Another year comes to an end, and some departments have grown and thrived while others have faced serious changes and some have even closed.

Professional volunteer departments continue to be challenged by their communities, politicians and their own members.

Fires continue to challenge us, and even ask the supreme sacrifice from all too many of us.

The difference is nowadays I hope is that we continue to learn, find new ways to conquer the challenges and stay proud in our traditions.

We must all continue to move our departments and volunteer departments as a whole forward into becoming true volunteer professionals.

While the definition of a true volunteer professional is still evolving, the one thing I know is that you can tell when a member is professional or not when you see it.

In 2008, I challenge each department to help define what it means to be a professional volunteer department and strive to exceed all expectations of your department and volunteers as a whole.