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FDIC Meeting
March 2, 2001
Indianapolis
President Edwards thanked Ken Burris on behalf of NAFTD. There has been much progress in the last few years between the USFA / NFA and state fire training programs. Ken has provided critical leadership toward this effort and his work on our behalf is appreciated.
Remarks of Ken Burris, COO, USFA
Ken Burris reinforced the importance of the partnership between USFA and the state training agencies. Last year's $25,000 grant is just the start. In future years, we hope to increase that support. The enfranchisement process and the endorsement program is an excellent model of how NFA can work in partnership and leverage their resources to make a bigger difference.
Congress has directed the NFA to conduct a review of NFA's course offering to make sure NFA is not duplicating those offerings at the state and local level. NFA ought to be about increasing the nation's fire service's skills by supporting high quality programs at the state and local level, and offering only those services that are not readily available at other levels. USFA needs to quit "reinventing the wheel" and work through the existing systems to make a difference.
In response to a question, Mr. Burris mentioned that the FEMA Director's Joe Allbaugh has a very understanding of the fire service and the importance of the fire service in FEMA's mission.
FIRE Grant: Ken Burris requested the state training agencies efforts to get the word out as soon as possible on the grants. Application period for this year's grants will end 5/30/01. This will be a paper process, with application forms available on web sites to download using Adobe Acrobat. USFA is hoping to have applications out by the end of March.
Mr. Burris will share the UFSA PowerPoint presentation (email Kirby Keiffer to request), and will attempt to get a FEMA staff person out to states to brief fire leaders and answer questions. An informational video will be available soon.
FDIC Welcome
Peter Hodge (peterh@penwall.com) FDIC Coordinator welcomed the state directors. He thanked the directors for their help and feedback. Tim Dunkle represented NAFTD on the FDIC program selection committee. If you want help booking block rooms for state groups, let Peter know. Estimated attendance this year at the FDIC will be nearly 25,000. If NAFTD sends a roster of state directors to Peter, he will pre-register all for next year as complimentary registrations.
Peter will send NAFTD and FDIC Instructor of the Year nomination forms.
NAFTD Officer Reports
President's Report
Steven Edwards (Maryland) reported on several topics.
Vice President's Report
Richard Jaehne (Illinois) reported on the FIRE Act grant evaluation criteria. The criteria must be objective. VP Jaehne provided a chart of constituent groups necessary to make the FIRE Act work long term. The critical groups include:
Treasurer's Report
Randy Novak (Iowa) was not in attendance. He provided a written report. The funds for the NAFTD conference hosted by Texas A&M have not been transferred yet, but Randy is working on this. This will increase the balance when these funds are posted.
Secretary's Report
Steve Willis (Maine) had no report.
Reports of NAFTD Committees
Nominations and Elections
No report. They will prepare for the fall elections.
Finance Committee
No report.
Membership Committee
Joe Murabito (Delaware) agreed that the committee would send a letter to each state and provincial organization reminding them of the NAFTD mission and goals, and inviting each to join and become active if they are not currently.
Training Course Endorsement Committee
Mike Wisby (Texas) reported on work progress of the committee. We are working out the details with the National Fire Academy and will have the first group of courses posted in the near future. After this is accomplished the Committee will meet again to consider additional courses. Notice of this meeting will be provided so that each state has enough time to prepare their course materials for submission.
Web Page Committee
In Bill Hollick's (Massachusetts) absence, President Edwards briefed members on the committee's activities to date. A URL has been secured for (www.NAFTD.org).
Dick Jaehne proposed that Illinois host the NAFTD web site. Illinois can construct and maintain a web site for roughly $700-1,200 in startup costs, and $500 per year annually to maintain it.
Moved by Troy Lapetina (Virginia), seconded by Tim Dunkle (Pennsylvania), and voted that Illinois host the NAFTD web site.
President Edwards complimented the work of Bill Hollick and the entire web page committee for their efforts on this project.
National Fire Academy Report
Kirby Keiffer, NFA Deputy Superintendent, represented Superintendent Onieal, who is attending his son's Marine Corps graduation.
The USFA reorganization will change the points of contact somewhat. NFA will keep NAFTD informed. FEMA will be changing to a new email address scheme in the near future.
The campus is undergoing significant faculty construction. There will be some short-term inconvenience.
Kirby mentioned the changes in the NFA Executive Fire Officer program (EFOP). There was an extended discussion about ways the states can help improve access to EFO offerings.
Other Discussion
Troy Lapetina (Virginia) led a discussion of fire training facility construction standards.
The business meeting of NAFTD was concluded @ 2:15 PM.
Presentation of Benn Aaronson & Harold Sagan: Electronic Training Environment
Benn and Harold briefed the members on Aim II, an automated database approach to training materials development, maintenance and course retrofitting. The LECTR website (www.lectr.org) will become a repository for training resources around the world.
Comments of Joanne Hildrebrand, University of Maryland
The Fire Science B.S. degree program is completely on-line. Also have launched a 4-course certificate program with National Volunteer Fire Council. Would be glad to work with 2-year Fire Science programs and state fire training programs to develop articulation agreements so students can pursue degrees.
Steven Edwards (Maryland) opened the business meeting of the North American Fire Training Directors. There were 34 attendees, representing 21 state programs and 2 guests. After brief introductions by all in attendance, President Edwards thanked those present for attending and introduced Ken Burris, Chief Operating Officer of the United States Fire Administration (USFA).