Question one this time around is really quite simple. Are you a member of the Cumberland Valley Volunteer Fireman’s Association? If you are, fine; if you are not, simply go to www.cvvfa.org and download a membership application, fill it out and send it along with a check for $5 to the designated address on the form. Now on to my regular message.

Let me apologize for the fact that it has been a while since I shared a few new thoughts with you on this page. Let me ask your forgiveness. My friend Jack Peltier and I have been moving along on our 2006 Fire Act Road Trip. We have traveled more than 6,000 miles studying success stories which have sprung from the seeds which were planted by the funds provided through the FIRE Act.

I want to share a few things that Jack and I saw along the way. When you travel as far and Jack and I have, you encounter a lot of traffic and observe a great many things. First and foremost, “Mover-Over” laws are working. As we moved along the interstate highway system, we saw countless instances where motorists were following the move over and slow down tenets of their state laws.

Those of us with the Emergency Response Safety Institute (ERSI) who have worked on highway safety issues have been strong proponents of these sorts of laws. This is the first time that I have personally seen them at work. My home state of New Jersey

has not seen fit to sign on board. These laws have merit and should be passed in every state in the Union.

We also saw a great many bad drivers. We saw people who were so consumed with what they were doing in their own cars that they just did not seem to be paying attention to the job of driving their car down the highway. I now have a greater appreciation for being sure that I do what I can to protect emergency responders on the highways. People are just plain crazy out there.

The final miles of our road trip led Jack and I to a meeting with some old and dear friends. Anytime that we can come together with the members of the Cumberland Valley Volunteer Fireman’s Association (CVVFA) is a good time. We are meeting this week in Greencastle, Pennsylvania for our annual CVVFA Convention.

Just prior to the start of the convention, the ERSI conducted a strategic planning session.  We have been working on a variety projects for the past seven years.  We have done a number of great things.  Now it is our plan to take our endeavors to a new level.

Primary among our efforts is the Respondersafety.com website. We provide the latest information from a variety of sources on line-of-duty deaths,“struck-by” incidents, “move-over” law issues and an environmental scan of all “move-over” laws in the nation. As you can tell, we have changed our webpage and added a number of features.

There are an increasing number of downloadable items available from our site.  We have downloadable highway safety SOP’s, and a wide range of Word documents and PowerPoint programs available in our Download Section. In addition there are a number of DVD programs and printed information which can be ordered by filling out the online application on our site.

Very shortly we will have an on-line highway safety manual available for your use.  The final drafts are being edited and will be released as soon as they are ready.  There will be an accompanying PowerPoint program which you can use to bring the manual to life for your members.

We have a group of trainers who are available to deliver our highway safety training programs to you. They have appeared in a number of places delivering highway safety programs in a wide range of areas around the country. Perhaps we could help you to train your people to operate in the safest possible way on the highways of your response area.

Steve Austin and I are working diligently on the issue of the Public Safety Vests within the ANSI committee system. We are pressing home the importance of the tear-away feature as part of this proposed new safety vest. There have been instances where a highway responder wearing a safety vest was snagged and dragged by a passing motor vehicle. The tear-away feature will work to prevent this from happening. Once the standard is approved, this vest will then be available for use by fire, police, and

EMS personnel.

The ERSI is also conducting another highway safety training course during our convention in Greencastle.  All of us at CVVFA, ERSI, and Respondersafety.com believe that it is critical to keep telling our story and showing the way to a safer highway operating environment.

The statistics which continue to appear under our Fast Lane heading tell the story.  Fire, police, and EMS people are being struck every day of the week.  We cannot rest until our numbers drop significantly.  It is our hope that we will have more to share with you as the months pass by.  We are trying my friends, we are really trying.