CSFA President's Message

Fire service EMS gets some good news

As we go to press for this edition, we have learned that the Emergency Medical Services Authority (EMSA) has decided to pause its proposed regulatory action to the Chapter 13 Emergency Medical Services System Regulations. At CSFA, our EMS Chair Scott Clough and our Executive Director Jeff Meston have been vocal in their analysis that these regulations, as written, would have devastating effects upon fire service EMS. Also at CSFA we are fortunate to have seat at the table representing fire service interests on the EMSA Commission on EMS Membership, through our appointee from Long Beach Fire Department Paul Rodriquez.

The reason cited by the EMSA in announcing the postponement, was due to the ongoing response to the Novel Coronavirus pandemic. In an email dated July 31, EMSA Regulations Manager Kent Gray noted that this delay will “…allow for a stakeholder process that will bring groups together to work on critical EMS policy issues and system impacts.” Due to Administrative Procedure Act (APA) requirements that a Notice of Proposed Action is only good for one year, EMSA will formerly submit a Notice Not to Proceed for the current proposed regulations. EMSA will submit a new Notice of Proposed Action to restart the APA process. As we did before, CSFA will be monitoring the new Notice of Proposed Action, and we will keep you informed of any proposals that could negatively impact the delivery of fire service EMS. I want to thank our team in Sacramento and also the members who answered our request to submit comments to EMSA concerning the Chapter 13 proposed changes. Please watch your email inbox for any updates, which we will communicate through the weekly CSFA Connection.

CSFA operates for you during the pandemic

At CSFA we have adapted our day-to-day operations to comply with local and state health directives related to the Covid-19 pandemic, and we feel we have done so without any interruption to services and benefits. We encourage you to download the free CSFA smartphone app (recently updated and enhanced) to keep abreast of CSFA’s activities and, as always, to record your incident exposures through our free incident reporting system. As we reported last month, we are still planning some form of CSFA Conference this calendar year, but it will take on a new form. We will release details as soon as they have been formalized.

Please stay safe at home and while on-duty as we all move through this challenging time. 

Mike Shrout
CSFA President