L.A.S.T- Local Assistance State Team
Article by : Jimmy Conner
Donnie
West, Assistant Fire Chief with the Center Point Fire
District and Jim St. John Battalion Chief with Vestavia
Hills Fire Department presented a program that touched
all that were present in a special way. Chief West gave
information on (L.A.S.T.) Local Assistance State Team,
which he is the State Coordinator. This team is there to
provide assistance and support to families and fire
departments of fallen fire fighters. This program is
part of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation and
the Department of Justice, which provided the training
for Chief West. This is a volunteer program and we
should applaud and thank Chief West for his dedication.
Chief St. John is the State
of Alabama Honor Guard Commander and he works with Chief
West in providing whatever assistance the department or
the family requests. Chief St. John also stated that the
state needed a minimum of two mo
re
Honor Guard Commanders to cover the state. Someone asked
about an Honor Guard Academy and Chief St. John said
that sounded like a great idea and suggested that the
Alabama Fire College would be a great choice to hold it.
Allan Rice the Executive Director of the Alabama Fire
College assured Chief St. John that the Fire College
will support and work toward seeing that this happens.
