The 2006 International Firefighter Safety Stand Down is scheduled to begin June 21. Organizers are urging all fire departments in the United States and Canada to suspend all non-emergency activity beginning on that date and instead focus entirely on firefighter safety and continue until all personnel and duty nights have been covered. The focus of this year’s stand down is emergency vehicle safety, including seatbelt usage and safe driving through intersections.

As the date nears, the International Association of Fire Chiefs is urging fire departments to finalize their plans for the stand down, and has prepared a recommended activity schedule. That schedule can be downloaded in PDF format from the IAFC Web site. The activity schedule includes suggestions for drills, topics for discussion, vehicle and equipment safety checks, healthy meals, and physical activities.

The IAFC has also posted a Safety Stand Down Emergency Vehicle Resources Page offering a number of firefighter safety resources on emergency vehicle safety.