CSFA Offers Firefighters and Their Families Valuable Benefits and Services

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The California State Firefighters Association (CSFA) is the largest fire service organization in the state of California. The CSFA has approximately 24,000 members from all areas of the firefighting community including paid and volunteer firefighters, military and private contract firefighters, members of the California Department of Forestry, United States Forest Disaster Office, Office of Emergency Services, State Fire Marshal's Office, State Fire Service and Training Program and California state-employed firefighters, as well as auxiliary members from fire service support organizations. Established in 1922, CSFA was founded with the mission of promoting the enactment of laws to protect the public from fire and to improve the working conditions for firefighters. Eighty-seven years later this is still their goal, and as part of this mission they offer members a multitude of benefits.

One of the core offerings of CSFA is their assistance to firefighters in managing their personal benefits. CSFA meets individually with members and puts together a benefits booklet free of charge that outlines what they have available from their fire departments, CSFA and other sources. They present firefighters with all of the information they need to make an educated decision on which benefits to take advantage of and helps them to avoid duplication of benefits and services. Explaining their process, Jeff Lundstrom, the Managing Director of ORBA Financial Management, says, "We meet with the personnel department, we get the MOU, and we put together an actual binder and benefits booklet with a computerized software program that explains all of the benefits to them very plainly and clearly." Many firefighters find this to be a valuable resource, as many do not understand what is available to them and their families.

CSFA and ORBA Financial Management offer a similar booklet for retirement planning, which explains all of the available options to retirees. Of CSFA's firefighter retirement planning services Lundstrom says, "They've been a firefighter for 25 to 30 years. They know how to be a firefighter but they've never been a retired firefighter. So we say they are kind of a 'boot' all over again, a rookie at being a retired firefighter. So we just want to help them ease into that process, and we don't care how large their question is or how small. We say that we want to help in any way that we can."

The California State Firefighters Association also gives assistance to firefighters' families upon their deaths. All CSFA members in good standing automatically receive $10,000 Off-Duty Accidental Death and Dismemberment coverage and a $1,000 Death Benefit, according to John Dane, CSFA's Executive Director. When a member dies, not only do their families receive this benefit, but they also receive the help of CSFA's trained staff to assist them in filing claims with all of the companies and organizations that they held benefits with, including the California University System, Workers Compensation, the PSOB Federal Death benefit, and their municipality's insurance carrier.

Other free benefits enjoyed by CSFA members include travel and insurance discounts, political representation through CSFA PAC and a full time legislative advocate, and a subscription to The California Fire Service Magazine, which features columns by respected figures in the firefighting community, information on the latest technology and events in the fire service, and photographs of firefighters at work. CSFA Members can also access its state-of-the-art website, www.csfa.net, which is currently undergoing revolutionary changes to provide firefighters with an excellent source for news, benefit information and firefighter communication. Previewing what is in store for visitors to www.csfa.net, Executive Director John Dane says, "We are building our communications capacity. We're building our social capacity for firefighters to talk to other firefighters as we move further into this year and next on our website."

The California State Firefighters Association offers many other discounts, legal services, training and insurance benefits, and FDNNTV.com's Barbara Brooks will highlight these in Part 2 of her report.