Final Summit Report of the Illinois Volunteer Fire Service Summit, November 9-10, 1999

On November 9-10, 1999, the Office of the Illinois State Fire Marshal and the Illinois Fire Service Institute co-hosted a Volunteer Fire Service Summit at the Public Affairs Center of the University of Illinois Springfield campus. The Summit brought into focus issues that affect some 30,000 volunteer firefighters throughout Illinois and was built upon the work of the National Volunteer Fire Service Summit held in June 1998 at the National Fire Academy. The Summit included 216 representatives of five critical groups who must work together to create and sustain the volunteer fire service: firefighters and fire service leaders; mayors and city managers; representatives from state government agencies; business leaders; and instructors from community/junior colleges. This was the nation's first state-level summit and is considered a template for other states.