Background

The State Legislature of Oklahoma passed legislation at the end of the 2004 Session which created the Council On Firefighter Training.

However, the original legislation did not include any financial backing. OSFA, the Oklahoma State Firefighters Association, sheltered COFT by providing a place for COFT to office and operate. A handful of dedicated volunteers worked tirelessly for more than two years without compensation to establish COFT.

Naturally, much of the early work was centered on doing the set-up operations necessary for a government entity..

This original legislation set up a special Training Tax Credit program for volunteer firefighters. COFT worked with the relevant groups and agencies to get this program up and running. 2005 was the first year. Money was put back into the hands of volunteer firefighters who had taken training and submitted their applications for approval. This continues and COFT is working on the possibility of expanding this program to other firefighters.

During the early years, COFT also worked hard to bring those involved with firefighter training to the table to address challenges.

As a result of these successes, the State made some funding available in FY2007 and funding has continued. This funding has enable COFT to have more formalized Training Task Force meetings and consequently prepare reports on firefighter training.

COFT has also been working hard with others to secure more funding for firefighter training, such as the additional $1.5 million secured in FY2008 in order to have no-cost training for volunteer firefighters.