Michigan Association of Fire Chiefs

WMFCA is hosting their holiday luncheon and installation of board members on Wednesday, December 4th, 2024, at 11:00 AM at the Boulder Creek Golf Club in Belmont, MI. This is a great opportunity to bring staff, family, and friends to show off our organization or just to celebrate the holidays! To register, go here: https://lnkd.in/gwCDWnyz #holiidaylunch #christmasparty

The Center for Firefighter Injury Research & Safety Trends (FIRST) at the Drexel University Dornsife School of Public Health designed a tool to measure the safety culture of fire departments. The Fire Service Organizational Culture of Safety (FOCUS) survey was developed specifically for the fire and rescue service to predict firefighter injuries and important organizational outcomes, such as burnout, job satisfaction and work engagement. Analysis of FOCUS beta-test data revealed that combination and volunteer departments had higher management commitment to safety scores than their career counterparts. More combination and volunteer departments are needed to participate in FOCUS so this phenomenon can be better understood. The next FOCUS wave also focuses on recruiting volunteer and combination departments. Career departments are still encouraged to participate. If your department would like to participate, go here: https://loom.ly/RiHWBbU

This fall, the SERTC will launch a new course, PER-327 Alternative Fuels and Flammable Incident Response and Management (AFFIRM). AFFIRM (PER-327) is an intense five-day, resident course that prepares responders for all types of flammable commodity emergencies from crude to batteries. It is offered at SERTC’s campus in Pueblo, Colorado. It was approved by FEMA’s National Training and Education Division (NTED) and is funded by DHS grant funding. This means the course is free to responders and their organizations; participants’ travel, transportation, lodging, meals, and course costs are all covered. Pilot classes of this course are schedule for the weeks of November 18 and December 16, 2024, with regular offerings starting in 2025. Visit here for more information: https://loom.ly/y_5LFK8

On Oct. 7, NIOSH, part of the CDC, launched a new Center for Firefighter Safety, Health, and Well-being. The new Center provides a central point for partners to engage with NIOSH on the broad spectrum of firefighter-related research and services (e.g. fatality investigations, National Firefighter Registry for Cancer) at the Institute. To learn more, visit: https://loom.ly/pCAxSHQ

Acclaimed volunteer fire service documentary "Odd Hours, No Pay, Cool Hat" is hitting TVs across the nation this fall. It will be shown on PBS in some areas of Michigan on October 28th, in honor of First Responders Day. To see if it will be available in your area, check here: https://lnkd.in/deRhNsdd. If you don't want to wait, other ways you can watch the film are available here: https://lnkd.in/gjr-U65r #oddhoursnopaycoolhat

Fire Engineering is hosting a webcast on November 9th at 1PM EST on department funding. It's title is "Achieving More with Less: Innovative Approaches to Fire Department Funding." Sponsored by GovFunds, the webcast will focus on how departments can develop long-term funding strategies that align with their operational goals. For more information, visit: https://loom.ly/5hT3WjI #funding #departmentfunding #grants

What are you doing this year for Fire Prevention Week? How do you encourage community involvement?

Grand Rapids broke ground on a new fire station last week that, when finished, will serve Grand Rapids' Third Ward. According to Fire Chief Brad Brown, the main objective of building the new station is to decrease response time. There are also plans to build another fire station and a training and operations facility, both in Grand Rapids. Read more about the new station here: https://loom.ly/zsDbFNg #grandrapidsfiredepartment #grandrapids #stationdesign

The EPA and the Forest Service have released an updated version of their Fire and Smoke Map that provides the public with information on fire locations, smoke plumes, near real-time air quality, smoke outlooks for large U.S. wildfires and protective actions to take -- all in one place. View the Fire and Smoke map here: https://fire.airnow.gov/, or you can find it on the AirNow website. The map is also available on the AirNow smartphone app that can be downloaded from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. #AirNow #fireandsmokemap #wildfires #airquality #takeaction

FEMA recently launched a new video series on its Building Science Videos page (https://loom.ly/6IAKXro) on Designing for Wildfire. This comprehensive five-part series aims to expand knowledge of wildfire vulnerabilities in the built environment. The Designing for Wildfire training series is available here: https://loom.ly/0g1STsY #wildfire #wui #onlinetraining