Thoughts From The Tailboard
If you’re reading this month’s paper, then you obviously survived all the holiday festivities. I hope Christmas and New Years were great for you and all your family. We now start counting days till summer.
The SD Firefighters Assn. 2026 Membership drive is in full swing. Many departments have paid their 100% Memberships and their Department Only. The Board truly appreciates your support. They can’t do anything without it. Check with your department treasurer and make sure your dues have been paid.
The Firefighters Assn. held their winter board meeting January 9 in Mitchell. Great discussion and great changes coming. In the following paragraphs I’ll try to summarize these updates.
A change to the amount of reimbursement to each of the fire districts. They voted to increase it from $2,000 per year to $4,000 per year. The Board realized the cost of bringing high quality instructors to your school has gone up, just like everything else. In 2025 the Board budgeted $14,000 for support to the seven districts, and they reimbursed the districts for $13,687.63. That’s good.
The Mobile Live Fire Trailers’ costs are not included in the $4,000 per year for districts. The MLFT expenses come from a different budget. So, start lining up those days and weekends when you can round up several mutual aid departments and utilize this high-quality training. You can’t beat it.
The Board also voted to contract with a company to help manage the day-to-day operations. The time your Board members spend on setting up State Fire School, District Fire Schools, membership dues, and all the other things that go on is just too overwhelming. The Growth Zone membership program has been great in contacting firefighters about classes but just like everything else it takes time and dedication to make it work properly. The Board is no different than your department or any other organization. Everyone’s time is less. There will be more in future articles so stay tuned.
The legislative session has begun so keep your ear to the ground for bills that will have some effect on you and your department. Be very aware of any bills that have anything to do with property tax. If you’re a rural fire protection district or ambulance district this issue may have a dramatic effect on your revenue.
With that I’ll finish for this month and let you get on with your important business.
Stay safe.
Denny Gorton, Treasurer