CTFD

Elkins Park FD Toys for Tots Open House

When: December 18, 2011.  10am-2pm

Where: Elkins Park Fire Company, 7818 Montgomery Ave, Elkins Park Pa

Meet your firefighters and enjoy free food donated by local restaurants.

Bring a new, unwrapped toy to be donated to local families in need!

The five fire companies of Cheltenham Township have joined forces to promote membership in their all-volunteer fire services, which protects their community. With volunteerism declining, these companies banded together two years ago and received a federal grant to combat this negative trend, instituting a proactive campaign to increase their membership, while continuing to provide the highest quality firefighting services to their neighbors and local businesses. The website, www.ctfd.net, will contain all the information a candidate will need to learn about the fire service, understand the tremendous benefits to the members and the Township and to contact the department to proceed to the next step. The website will contain videos of the firefighters, slideshows of fire calls and pages to contact the department to request information and initiate membership. “Do you have what it takes?” Go to the website to find out!

In 2008, the five fire companies of Cheltenham Township pooled their resources to create the CTFD and apply to the federal government for a Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant from the Department of Homeland Security. They were successful in receiving a four year grant for recruitment and retention of firefighters for the Township fire service. The grant included funds for disability insurance, recruitment advertising, certified training reimbursement for the members, service awards and administrative services. Following the completion of the first year, an amendment was submitted to modify certain components of their campaign based on their experience. Additional recruitment activities were approved while staying within the original mission parameters and fiscal award. They have added a recruitment website, videos for cable TV advertising and presentations, a fire call rewards program as a retention incentive, leadership seminars for the advancement of the members and printed materials for recruitment activities. CTFD is presently planning the rollout of these new recruitment campaign activities and will increase their exposure to the candidates they are seeking.

Through their federal grant, the CTFD is beginning a Fire Call Rewards Program for their members based on the percentage of responses each firefighter makes to their company’s fire calls. This semi-annual program will start with the calls from the last six months of 2010. The greater the number of calls a firefighter responds to, the more valuable the reward. In order to qualify, members of one of the five participating Township fire companies must make a minimum of 10% of their company’s dispatches from Montgomery County. Various types of apparel will be awarded to firefighters based on their participation levels in fire call responses. They will include the new CTFD logo created under this grant.