PPFFA
2010 November Minutes Draft
Updated On: Feb 25, 2011
DRAFT
Fire Service Advisory Committee Meeting
November 5, 2010
Minutes of the Conference Call meeting
 
Members                                          Staff                                                      Guest
                                                                                    
Angie Ventresca                             Ed Mann                                              Mel Bliss          
John Villa                                       Tracie Young-Brungard                       Mike McBride
Kerby Kerber                                 Tim Dunkle
Steve Bair                                       Todd Homan
Herb Adams                                   
Perry Pierich
Sue Warchola
Robert Fleming
Ben Cypher
John Eckel
 
Meeting started at 0930 at the State Fire Academy.
10 members were at the meeting and we need 11 for a quorum, but since Tracie is the Vice-Chair she is a voting member and quorum is achieved.
Bruce Manning was excused.
Welcome by Dr. Fleming. Elections for Chair are today. In February Task Team elections will take place.
Minutes accepted as presented.
 
Fire Commissioner Report
Commissioner spoke about sprinklers and the budget. The budget will be tight and the SFA is running as efficiently as possible. No more cuts can happen without effecting personnel.
Dr. Fleming officially recognized the Commissioner and a motion was made and seconded to thanks the Commissioner for this duty to the State Fire Academy and all firefighters in the state of PA.
 
 
Fire Academy Administrator Report
Marcellus Shale: Training is going very good and they are trying to get at least one class in every county in the shale area. The class is about 4 hours. Next year a Well Control Management class will take off, then a Tactical Operations class.
The Capitol Budget paid for a new Tower rig and a new Pumper is coming in December. The old Tower is going to public auction. The SFA has spent 1.5 million out of the state’s capital budget for the burn buildings and fire trucks. The Capital Budget is different than the operating budget.
HAZMAT roll outs are going well. Need to call the SFA to schedule one. The new HAZMAT will kick off on Jan 1, 2011. 
 
Chairman/Executive Committee Report
A question was raised by Dr. Fleming “As the Certification Advisory are we doing all we can to support the SFA?” We do not want to see it closed and we all need to ensure our legislatures know that the SFA cannot afford any more cuts.
We need to ensure we are taking certification serious and to the next level; i.e. quality, delivery, technology. Need to continually look to improve certification. We have come a long way with an official Certification Manager and assistant.
 
Certification Program Manager Report
Tracie is still on the Board of Governors for IFSAC. IFSAC likes our marketing tools and she is looking for testimonials from fire fighters on what certification means to them to go onto a video.
Tracie has submitted a application to NFPA to be considered for the new Traffic Control Incident Management Committee. Only approximately 10 states have fire police.
Pilot programs, Inspector 1 (HACC has completed 2 pilots). Juvenile Fire Setter, two pilots were conducted at PSFA, looking at Juvenile Fire Setter 2. All pilots were successful
Fire Police – Good meeting a couple of months ago and Tracie is going to the State Fire Police Meeting. 
Site Inspections – Montgomery did a Driver/Operator, first “Off-Site” test done. Some issues were noted and addressed.
Certifications in general are down and we discussed if we reached a plateau, are folks just not interested or is the cost too much?
We need to look at the essay questions on the FF1 application and see if some can go to skill stations or the written test, if so we can take some/all of the essay questions away? 
Discussion the skill sheets and the wording “Safely”? Everyone has a different view of what that means. Do we look at the EMS model of perhaps adopting a “critical” component on skill sheets or would that become too large of a task.
The SFA has started electronic submission to Pro-board. The SFA is now duel certified in 21 of the 33 levels.
We are going to get the sub-committees started again and Tracie will send out a list to everyone so we know who is on what committee.
We have 612 participating departments in the state of PA.
Pittsburgh project to have all members FF1 and FF2 is going very well. After this is complete they will be the only Metro Fire Department in the country that is 100% certified at both levels.
The SFA is working on Dec newsletter. If you have any pictures or articles please submit to Tracie.
A discussion took place about budgets and meetings. We need to condense meetings.
Old Business: None
New Business: We will be working on the SFA Certification Strategic Plan with February 24th being the day and the 25th as an alternate at the SFA. Try to condense quarterly meeting and strategic planning meeting, quarterly meeting in the morning and strategic plan in the afternoon/evening. Materials will be sent out ahead of time for strategic plan.
Policy on EMS at Certification testing arose, what are we required to have on Site? Ambulance? Or response in less than 10 minutes? Or BLS person with equipment? We will think about this and come back in February and work on a policy.
No Show Policy – Suspend person/evaluator if they do not show? Bill for no Show? Of course money up front is the way to go but each FTS should make their own rules for payment. No  need to report no shows too the SFA, policy will be revised to reflect such and bring back in February.
A question was raised if we can test/certify someone without a SSN? SFA does not have a policy on that. IFSAC does not care and Pro-board does not care. The SFA will consult with legal and get a ruling on this. 
Driver Operator EVDT -   The individual testing must test on the vehicle they drive. They cannot test on a pickup truck then be certified to drive an ambulance or engine. We are going to review the skill sheets and update them. Tim D. to address with ETA’s about training certificates or other ways to document. Should we make all operators have a CDL? The State Chiefs Association is against this idea. Will review in February. 
Can you do the Certification then the written test? Yes. Motion was made and seconded that the manager come back in February with documentation on what they think.
LMS System – We need a 5th task group/sub committee to explore the use of technology for the applications, testing etc. This is something for the strategic plan to include.
Elections took place and Dr. Fleming was elected to another term and he accepted.
A motion was made and seconded to destroy the ballots.
Motion was made at 13:00 by Ben to adjourn, second by Perry.
 
Future Meeting Dates
Feb 24, 2011 FSCAC Quarterly meeting and Strategic Planning. Make-up date Feb 25, 2011
May 20, 2011 FSCAC Quarterly Meeting
September 16, 2011 FSCAC Quarterly Meeting- Conference Call
November 4, 2011 FSCAC Annual Meeting
November 3, 2011 Annual Test Site Coordinator Meeting


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