F.F.A.M.

Mutual Aid Update

Thank you to the entire FFAM family for allowing me the opportunity to meet the board and auxiliary back on June 7, and for extending the invitation to be a part of this newsletter, providing a forum to share valuable information to each of you!

A quick snapshot of me, I am a 33-year veteran of the Missouri fire service, serving in volunteer, career, and military departments. I retired from the Columbia Fire Department in October 2019. Almost immediately, I was brought into the Missouri Division of Fire Safety as the Program Manager for the Fire Fighter I/II, and Hazardous Materials programs. On April 6, 2020, I was promoted to Statewide Fire Mutual Aid Coordinator. My move into this new position certainly came at a very challenging time for Missouri and the Missouri fire service. COVID-19/PPE, followed by civil unrest, and a tropical depression were just the first sixty days of my “trial by fire.” To those who have reached out and helped guide me through the last ten weeks, fire chiefs, regional coordinators, Matt Luetkemeyer, Chief Bean, and former co-workers, I cannot thank you enough.
With the gradual reopening of the state, it is allowing me to get out to some of the regional chiefs meetings and meet you folks in person!

On June 2, we officially went live with a Fire Fighter Recognition Program. This program recognizes anyone promoted to the rank of fire chief with a Missouri fire department, death of any current, active, fire department member or retiree regardless of rank, death does not need to be in the line-of-duty, or retirement of any member of your department regardless of rank, retirement status determined by individual agency guidelines. Please visit dfs.dps.mo.gov for more information and click on the link to complete the recognition request. There is no charge for this program. You’ve earned it!

Please ensure your fire department registrations are accurate, up to date, and have current email addresses on file for your leadership team. We use the staffing numbers you provide for things such as COVID-19 PPE calculations and the email addresses to contact department leadership for important announcements. The registration link is dfs.dps.mo.gov.
The USDA has funding opportunities available to provide fire apparatus, fire stations, and station repairs to eligible rural departments. Unlike many USDA programs, where a county population threshold must be met, the Community Facilities Direct Loan and Grant Program only requires your fire jurisdiction to be under 20,000 and meet low-income guidelines. Please contact Amy Dati at 573-876-0995 or amy.dati@usda.gov for more information.

Last fall, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) changed their response protocol for responding to fuel and oil spills of less than 300 gallons. The DNR also noticed a sharp corresponding drop in the number of spills reported to the spill line. Please be aware the laws and regulations governing the reporting of spills over 50 gallons have not changed and must still be reported. The only change is that DNR will not automatically respond to an incident of fewer than 300 gallons. DNR will respond to a spill of any size if assistance is requested by the fire department on-scene.

Please stay safe out there!