IAFC Sends Letter to DEA Requesting Clarification for Interstate ALS Deployments
On October 6, the IAFC sent a letter to Terrance Cole, the Administrator for the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), requesting clarification on fire departments’ ability to engage in interstate deployments with controlled substances carried by Advanced Life Support units. On February 5, 2026, the DEA published its final rule implementing the Protecting Patient Access to Emergency Medications Act of 2017, allowing EMS agencies to become registered entities to receive controlled substances. However, the language of the final rule leaves questions about interstate deployments, both for deployable assets and standard mutual aid responses. In the letter, the IAFC urged the DEA to clarify the process for bringing controlled substances outside the state in which the department is registered. In February, Chief Kevin Joles, International Director of the IAFC EMS Section, wrote a blog post explaining the impact of the DEA’s final rule on fire departments.
IOSH Surveys the Fire Service to Improve Firefighter Death and Serious Injury Investigations
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is seeking participants for a brief survey about line-of-duty deaths (LODD) and serious injury investigations.
NIOSH is surveying personnel from fire departments across the country to understand better what human factors are important to firefighter LODD and serious injury investigations. Human factors are how people interact with their environment, tools, and each other. It includes understanding how people think, act, and make decisions. This is important in work or emergency situations. The results of this survey will help find, create, and improve tools that can be used by both the FFFIPP and by fire departments, as needed.
NIOSH is trying to gather information from chief officers, company officers, and firefighters, especially those who have served in a safety officer role.
The survey will take between 15 and 20 minutes, and your responses will be kept confidential. Questions will not ask for personal information about you or your fire department. Your participation is voluntary, and all questions are optional. You can finish the survey at any time.
You can stop and start the survey as needed using the “Save & Return Later” button. You can take the survey on any device but NIOSH says that the survey is best viewed on a larger screen like a desktop or laptop computer.
The survey will be open until January 2027. If you have any questions, concerns, or technical difficulties related to the survey, please reach out to NIOSHFireTrauma@cdc.gov.