CSFA President's Message

We mourn our fallen brothers; please be safe every day

As I sit down to write the President’s Message for this edition, I am certainly reminded of the dangers of our chosen profession. As many of you know, we lost a brother firefighter, Captain David Rosa, in my department. He was senselessly shot dead while responding to an incident. The outpouring of love and honor from so many members of the fire service – both in California and across the country -- was tremendous, and provided some small measure of comfort to his family and those of us who knew him. We had barely honored Captain Rosa, when word came that a Cal Fire dozer operator, Braden Varney lost his life battling the Ferguson Fire near Yosemite. As I write this that blaze has consumed nearly 40,000 acres and 3,400 personnel are on scene. In addition to the death of Braden Varney, seven other firefighters have already been injured battling this one.

Whether responding in our home jurisdictions or out on strike teams, please be careful and aware of potential dangers at all time.

Conference comes together

I hope that many of our you choose to engage with CSFA and join us at the 96th annual CSFA Conference Sept. 4 – 6 in Rancho Mirage. We have secured a special $129.00 a night room rate and you can come early or stay a few days longer at the special rate. The Conference Committee have scheduled a number of speakers who will be highlighting PTSD and ways to deal with it. We will also be setting our legislative agenda for next year and electing Board members. This promises to be a memorable conference, register today. I hope to see many of you there!

Stay Safe,
Mike Shrout CSFA President