Feb 11 … The 2012 VCOS Election will be conducted by electronic ballot, not mail ballot. There will be 4 open seats for At-Large board members running for 3-year terms from 2012-2015. For those contemplating running in this election, all candidate paperwork will need to be submitted by May 1. This year, VCOS members will also be asked to vote on bylaws changes by electronic ballot. It is very important that the IAFC have your current, correct email address so that you will receive a ballot. Look for more information to be posted within the next few weeks on the Elections Webpage.
U.S Fire Administrator Chief Ernie Mitchell meets with VCOS Board of Directors in Clearwater Beach Fla.
On February 10th, the VCOS Vision Project committee (formerly known as the “VCOS Summit” committee) met in Clearwater Beach, FL at the Sheraton Sand Key Hotel to write their mission and vision statement and work on the final report. On the 10th and 11th, the VCOS Board of Directors joined the committee and held their 1st quarter 2012 board meeting. The United States Fire Administrator, Chief Ernie Mitchell, attended the board meeting and gave the group an extended presentation about his goals and vision as the new U.S. Fire Administrator.
It is with deep sadness that the VCOS Board of Directors must announce the death of Fire Chief Kyle L. Ienn of the Ralston Volunteer Fire Department on Tuesday, January 31, 2012. Chief Ienn was appointed to the VCOS Board of Directors in August of 2011 as an At-Large board member. (Read More)
Jan 26… Chief Timothy S. Wall, VCOS Chair, Chief Fred Windisch, VCOS Board Member and Chief Tim Tharp, VCOS Summit Committee Chair, made a presentation to the IAFC Board of Directors on Saturday, January 21 in Fairfax, Virginia on the VCOS Summit Findings and Strategic Plan. Chief Tharp presented a timeline of the section’s future plans as well as a detailed organizational chart. Chiefs Tharp, Windisch and Wall answered questions from the board, after which the board approved the Findings and Strategic Plan. The next step will be a meeting of the Implementation Team on February 10, 2012. The Team will then begin to select Challenge Statement group members.
The VCOS On-Fire Leadership Webinars are becoming a popular and sought-after training resource. We’re looking for talented presenters who have great ideas for leadership topics (that’s a broad range!) We want to give you the opportunity to present to your peers! Using the webinar software is EASY and we can guide you through the process.
If you want to present a webinar, please complete the short (3 questions) online form here by Monday, February 6. We’ll be in touch after the closing date to let you know if your topic has been selected.
If you’ve seen a recent presentation that would make a great webinar topic, please refer the presenter to this website and ask him or her to submit a topic!
Deadline to submit is 12:00 noon (EST) on Monday, February 6.
For those VCOS members who are starting to think about your 2011 taxes, this is a reminder that the $360 tax exclusion for state and local benefits expired on December 31, 2010 and thus cannot be claimed for your 2011 tax year. This exclusion had been in effect since 2007, when Congress passed the Volunteer Responder Incentive Protection Act.
There are two bills in Congress to reinstate this tax exclusion: S. 933 and H.R. 2353. Please write to your Senators and Representatives and ask them to reinstate the Volunteer Responder Incentive Protection Act (VRIPA). You can access draft letters on the IAFC’s legislative webpage that you can use to contact your Senators and Representatives and ask them to cosponsor these important bills. It is important that your Members of Congress hear from their local constituents on this important issue!
Dec 20… If you missed the Fire Marshal 101 Webinar on Thursday, December 15, you can now access the recording from our webinar page. The program provided a lively and entertaining review of the position of fire marshal, the responsibilities of the position, the FM’s role in reducing community risk, and how best to integrate the position into department senior staff. The instructors, Fire Marshal Mike O’Brian of the Brighton Area (MI) Fire Department and Chief Dan Eggleston of the Albemarle County (VA) Dept of Fire Rescue, also discussed the personality traits, key knowledge areas, skills, and abilities necessary for someone to be a successful FM. The webinar discussion was particularly valuable to fire chiefs who do not have a extensive prevention/FM background who find themselves managing a fire marshal or prevention division.
Nov 21… The Emergency Management & Response Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC), a part of the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Fire Administration, offers its services free-of-charge to the membership of the Volunteer and Combination Officers Section. Located at the National Emergency Training Center in Emmitsburg, Maryland, the EMR-ISAC provides threat and vulnerability information as well as critical infrastructure protection and resilience lessons learned and best practices to the leaders and operators of the nation’s Emergency Services Sector (ESS). Frequently, the information will have direct relevance to the safety and protection as well as the emergency plans and operations of volunteer and combined fire departments.
Sign up for these informative bulletins now.
Nov 3… The Better Angels: The Firefighters of 9/11 will be displayed at the Symposium in the Sun in the Island Room of the Sheraton Sand Key Hotel and will be open to the public starting at 7:30am on Thursday, November 10. The display will be taken down on Sunday, November 13 at 11:30 am. There is no charge to view the display.
Better Angels is a work of art created by Colorado artist Dawn Siebel consisting of 343 individual oil paintings of the firefighters who died on 9/11. Each firefighter’s portrait is painted intimately onto a small burned block of wood. There is a compelling personality in each face that leads the viewer to imagine the individuals – the lives they lived, the people they loved – while the sheer volume of faces measures the enormity of the tragedy. Even if you are not attending the Symposium, we hope you can make it down to view this emotionally-charged work of art.
Oct 26… We are happy to announce the winners of the 2011 Symposium scholarships, as follows:
Firefighter/EMT Amanda K. Gingell of the Harrisville (RI) Fire Department and Fire Chief John R. Nixon, Antioch (IL) Fire Department are the winners of the VCOS-sponsored scholarship to attend the Symposium in the Sun. Of twenty-five applications submitted, Firefighter Gingell and Chief Nixon did the best job of demonstrating to the judges that they would make good use of the training, education and networking opportunities
Fire Chief David DeRoller of the Sea Breeze (NY) Fire District has been selected as the recipient of the Emerging Leader Scholarship, sponsored by the Gasaway Consulting Group, LLC. There were seventeen applicants for the Emerging Leader Scholarship this year.
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