If your have not renewed for 2023 your membership has expired. Click the link below to check your membership, if your name is not listed, your membership is expired.

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renew for 2023.

We will be in Owensboro at the Bryant Stiles Officers School. Our meeting will be at 3pm after the Kentucky Fire Commission Meeting. Come at 1pm for the Commission meeting and stay for the KAFC meeting. We will be on the 2nd floor of the Owensboro Convention Center, just follow the signs.

Following the June 2022 Leadership Conference held in Mobile, AL, the Southeastern Association of Fire Chiefs established a new committee with a goal of placing focus on Fire-based EMS services. The EMS committee met following that conference and began working together on some action items the committee could address. It was determined that the greatest challenge we all faced at the time was recruitment and retention of our EMS personnel. The committee decided that we would create a survey requesting feedback from each of you on the top 3 items each state is facing as it pertains to Fire-based EMS systems outside of recruitment and retention. These surveys went out in August of 2022, and we now have solid data which we believe is worthy of sharing with our membership. Attached is a breakdown of that data where the top 3 points are listed.

During our January 2023 board meeting held in Wilmington, NC, the consensus of the Board was to disseminate this information to our membership and share a summary statement addressing the goals of the Association as they pertain to the topic of this most recent survey. Below is the statement from the Board members.

The Southeastern Association of Fire Chiefs’ EMS Section is committed to seeking additional funding sources to sustain and enhance the EMS operations of its members, dedicated to efforts to create greater reciprocity of EMT-Basic, EMT-Intermediate/Advanced, and EMT Paramedic licensure amongst and between state regulatory agencies with the goal of adopting equitable initial and continuing education training requirements, and is committed to identifying solutions which will alleviate service demands of those fire based Emergency Medical Services providers within the ten states and two U.S. territories the SEAFC represents. 

Thanks,

Nathan Mulvey

Chief

Fern Creek Fire & EMS

Kentucky Assoc. of Fire Chiefs 1^st VP

Southeastern Association of Fire Chiefs/ Kentucky Director

The committees and chairs are listed below. If you are interested in serving on one of the below committees please click the email link and  send and email of interest.

Education Committee - Chair, Chief Michael Morgan EMAIL

EMS Committee - Chair, Deputy Chief Mike Sutt EMAIL

Conference Committee - Chair, Asst. Chief David Howser EMAIL

Health & Safety - Chair, Asst. Chief James Gifford EMAIL

Legislative Committee - Chair, Chief Adam Jones EMAIL

Legislators returned to Frankfort on January 3^rd for reorganization, Part II convenes on Tuesday February 7^th. We are watching a few pre-filed bills which pertain to the fire service listed below. I will update the list after the session starts and more bills are filed.

The Kentucky General Assembly information page is https://legislature.ky.gov/Pages/index.aspx

The website will provide you with the weekly schedule, watch coverage of committee meetings, search your legislators, informational materials, understanding the legislative process, file to testify at a meeting, and much more.

I am also always available with any questions or concerns by email – ajones.ics@gmail.com

Many Thanks,

Adam C Jones, KAFC Legislative Agent

Deputy Chief Fern Creek Fire & EMS

SPONSOR TITLE BILL REQUEST NUMBER

Rep Banta AN ACT relating to firefighters 93

Rep Wesley AN ACT relating to special license plate 107

Rep Wheatley AN ACT relating to inflation payments from KPPA 276

Links:

Calendar

https://legislature.ky.gov/Documents/RS_Calendar.pdf

Find Your Legislator

https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/findyourlegislator/findyourlegislator.html

If you have any questions or comments please reach out to one of the Legislative Committee Members.

Chair – KAFC Legislative Agent, Adam Jones – Fern Creek Fire/EMS Email

KAFC President, Cathy Rigney – Winchester Fire/EMS Email

David Howser - St. Matthews Fire/EMS Email

Wayne Briscoe – Frankfort Fire/EMS – Email

Michael Brown – Prestonsburg Fire Department – Email

Steve Futrell – Hopkinsville Fire/EMS – Email

Steve Kyle – Paducah Fire Department – Email

Rick Millikan – Morganfield Fire Department – Email

Nathan Mulvey – Fern Creek Fire/EMS – Email

Rob Rothenburger – Shelbyville Fire Department – Email

Working on emergency scenes on the roadways and highways are one of the more hazardous situations a firefighter faces. We must deal with the emergency while also ensuring that we are working in as safe an environment as possible. The other drivers on the road with us are in a hurry, distracted, looking at the incident, and a myriad of other issues that will contribute to them not giving their full attention to driving their vehicles. It is up to us to keep ourselves safe and proper incident blocking will accomplish this. Below are a few steps firefighters could take to help keep them safe on these scenes.  

·      Block the incident lane, plus one extra. This will give you room to operate, unload equipment, clean debris, etc. 

·      Two blocking vehicles are better than one, especially two fire apparatus. Do not cancel other responding apparatus too early. 

·      Angle your apparatus so that vehicles are routed away from the incident and cut your wheels so if struck, the apparatus will not roll into the emergency scene work area. 

·      If you will be using a handline, angling the pumper to protect the pump operator should be considered. 

·      Always wear your reflective vest while working on a roadway.

·      Place safety cones when possible.

·      Ensure the ambulance is inside of the protected area when you are loading patients. 

