In The News

From the desk of Association President, Chief Jonathan Jones

October 23, 2013

Dear Fire Service Family, Your Executive Committee and Association Staff have been working on some major projects that are all focused on YOU. Our goal is to fulfill the purpose of the Firefighters’ Association in enhancing your capabilities within the jurisdictions you serve. How does the Association enhance your capabilities, your department and your members? I posed those questions to each of the Association committees as a challenge to focus their efforts on the greatest good. Because of sound financial decisions made by this, and previous Executive Committees, YOUR Firefighters’ Association is fiscally sound despite tough economic times. Being good stewards of the resources entrusted to us in good financial times has allowed us to continue to fund programs in less-than-ideal external financial conditions. We have even been able to reduce the financial obligations of the member departments that receive the least amount of Insurance and Inspections Fund (1%) money. The Executive Committee voted to raise the threshold for exemption from paying Training & Education Fees from $2,500 to $4,000. Any department that receives less than $4,000 in 1% money will not pay T & E fees, resulting in 71 additional departments falling within the T & E exemption guidelines. This change is reflected on the invoice you received in the mail. In an effort to foster unity among the various fire service associations in our state, a cooperative effort is underway to bring to you the “Fire Service Improvement Conference” in January of 2014. This conference is a cooperative effort of several fire service associations and the Division of Fire & Life Safety. This training opportunity will offer multiple tracks including: health, wellness and safety, instructor improvement, chief officer development, code enforcement, public education and EMS. The Saturday sessions will also feature Chief Alan Brunacini as keynote speaker. The Health & Safety committee is kicking off one of their big fitness initiatives - a department-level firefighter fitness and wellness challenge. In this challenge, your department can pick from a number of fitness, weight-loss and general wellness initiatives, or make up your own. The goal is to make firefighter fitness a priority in your department. Chiefs, we need your help! Your commitment as a fitness advocate AND participant is key to the success of this initiative. We all recognize that heart-related incidents are the leading cause of Line of Duty Deaths every year. It’s time we did something about it! Join me, the Executive Committee and fire departments across South Carolina, as we focus our attention on this matter. As Chiefs, it is our responsibility to our firefighters to ensure they not only go home at the end of the call, but they go home at the end of a career. Another big announcement about firefighter fitness will be coming in January, so stay tuned. Finally, I want to encourage you to get connected to YOUR Association and get involved in the great things that are going on in our state. There are so many ways to keep up with the activity of the Firefighters’ Association: on the web at www.scfirefighters.org, on Twitter @scfirefighters, e-mail, Facebook, the South Carolina Firefighters’ mobile application, but most importantly, attendance at our quarterly meetings and our annual conference. We will continue to find and use the most effective and cost-efficient ways to communicate with our membership. Your Executive Committee is committed to attending as many local and regional meetings as we can to reach out to our members. All of our efforts to connect with our membership are in vain if our membership doesn’t do their part to connect with their Firefighters’ Association. I appreciate the trust that you have invested in the Executive Committee and the Association Staff. It is my desire to make the returns on your trust well worth the investment. Yours to count on, Jonathan C. Jones President (This letter was included in the 2013 annual fire department mailer.)