EDGEWOOD, MD – Just as they have for the past 114 years, firefighters from several states have gathered to discuss operational and legislative issues.
The Cumberland Valley Volunteer Firemen’s Association (CVVFA) has come a long way since it was formed in 1901.
Firefighters from four states that bordered the Cumberland Valley Railroad -– Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania -- realized they would be more efficient if they trained together as they were often responding to fires along the rails.
The trains ran from Winchester, VA to Harrisburg, PA.
The firefighters came up with the Cumberland Valley hose thread.
Over the years, firefighters from other states expressed interest in becoming members. Delaware was admitted in 1979, explained Steve Austin, past CVVFA president.
Ohio, New Jersey and New York also have representation. Members say they learn that it's important to share issues and possible solutions.
Upset with the number of personnel being struck and killed while working along the highway, a committee was formed to look into the matter.
As a result, respondersafety.com was established, and grown.
“We just registered the 20,000th student on respondersafety.com. And, last month was the largest for us. We had 600 people register.”
Austin noted that the group has formed a partnership with National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to provide traffic incident management systems (TIMS) training.
This will allow responders to take the national course – 10 modules – online.
In other business, a cadet program at the Joppa-Magnolia, MD, Volunteer Fire Company was explained by Don Hare Jr. and Tyler Dailey, who came up through the program, to now mentor youths.
They encouraged fire officials to take the time to not only create by promote cadet programs.
“I love the fire service,” Dailey said, adding that the training he got in the youth program prepared him for firefighter classes.
"We learned everything that was involved in being a firefighter," he said.
Hare said the in-house classes he had for three years helped him do well when he took FF1 when he turned 16.
When Hare signed on the dotted line to join the cadet program, his father soon developed an interest and also joined the fire department.
Now, the two and Dailey lead the committee that oversees the youth group.
"We enjoy helping. I think Tyler and I can relate to them because we're close to their age, and we went through it..."
The 25 cadets have drills every other Saturday night. In addition to hands-on, there are also classroom sessions. They've also helped out with various training classes in the region.
Dailey said the younger members also are getting EMS training as well. "We've found some people would rather do EMS than fighting fires..."
The cadets are best recruiters as well. Sharing what they're doing at the fire station is getting others to sign up.
