Announcing the new Life Safety Education Section

April 28, 2016

Recognizing that more can be done to prevent fire fatalities in the State of South Carolina, your Firefighters' Association has taken a historical step forward and has added its first ever section!

The Life Safety Education Section stands to serve you and those you protect with all things outreach. In the coming months look forward to so much more about how this section can help you and those you protect. If you are interested in stepping up for your community look for the “add me” box on your S.C. Firefighters' Association Membership application coming to a fire department near you later this year. Even more important is our invitation to you!

Join us for any or all of our membership meetings and become a part of S.C. history as we move forward with bold new plans to improve the safety of all South Carolinians.

For more information reach out to any of the appointed section leadership:

• President – Lee Levesque (Bluffton Fire) [email protected] or (843) 252-3431
• Vice President – Diane Woods (Tega Cay Fire) [email protected] or (803) 370-1988
• Secretary – Bianca Bourbeau (North Charleston Fire) [email protected] or (843) 822-1178
• Financial Liaison – Les Woods (Tega Cay Fire) [email protected] or (803) 370-1369 
• Staff Liaison - Jenna Pritchett - [email protected] or 803-939-5900

5^th in the nation to 3^rd! Usually that is something to brag about, unfortunately that is the leap ahead that the State of South Carolina took from 2014 to 2015 in per capita fire deaths. I for one have no desire to wear that ribbon on my uniform and I am fairly certain that as firefighters and committed civil servants that you are not proud of that statistic either. It is rankings like those that have motivated  our Association to take bold new steps to curb fire losses in our state and one of those steps was the creation of the first ever SECTION of The S.C. State Firefighters' Association and the appointment of section leaders to get the proverbial ball rolling. In this day and age we cannot deny that we are facing a far bigger challenge in the fire service than ever before. While running into the burning building will always be needed, if we are truly dedicated to saving lives given current construction materials and practices, we must be committed to do some work up front in ways that perhaps we never considered. It is with a fresh perspective and a firefighters dose of “get it done” that we all must reach out to those who we protect and share the tools to survive all the tragedy that we so often must save them from. It is with all that in mind that I ask you, isn’t it great when “Everyone Goes Home?” Do you care enough to empower your citizens to protect themselves and in the process protect yourself and your fellow firefighters? If you answered yes to either of those questions, “welcome aboard, we’ve been expecting you!”

From the President,

Lee Levesque