Above: WFF Executive Director Vicki Minor and NFFF Executive Director Ron Siarnicki. Screenshot from the video referenced below.
The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (NFFF) is announcing a new initiative directed toward wildland firefighters. Today with the support of the Wildland Firefighter Foundation (WFF), they are introducing the Everyone Goes Home in the Wildland program. It is an offshoot of the Everyone Goes Home® (EGH) program established by the NFFF in 2004 featuring the 16 Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives. Their goal was to “help the U.S. Fire Administration achieve its objective of reducing the number of preventable firefighter fatalities”.
In 2017 the NFFF began a series of six listening sessions around the United States asking firefighting personnel for their ideas about how to reduce line of duty deaths and injuries on wildland fires. Input was also obtained from natural resource management organizations that have not traditionally identified themselves as part of what we know collectively as “the fire service.”
Drawing from their success in reducing LODDs among structural firefighters through programs under the Everyone Goes Home® umbrella, the NFFF now proposes to leverage their strengths and resources to do the same for wildland firefighters.
The actions taken today include the release of a video in which WFF Executive Director Vicki Minor and NFFF Executive Director Ron Siarnicki discuss their collaboration and adoption of the 16 Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives in the wildland environment.
In addition, a 12-page report is available that summarizes the findings of the NFFF’s wildland firefighting needs assessment, including the surveys and listening sessions. This paper will be the guiding document for this effort, prioritizing EGH program development for wildland firefighters in the near future.
Today the WFF and NFFF also released a tri-fold brochure designed to introduce the concepts of the 16 Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives to the wildland firefighter. It is designed to be downloaded and printed by organizations, either professionally or on a standard copier.