Section Governance
The FLSS board of directors is made up of:
- Five officers
- Six at-large members
- Three specialty representative members
- Three ex-officio members
At-large members have three-year terms with two at-large members elected each year. No more than two at-large members may be elected from any single division of the IAFC.
Specialty representatives consist of one member from the education community, one member from the engineering community and one member from the public safety community. They are appointed for one-year terms by a majority vote of the FLSS board after the election at the annual business meeting. These members, who may be affiliate members, have a vote on matters before the FLSS board of directors.
The chair, vice chair, international director, secretary/treasurer and immediate past chair serve as the board's executive committee.
The FLSS board of directors may appoint three ex-officio advisors, who offer specific expertise helpful to assist the board with their work. Ex-officio advisors have a voice but no vote on matters before the board and are appointed for one-year terms by a majority vote of the board after the annual business meeting. Section funding is not provided for ex-officio advisors unless extenuating circumstances permit it at the discretion of the executive committee.
Section History
During FRI 2002, several members of the Fire Code Task Force undertook an effort to create a new IAFC section to focus on fire and life safety issues. The effort was successful and the section was formalized in early 2003 under the name Fire & Life Safety Section. The first section chair was Chief Jackie Gibbs of the Marietta (GA) Fire Department; Chief Wayne Senter of Kitsap County (WA) Fire Department was the first vice chair.
In 2004 the section board petitioned the IAFC board to gain a seat on the IAFC board of directors. The first international director was Chief Jackie Gibbs.