The Indiana Fire Chiefs Association is seeking volunteers to serve as District Liaisons for the Firefighter Fatality Assistance Project. As District Liaisons, volunteers would provide immediate assistance and support to fire departments experiencing a line-of-duty death or active duty death. Qualified volunteers must be a chief or high-ranking fire officer within their district, an IFCA member, and able to respond quickly to an incident. As Liaisons, volunteers would help secure accident scenes, direct departments to resources like the Indiana LAST Team, and offer ongoing support and advocacy. Interested volunteers should contact the FFAP Coordinator with their contact information and district.

1. Firefighter Fatality Assistance Project.
District Liaison.
The Indiana Fire Chiefs Association is looking for members with a unique ability to
help other Chiefs in a time of extreme need. When a line of duty death or even an active
duty death occurs in a department the entire organization will be overwhelmed by the
chaos that will occur in those first few hours, days, and weeks following this tragic event.
Most organizations will not be prepared or have policy in place that will give them
direction if this type of event occurs. Last year a change in philosophy for the Indiana
Fire Chiefs Association was to be more pro-active in the promotion of the established
Indiana LAST Team, offer assistance and promote fire service preparedness for LODD's
education, and offer liaison services from a regional or district level to help a department
in its immediate need.
The IFCA is now taking applications from Fire Chiefs or Assistant Chiefs willing to
volunteer in their respective district to serve as a liaison to offer assistance to departments
suffering through the most tragic time most will ever face.
Qualifications to serve as a FFAP District Liaison are as follows;
• Be a chief or ranking fire officer serving a fire department within their respective
district.
• Be a current member of the Indiana Fire Chiefs Association.
• Have the ability to respond within your district in a timely manner, when tragedy
does strike, the District Liaison would be from the local region and therefore
somewhat familiar with the leaders of the affected agency and knowledgeable of
area resources.
• Provide immediate assistance to an incident, the liaison must be able to tactfully
assist with issues such as; securing the scene, preserving and protecting crucial
evidence at a scene.
• Direct the affected department to use the Indiana LAST Team resources and assist
in harmonizing that effort.
• Assist in Response and Readiness from other local departments capable of
supplementing the affected department.
• The FFAP liaison should be able to offer support and direction in a compassionate
and caring manner, gently directing the department to seek help from other fire
departments and fire service leaders they trust.
• Be an advocate for (Taking Care of Our Own) and assist departments in planning
and preparation when called upon.
• Be an advocate for consistent and coordinated policies and procedures in regards
to LODD planning.
• All District Liaisons’ must be approved by the IFCA Board of Directors and
serve at the board’s discretion.

2. District Liaisons would also be part of an oversight committee for the LAST team when
a response has been initiated in their respective district.
The District Liaison may be asked to do a personal follow-up with the department after
the incident to evaluate the services and performance of the LAST Team and Liaison.
Anyone interested in being a part of the FFAP initiative as a District Liaison should
contact; Firefighter Fatality Assistance Project Coordinator Les Marckel at
lmarckel@decaturfire.us or by phone –cell 260-223-5396 (I would prefer email so I can
create an electronic roster of the liaisons by district)
Please provide your name, your rank, an e-mail address that is frequently monitored, and
your I DHS district. Also indicate your affiliation – Career- Volunteer- Combination
IFCA's goal is to identify several district liaisons in each district. As we have seen time
and time again, it's often difficult to get one person who can always break away on a
moments notice and commit a significant amount of time and effort to support an agency.