2008 NFA_Indiana (25 images)

2008 Indiana NFA Weekend Trip

This year's trip was held on March 7, 8, and 9, 2008.  We had 119
students and 3 IDHS staff members attend the National Fire Academy
campus in Emmitsburg Maryland weekend trip.  There was a good mixture of
career and volunteers firefighters from the state.  In addition to our
students we were able to have 16 students from Anna Maria College from
 Massachusetts join us.  The college students were part of a
fire science program that was looking to experience a "NFA State Weekend
Program".  They were thrilled to sit in the classes with our students
and hear about the fire service in Indiana. 
John Buckman, James Bennett, Brenda Kendrick, and Steve Walters attended
the weekend trip as representatives of IDHS.  We had no problems with
the trip.  The weather on Friday was bad for some of the attendees due
to a snow storm that hit Eastern Indiana and most of Ohio. On Saturday
we had rain early and it cleared off in the afternoon but turned cold.
Sunday was sunny and the roadways were clear on the ride home.   The
charter buses were on time and they did a good job taking care of us.
The buses arrived at the NFA at approximately 4:15 pm and students were
checked in, ate and met for the orientation meeting at 7:30 pm.  Myrna
Mood from the National Emergency Training Center (NETC) welcomed the
group and reviewed the rules and information for the campus.  Officials
from Anna Marie College introduced us to their group and provided an
overview of their program. 
Steve Walters welcomed everyone to the NFA and asked for show of hands
from the attendees on number of years they have attended the NFA trip.
A majority of attendees were first timers, and there were a couple of
attendees who have attended more than ten times.  Steve stressed the
importance for attending class and acting like adults while on the trip.
He thanked the group for coming and hopes to see them on future trips.
James Bennett, Assistant State Fire Marshal spoke on his role in the
Marshal's office and informed of changes in the office along with new
personnel.  Jim advised of new legislation related to smoke detectors
being required to be installed and maintained in single and multi family
dwellings. Jim also inquired if the group would be interested in a SOP
template on the website that would provide local fire departments with a
template of some of the more commonly used SOP/SOG's. Attendees were
very interested in the proposal and Jim will be working on this project
in the coming months. 
John Buckman, Branch Chief, Firefighter Training System spoke first on
news update on the two firefighters who died in a South Carolina lumber
yard fire earlier in the day.  John explained the support Governor
Daniels has given the fire service with funding for training and fire
service related programs.  He explained the NFA trip was paid for
through the firefighters training funding.   John announced that Joe
Wainscott is becoming the new Executive Director of the Indiana
Department of Homeland Security as of next week. 
Myrna finished up going over some security issues and reviewed the
schedule of events.  The attendees were furnished a steak dinner on
Saturday evening.  There were several comments from the students on how
good the instructors were.  Several first time attendees expressed their
thanks for the opportunity to attend and that they enjoyed the trip. 
Classes held for this year's trip included; "Incident Command System for
Structural Collapse Incidents", "Preparation for Initial Company
Operations", "Shaping the Future", "Marketing Fire Prevention in Your
Community", and "Prevention and Mitigation Advocacy for Small Department
Responders".  Students' comments on the class instructors were that they
were very good; they had a lot of knowledge and experience in what they
were teaching.  The classes were very interesting and the instructors
kept them focused. 
The trip was a great event for the fire service personnel that attended
this year's Indiana NFA Weekend Trip.  The state funded the buses and
meals for each attendee on this year's trip.   It is the second year
that we have been able to fund it.  The funds are part of the Indiana
Firefighter Training System which is funded by fireworks taxes. 

We look forwarded to next year's trip. 

Steve Walters, Fire Training Program Manager - NFA State Coordinator

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