LOSAP portal opens
Greetings fellow Firefighters hope everyone is healthy and doing well in your family and your communities. We are into winter weather early this year I hope it not an indicator that it is going to be a long season. As we go into this season, we need to ensure we take time to be prepared to work in low temperatures as it is hard on us and our equipment. Hope you all had an enjoyable Merry Christmas and safely celebrate New Years as 2025 is in the books.
We are stepping into the season that we deal with our State Representatives. The board has had the opportunity to visit with Senator Webster and Senate Majority Leader Klemish. We have updated them on how the Length of Service Award Program (LOSAP) is going. Along with our new endeavor to have the State support National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) providing our volunteers with a $10,000 accidental death and dismemberment insurance policy, Responder Helpline, Free training, and Volunteer Voices online discussion forum. It going to be a hard sale, but it has the resources to train, support & protect our volunteers in Iowa.
I had the honor to travel to Leon, IA to present a 25-year award to Eric Rasmussen. Also, they have just finished adding on to their station providing them with three more bays. This addition was orchestrated and funded by the Rotary Club of Decatur County.
First thing I want to remind you on is that the LOSAP portal will be closing for the first distribution as of January 30th. We also have been asked the question of what it is we need to do for the NERIS/NFIRS program before January 1st. We have been told as for the reporting continue as you have been doing it the state will covert and forward information on. However, each department needs to go NERIS/NFIRS system and register your department.
Some good news we would like to share: the board was able to use a portion of the profits from convention to purchase a building in Radcliffe, IA so that we have a place to collect our records, memorabilia and bring our management back to Iowa. This all started when we were approached by Tori Akers with the proposition to work for the IFA, she will be our Executive Director for the Association starting January 1st. The board has seen her abilities and has been impressed with her dedication and attention to details supporting the convention. We have confidence in her ability to take on this position and look forward to working with her.
As I close, if you have any questions on any programs, please give one of the board members a call and we will answer your questions. I also want to say we are going into some of the most stressful months for mental health with all our holidays and gatherings I encourage you to talk and listen to each other as we need to stay strong physically and mentally to provide outstanding service to protect our communities. As we are a brotherhood and sisterhood of the fire service, so we must support each other to stay strong. So, take care of each other, if you have a concern for someone point it out to your leadership, as we are strongest when we take care of each other.
Kent Brix,
IFA President