The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) has been committed to establishing strong partnerships between first responders and various industries to ensure that safe, effective operations occur on all emergency incidents. As part of this commitment, members of the IAFC Hazardous Materials Committee and IAFC Fire and Life Safety Section have partnered with the Propane Education Research Council (PERC) to establish a committee to build a certification program for propane response. In addition, many incidents have occurred involving first responders and the propane industry that have stressed the need for responders and industry specialists to appropriately communicate with each other on the scene and understand each other’s needs.
The propane industry and the IAFC jointly established a program training committee to evaluate and build a formal education program for propane responses that will culminate in an exam for a new responder ProBoard certification being established. The committee has recently met and set goals and objectives for the program currently in development. This program aims to establish a formal online training program for awareness, operations, and operation mission-specific responses.
