Where There’s Smoke...
The election is over. Anyone glad for that? But now we begin the 2026 campaigns
today. Oh boy! In 2026 our nation turns 250 years old - and that will be a celebration indeed!
Stay tuned.
I am sure there will be other articles in this FIREWIRE about a very important topic -
FRA financial filings, but I don’t think it hurts to give you advance warning in several places.
This coming year when the Insurance Commissioner says that April 1st is the financial reporting
deadline, they mean it. We are told by the Commissioner’s office that this is a complete drop
dead date. If you are not filed by April 1st, your relief association will not get a distribution.
Instead it will be put back into the total distribution of funds and then redistributed to the rest of
the relief associations. Is that really what you want to happen? Who does this hurt? It hurts your
own firefighters whose relief association may no longer have the funds to buy insurance or fund
the types of things that protect them in the event that something goes horribly wrong. I have seen
that happen before, but only after several years had passed and the local association lost its status
and money. It should not happen. Do not blame the commissioner’s office. Do not blame the
state association. The blame will rest squarely upon the secretary/treasurer of your association.
No one lacks the ability to get the reports filed. January, February and March will have passed
before the deadline. That is assuredly enough time to get your financial house in order and file
the report. This is all done online and you don’t even have to add - the software does that for
you. No excuses.
Take care of your firefighters, take care of their families, and do your job. Frankly this
situation has come about because there are relief associations that are currently not timely filing.
Everyone else is now going to deal with the fallout from their lack of action. You have the
information now - make sure you aren’t one of the associations that is dealt a blow by the lack of
action, because where there’s smoke...