Greetings all~

At the yearly business meeting of the WFAS, usually a part of the annual conference, 2020 elections were held. Two Regional Representative terms were up this year along with that of the Secretary and Chair. Cathy Blakeway, Tumwater Fire, will continue to serve as a Regional Rep and Tasiya Deering, Moses Lake Fire, was reelected to the position of Secretary. Kristen Cole chose not to run again for the Regional Rep position she has held but has opted to remain on the board as the Hospitality/Activity committee chair. Slita Bradley, Benton County Fire District 4, was chosen to fill that Regional Rep position. Caity Karapostoles, Clallam County Fire District 3, was elected to serve for the next two years as Chairman when Mykel Montgomery stepped down. Mykel will stay on the board as Past Chair, allowing her to help deliver the 2021 WFAS Conference in Chelan postponed from October 2020. A huge shout out to everyone for stepping up to run for positions on the board and to volunteer on the various committees, along with everyone who continues to serve as board/committee members. It takes all of us to create and maintain the valuable network that is the WFAS! And along those lines, the Vice Chair position is open if you or someone you know is interested, please let me know as soon as possible. In keeping with our policies and procedures, the vacancy will be filled by a majority vote of the Executive Board at our next meeting. The person chosen will serve until the next election at the 2021 WFAS Conference,

In lieu of this year’s conference and workshops, a number of webinars are being planned for our group. Check the website and the group’s Facebook page for more information as it comes available.

Please feel free to contact me or any of the other board/committee members, if there is anything we can help you with. I welcome comments, concerns and suggestions!

Take care and stay safe.

As always,

Caity K

WFAS Chair

 A recording of the hour long webinar “How to Apply for a Local Records Grant” is now available at Washington State Archives’ website at:

 https://www.sos.wa.gov/archives/RecordsManagement/Local-Records-Grant-Program.aspx

The Online Grant Application form will be available on July 2, 2018.

If anyone has questions or would like assistance in planning and preparing their application, please email recordsmanagement@sos.wa.gov.

On behalf of your Washington Fire Administrative Support (WFAS) Board and Committee Members, we would like to acknowledge your hard work, dedication and commitment to the fire service and the work that you do. We all play an integral part in the departments we work for and the communities we serve, but perhaps don’t always get the acknowledgement that goes along with it. I hope everyone feels valued for their efforts and feels the support of your network of peers within the WFAS Section. Enjoy your day and I am so excited to see 96 of you in Walla Walla at our annual conference next week!

Ashley Becker, WFAS Section Chair

If you would like to see a version noting all of the changes, that document is shown as well. Feel free to share any concerns or comments regarding this updated document with us at: wfc@washingtonfirechiefs.org 

The updated protocols will be voted on by members at the WFAS conference in Walla Walla, Washington on Monday, May 7th.

• Nominee can be nominated by any WFC member, belonging to any WFC Section – please include: nominees name, position title, years of service;
• The nominee must be a current member of the WFAS;
• Nomination should list the nominee’s administrative accomplishments and contributions during the previous year as well as their leadership abilities, demonstration of professional performance and personal character.  A short story should be submitted to enhance the nominee’s accomplishments.

We currently have an opening on the WFAS Executive Board for an Eastern Representative, partial term, to serve through May 2018 (until the conference in which an election will take place for a two-year term).

Please submit a Statement of Interest to abecker@centralpiercefire.org, no later than Tuesday, August 15, for consideration at our upcoming Board Meeting in Walla Walla.

Feel free to reference the WFAS Board Campaign on the website for more information on Board involvement or reach out to a Board Member.

On behalf of the WFAS Board, we would like to thank you for your endless dedication to the fire service and your commitment to learn and grow.

If you would like to see a version noting all of the changes, please contact us. Feel free to share any concerns or comments regarding this updated document with us at: wfc@washingtonfirechiefs.org 

The updated protocols will be voted on by members at the WFAS conference in Olympia, Washington.

• Nominee can be nominated by any WFC member, belonging to any WFC Section – please include: nominees name, position title, years of service;
• The nominee must be a current member of the WFAS;
• Nomination should list the nominee’s administrative accomplishments and contributions during the previous year as well as their leadership abilities, demonstration of professional performance and personal character.  A short story should be submitted to enhance the nominee’s accomplishments.

Hi Everyone,

The WFAS Section now has a Facebook group for our members! Be sure to check it out and add yourself to the group and help us spread the word!

Click here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/wafireadmin/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel

Thank you to everyone that completed our recent WFAS Survey on the 2016 Conference. We use that information to make each year's conference better than the last! 

Congrats to Cari Ross-Koler from Stevens 1 Fire Rescue as the survey drawing winner!

If you have pictures from the 2016 Conference in Leavenworth, we would love for you to share them on our website!

Once logged in, click on Photo Gallery and scroll to the bottom of the page. There is an easy-to-use photo uploader for you to send us your pictures!

A tutorial has also been uploaded to our Documents, Website Tutorials folder.

Thank you to all our WFAS members that were able to attend this past year's conference in Leavenworth! For those of you that missed out, a few highlights included lessons learned from a number of local Fire Chiefs on recent Washington State disasters we have encountered, tips for adapting to change, {WOODY}, and the highly popular casino night!

Your 2016 WFAS Board is already hard at work planning for the 2017, 2018 and even 2019 conferences! We will be meeting this friday in Cle Elem to gather our ideas and put our heads together. 

We have put together a survey for all members, to gather feedback on the recent conference, as well as overall suggestions. If you have not already, please follow this link to fill it out: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/8V3LBDJ. The deadline is this Friday, June 17th to be entered in the drawing for WFAS merch for filling out the survey. 

If you missed out in Leavenworth, don't forget to Save the Date and put the 2017 WFAS Annual Conference on your calendars for May 8-10 in Olympia.

WFC Fire Administrative Support (WFAS) recognizes that some departments do not have the budget available for their administrative staff to attend section functions.  Knowing the benefits of continuing education, increasing workplace proficiency and the value of network sharing, we have created a scholarship fund to assist these individuals. Money collected from the raffle at our annual conference each year funds this program.  The scholarship is designed to cover, or assist with, registration fees and/or travel & lodging costs for the recipients to attend section functions.

The following is a guideline for disbursement of these funds:

1. Interested WFAS members shall fill out the application and forward it to the Scholarship Chair.
2. The application shall include a written summary as to the reason for the request.
3. Priority for funds usage will be toward registration; if scholarship funds are still available after grants are made, funds will be applied to other conference costs, ie. lodging, travel expenses, etc, dependent upon need and availability. 
4. The Chair will appoint a committee to review all applications and select an applicant(s) to receive scholarship funds.