Since the IAFC’s Volunteer and Combination Officers (VCOS) section published the Blue Ribbon Report in 2004, it has been working on a set of ambitious goals to improve the volunteer fire service. Today at Fire-Rescue International, VCOS announced that one of those goals has been realized: The group will hold its first National Summit in Washington, D.C., March 17-20.

The summit, titled “The Heartbeat of America: Preserving the Future of the Volunteer Fire Service,” will bring together leaders from government, policy and public safety to address the challenges facing the volunteer fire service and ways to improve the volunteer emergency services, inclusive of volunteer, on-call and part-time personnel.

Chief Tim Wall, VCOS Chair, who was awarded the Volunteer Fire Chief of the Year earlier today at the General Session, stressed at a briefing that the Summit is still in development, but that it is the culmination of the efforts of many VCOS board members and IAFC leaders who pushed for the summit and will now work to fund it. “Once again, VCOS steps up,” Chief Wall said.

Although the Summit program lineup is still in development, one challenge it will surely address is the declining percentage of volunteers. Although 73 percent of all U.S. fire department are still fully volunteer, and 93 percent rely on some volunteer members, the overall number of volunteer firefighters has declined by 10 percent since the 1980s.

For more on the Summit and VCOS, visit www.vcos.org.

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