The Second National Firefighter Safety Standdown Monday, March 9, 2009  - The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) has announced the nations second firefighter safety stand down. The stand down will start Wednesday, June 21, 2006 and will continue until all personnel and duty nights have been covered.                 What is a stand down? Where did it originate? It is a procedure used by the military to correct an issue that has been identified as a problem in its ranks. Our stand down is designed to highlight a specific problem that has lead to a number of line of duty deaths and injuries. Last year an estimated 10,000 fire departments participated in the National Firefighter Safety Stand Down.                 “Sadly, 106 firefighter’s died in the line of duty last year.   Since many of them occurred in department vehicles, we have decided to focus this year’s stand down on emergency vehicle safety, where we can have the most impact. We must take steps to reduce the alarmingly high firefighter death and injury rates, said IAFC President Chief Bill Killen, “While firefighter safety must be part of everyday in the fire service, the Safety Stand Down raises awareness of the issue and calls national attention to the unacceptable number of firefighter line-of-duty-deaths.”                 We urge all fire departments to take part in this very important event. Ways that your fire department can take part. Review driving procedures, discuss recent near misses, dust off your states Vehicle and Traffic laws and refresh your emergency vehicle operators on the rules of the road. Go to the IAFC web site where they have an excellent power point training session on driving safety and accident reduction. What ever you do, do something. Be part of the solution not part of the problem.