VCOS Offers Guide for Youth Programs

Nov. 11, 2009
Listen to VCOS Radio Podcast  A new report is aiming to get more departments on the same page when it comes to procedures for youth fire service programs.The Silver Ribbon Report released by VCOS last week at their annual symposium in Clearwater, Fla., outlines guidelines and best practices fire departments should take into account when creating or reviewing their youth program.
Listen to VCOS Radio Podcast  A new report is aiming to get more departments on the same page when it comes to procedures for youth fire service programs.The Silver Ribbon Report released by VCOS last week at their annual symposium in Clearwater, Fla., outlines guidelines and best practices fire departments should take into account when creating or reviewing their youth program.The 2,800 members of VCOS will soon receive a hard copy of the report and it will later be made available electronically through IAFC's Web site, according to VCOS Chairman Tim Wall."It's meant for departments that want to improve their program or start one," he said. "It's essentially a guideline."The idea for the report first came up when a resolution was brought to the IAFC from its southwest division in 2007, calling for a way to address the national issue of youth members being injured -- and in some cases killed -- while volunteering through their departments' programs.VCOS met with officials this past June in Raleigh, N.C. to compile research results and produce the final report.After the meeting "we saw things were done very differently across the country. We all had different programs," he said. "There are safety issues that to be stressed. The program needs to be designed to be safe for kids and the adviser."Mike Jaffa, a captain with the Santa Fe County, N.M. Fire-EMS Department and a deputy chief with the Harris, N.M. Volunteer Fire Department, is a member of the IAFC's Southwest Division."There have been many successful programs, but there have also been a lot that have struggled," he said. "It's hard to start a program when you don't have anything like this to base it on."All of the report's authors stressed that the document is not meant to compete with existing program, but to instead promote those programs. Organizations such as the Fire Exploring Program and NVFC's National Junior Firefighter Program were researched and cited within the report."We wanted to give a menu of what's out there," Wall said. "We're trying to support existing programs and encourage departments to start their own."

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