EMS

The National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) represents the nation's volunteer fire, rescue and emergency medical services (EMS) personnel. A 2003 study by the National Association of State EMS Directors estimated that 45 percent of EMS in this country is fire-based. According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), 17,212 out of 30,400 fire departments in the United States, or 57 percent, provide emergency medical services.

The NVFC plays a significant role in promoting the interests of this nation's volunteer EMS personnel. Some of the organization's activities include:

EMS/Rescue Section. The NVFC has an EMS/Rescue Section to provide volunteers in an EMS or rescue delivery system with information, education, services, and representation to enhance their professionalism. Learn more and join the EMS/R Section.

NFPA Committees. The NVFC has representatives on various NFPA committees that deal with fire and EMS issues. These include NFPA 450, the Committee on Emergency Medical Services, of which NVFC Kentucky Director Ken Knipper is Chair, and the Ambulances Technical Committee. NFPA committees develop voluntary consensus standards that can be adopted by states or individual departments.

Collaboration with NHTSA. The NVFC collaborates with the National Highway Safety Transportation Administration's (NHTSA) Office of EMS on a regular basis, distributing their electronic newsletter to the NVFC mailing list as well as participating in various working groups that NHTSA organizes. Some of the NHTSA projects that the NVFC has contributed to include developing new National EMS Education Standards, creating a framework for an EMS Illness and Injury Surveillance System, and participating in NHTSA's EMS Workforce Project.

Legislative Initiatives. The NVFC promotes a number of bills that would benefit volunteer EMS personnel by providing them with tax benefits and job protection. We also advocate on behalf of grant programs that provide funding for EMS equipment, training, and apparatus. In addition, we support legislation that would increase the prevalence of fire sprinklers and fire-safe cigarettes, which would benefit all public safety officers. View a full list of the NVFC's legislative priorities.

Fire Corps. The NVFC houses and administers Fire Corps, a federally-funded program falling under the auspices of the Department of Homeland Security's Citizen Corps initiative, a national grassroots effort to help communities prevent, prepare for and respond to natural disasters and other emergencies. Through Fire Corps, community members are invited to assist their local fire and EMS departments with non-emergency tasks, from conducting fire prevention and life safety education within the community to helping the department with fundraising, apparatus maintenance, administrative tasks and more. In fulfilling these roles, citizens are allowing their local firefighters and EMS personnel to focus their efforts on critical, life-threatening situations while also increasing the ability of the department to provide additional programs and services for the community it serves. Visit www.firecorps.org for more information.

Heart-Healthy Firefighter Program. The NVFC Heart-Healthy Firefighter Program is a national heart attack prevention campaign for the fire and emergency services. The program launched in 2003 with the release of the Heart-Healthy Firefighter Kit and free cholesterol testing at emergency services trade shows and has since expanded to include the Fired Up for Fitness Challenge and the Heart-Healthy Resource Guide. The Heart-Healthy Firefighter booth travels to fire and EMS trade shows across the country to offer free health screenings for risk factors such as blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose, as well as other features like cooking and fitness demonstrations. The booth will be at EMS Expo in Las Vegas in September. More information about the Heart-Healthy Firefighter Program is available at www.healthy-firefighter.org.

Links and Resources
EMS News Archive