NVFC Hosts Inaugural Training Summit
June 24, 2014
On June 20-21, the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) hosted its inaugural Training Summit in Myrtle Beach, SC. Close to 100 firefighters, EMTs, and Fire Corps members from 31 states attended seminars on topics relating to health, safety, and fire prevention methodologies. The event took place during International Fire/EMS Safety and Health Week, which focused this year on training.
“We are really pleased with the response to this inaugural Training Summit and actually reached our maximum attendance limit,” said NVFC Deputy Director Sarah Lee. “We had a great line-up of instructors who were able to provide innovative, thought-provoking, and essential information to attendees on a wide range of topics. We hope this will be the first in a series of similar Training Summits in the years to come.”
Attendance to the Summit was open to volunteer firefighters, EMTs, department leadership, Fire Corps members, and other fire department personnel from across the U.S. The NVFC was able to provide travel scholarships and waived registration fees to eligible attendees to make the Summit accessible to those in resource-constrained departments.
Attendees were able to choose six out of 12 breakout sessions on a variety of topics, including reputation management in a digital era, firefighter cancer, behavioral health, PPE usage during overhaul, traffic incident management, fire prevention outreach techniques, and more. In addition, all attendees and their families were invited to a special lunch presentation given by Lori Mercer, founder of FirefighterWife.com, that addressed the balance between family life and the fire service and how to successfully navigate through the challenges that firefighter families may face. Those who attended the full weekend received .9 CEU’s provided by Columbia Southern University.
The full agenda of courses offered at the summit is available here. Several of these courses will be adapted into online training programs through the NVFC’s Virtual Classroom; stay tuned to the Dispatch and NVFC web site for more information in the coming months.
The Training Summit was made possible thanks to a Fire Prevention and Safety grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. NVFC corporate partners Globe, Ballistic, and IFSTA also provided resources and other items for attendees.
 |
 |
| The Training Summit featured 12 breakout sessions on a variety of health, safety, and fire prevention topics. | |
 |
|
| A lunch was held for attendees and their families featuring a presentation by Lori Mercer of FirefighterWife.com | |
 |
 |
| NVFC board members Jeff Cash (NC), Dr. Henry Bozard (SC), and Tony Dicks (SC) during the Closing Session. | NVFC Training Summit Closing Session. |
