of these are on our website for you to view. Also on our website is our whole store of logo items for purchase and if you can’t quite think of a gift for your firefighter friend, we are now selling gift cards - any size you want - where they can pick out what they want from our store or in person at a regional fire school. Christmas is coming!!!
Your state association is strong but it is only strong because of each of you. Stay tuned for membership offers that you can take advantage of as an individual member of the KSFFA, because where there’s smoke....