EMMITSBURG, Md. — Acting U.S. Fire Administrator Charlie Dickinson said this week that the National Firefighter Near-Miss Reporting System has proven to be a positive outlet for the firefighting community.
According to a letter released by Dickinson Wednesday, in its 15 months of operation the Near-Miss Reporting System has had more that 1,000 reports submitted, been in communication with departments nationwide about safety tactics, and has established a weekly training email delivered to over 3,000 firefighters.
Dickinson said Near-Miss is creating an increasingly large following of professional firefighters.
“This clearly demonstrates and continues to remind me that firefighters learn best from other firefighters,” Dickinson said in his letter. “I am personally pleased to say that we at the United States Fire Administration fully endorse and support this system. I encourage all firefighters to support this safety effort by submitting reports from your experience and to visit the site frequently to learn from firefighters looking to share their experiences.”
Dickinson also cited other sources such as the IAFC’s Near-Miss Reporting System and Safety Stand Down, and the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation’s Everyone Goes Home 16 Initiatives and commended them in their efforts to reduce the past year’s number of casualties.
“I ask all firefighters of this nation to participate and contribute your efforts in 2007 to join with and continue this all out effort to stop the tragic loss of our nation’s firefighters,” Dickinson said. “Over 40,000 of you have already proven the system works. I would like to encourage the remaining 1,150,000 firefighters to make these systems work to protect all firefighters from injury and death while in service to their communities.”