·      In intersections, multiple blocking vehicles will be needed. Apparatus should block the most threatening direction first, and work down from there.  

Follow your department’s SOPs and update them as necessary. For more information on this subject, check out the material on the Responder Safety Learning Network at https://learning.respondersafety.com/

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jan. 19, 2023) — Firefighters across the world risk their lives every day to protect citizen lives, properties and the environment from disasters. Rescue missions and other duties — such as saving a family from a burning building or pulling an injured person out of a vehicle after a collision — can prove to be extremely challenging, especially paired with the grueling schedules they are required to work.  

Often referred to as “tactical athletes,” firefighters and other first responders encounter much of the same types of injuries that traditional sport athletes do. But, while the average professional athletic career in sports lasts five to seven years, professional firefighters end up exerting themselves physically and mentally for 25 years or more, with no “off-season” to recover from injuries and exertion. 

At the University of Kentucky, two graduate students are dedicating their time to help firefighters right here in Lexington. Both having backgrounds in traditional athletic training with sport athletes, they’re taking their expertise and expanding it to this very in-need group. 

In a memorandum dated June 1, 2022, the Legislative Research Commission (LRC) established the Emergency Medical Services Task Force with the following charge:

1. Review the need, or lack thereof, for the certificate of need (CON) process for ambulance services;

2. Review all statutes and administrative regulations governing emergency medical services(EMS), including ambulance providers and EMS providers, to ensure there is quality service delivery;

3. Review ambulance specifications for adequacy and safety to facilitate good patient care;

4. Review guidelines and standards to assist ambulance services, EMS providers, and

physicians with medical oversight;

5. Review administrative regulations affecting the training of pre-hospital care EMS providers, including guidelines for each level of certification and licensure, standardized education and testing curricula, continuing education requirements, and monitoring of EMS training programs for quality assurance;

6. Identify strategies for recruitment and retention of the EMS workforce; and

7. Recommend improvements for the delivery of services to patients in need of physical or

behavioral health services.

The task force began meeting in July 2022 and heard testimony from several individual stakeholders and state agencies, and has sent their recommendations to House and Senate leadership, along with members of the LRC. 

Attached you will find the full memorandum with their findings and recommendations. There will be more to come on this. 

NEW KBEMS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

KBEMS has announced that Eddie Sloan is the new Executive Director of the Kentucky Board of EMS. Eddie is no stranger to the fire service having retired as the Chief of Frankfort Fire & EMS. We look forward to our continued partnership with KBEMS as we begin the new year. 

In additional KBEMS news, they have moved back within state government. Their new address is 

Kentucky Board of EMS

500 Mero Street, 5th Floor 5SE32

Frankfort, KY 40601

The EMS Committee is looking for KAFC members of Fire Based EMS services to serve on the committee to help move EMS forward in the Commonwealth. 

If you are interested in serving, please contact

Deputy Chief Mike Sutt at msutt@amfems.org.  

Effective on Wednesday, February 1st, the National Responder Preparedness Center (NRPC) will become The Fire Academy of Kentucky. A new page has been created and we ask everyone to please follow it in place of this one. The NRPC page will be removed in July. The Fire Academy of Kentucky has been made possible by the vision and hard work of many who have come before us, and we are excited to finally be able to see those visions become a reality. The Fire Academy will offer first class training opportunities to all firefighters of Kentucky and will be supported by the many dedicated and passionate SFRT Instructors of the Kentucky Fire Commission from across the Commonwealth. Thank you for your support, and we look forward to this next chapter with each of you!

FIRE COMMISSION MEETING SCHEDULE

April 12 - Paris June 14 - Burlington July 29 - Louisville

October 11 - Paris December 6 - Paris

FIRE PREVENTION

To use these flyers for your fire prevention program just click on the image and download them and customize with your logo.

HONOR, BENEFITS, and FIRST STEPS is a class for all who would have a significant role following the line-of-duty death of a first responder – especially leaders.

It examines the steps leaders must take in advance to prepare for such a tragedy and the important information they need to know to make the difficult decisions that will most certainly follow.

It is not a funeral planning class.

If you are: a chief or chief officer; someone who might be tasked with taking, guiding, or assisting in taking or guiding first steps following a line-of-duty death; developing policy, procedures, or agency values for dealing with a line-of-duty death; or if you just want to know more about these most important topics, we encourage you to join us for...

HONOR, BENEFITS, and FIRST STEPS

FEBRUARY 7th: LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY

Supporting Heroes Office

11400 Decimal Drive #1002

9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Eastern)

APRIL 27th: CAMPBELLSVILLE, KENTUCKY

Taylor County Fire Department

1563 Greensburg Road

9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Eastern)

It’s time to blaze some trails - Join us for #CRRL2023

On May 9-11, 2023, IAFC will bring fire service leaders, trailblazers, and innovative rising stars together to pioneer the future of community risk reduction. Join us for three incredible days of learning and networking.

Community Risk Reduction (CRR) Leadership Conference is the only conference geared specifically to the education and training needs of chief officers and other fire service managers seeking to create, execute and evaluate measurably successful CRR platforms and programs. What you can look forward to:

• Cross-cultural perspectives
• Discussion of real-world program implementations featuring lessons learned and takeaways
• A look into how to utilize technology in your CRR efforts