Things to Learn

   I hope everyone had an enjoyable Christmas holiday and safe New Year. 

   Any resolutions?

   Here is a New Year resolution for you. Go learn something new in the fire service.

   The January Instructors Conference will be featuring a Read the Smoke session. 

   There will be training sessions in February on Taking Care of Our Own, and Local Assistance State Team (LAST) by the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation.in Pierre.

   Other opportunities include Rail Car Emergency Response in Pierre.  

   The 14 annual response sessions by the SD Pipeline Association across the state. 

   Spring wildland and district schools will be coming up. 

   And check the NVFC website for free in-person, online, and webinar training. 

   We can all tell stories, humorous and horrendous, from our experiences or things we’ve seen or done. The real question that should come out of it is, did we learn something from it?

   We consider ourselves fortunate, and call it a near miss, when something happens that no one is seriously injured.

   But if we don’t learn from it, and correct the behavior, it can become an unnecessary, unfortunate incident that nearly missed.

   Correcting or dealing with accepted behavior can be a challenge on a volunteer department. But safety should always be the number one priority to everyone. Risky actions by one individual can lead to unnecessary action and outcomes by others involved.

   Legislative session starts in January. We will keep an eye out for any issues that may involve volunteer emergency responders. 

   Be sure to get those State Fire Assistance Grant acceptance letters submitted. 

   The SDFA Board will be meeting in Pierre on Jan. 14-15 for the winter meeting.  We will be working on 2024 Fire School in Watertown, discussing legislative issues, membership issues, and future planning. If you have something you would like to bring to the board, please contact your district SDFA representative.

   Thank you and stay safe in 2024,

Charlie Kludt,

SDFA President