Application and Rules for CSFA Membership and Benefits

To download an application for membership to the Connecticut State Firefighters Association, simply click on the link below.

We have also included on this page an excerpt of all CSFA rules pertaining to membership and benefits from the most recent revision of our CSFA By-Laws.

Please contact any of our CSFA officers if you have any questions.

CSFA Membership Application

Click on the following link to download the Connecticut State Firefighters Association (CSFA) Application for Membership

 CSFA Membership Rules & Dues

Section 1.The members of this Association shall consist of Department and Company Members. All individual members of each fire company, volunteer Fire/Police Patrol and rescue squad, ambulance squad, fire prevention staff, training staff, dispatch staff, repair staff, shall by virtue of their membership in such companies be members of this Association and entitled to funds distributed by it, so long as said individual continues as a member by complying with the By-Laws. The minimum age shall be sixteen (16) years. Whenever in these By-Laws the words he or she appear it shall, where appropriate, be changed to he or she. Industrial fire companies or fire brigades are not eligible for membership except those that are full time paid companies that furnish mutual aid in the area in which they are located.

Section 2. Department Members are Chiefs, District Chiefs, Assistant Chiefs, Deputy and Battalion Chiefs, Fire Marshals, Deputy Fire Marshals Master Mechanics, Training Directors, Communications Directors, if they are sole occupants of those bureaus or

divisions, State Fire Control Officer, and District Fire Control Officers of the Forestry Division of the Department of Environmental Protection of the State of Connecticut. This section is applicable to career, volunteer or combination fire departments.

Section 3. Application for membership by a Company shall be in writing and have the endorsement of the Fire Chief of the city, town, district, or municipal district where located, which application accompanied by the prescribed sum or sums as required and

hereinafter stated, shall be filed with the Secretary and presented to the Executive Committee and thereupon no objections appearing shall be eligible to be become a member. Application for membership as a department member shall be on individual form in writing, endorsed by the proper fire department authority accompanied by the regular amount of the prescribed fee, which application shall be filed with the Secretary to be presented to the Executive Committee for election and if such applicant is eligible shall become a member.

Section 4. All companies, volunteer fire/police patrols, rescue squads, and department members represented in the Association must be in full accord and in good standing in the fire department where they are located, and if at any time they are not so, they shall forfeit all rights to membership in this Association.

Section 5. All Past Presidents shall be Life Members, entitled to all privileges of membership, and shall be exempt from payment of dues.

Section 6. The Executive Committee or the convention in assembly may at its discretion, elect honorary members of the Association. Such members may attend meetings, but shall not participate in discussion or vote on any questions and shall be ineligible to hold office or receive benefits.

Section 7. Any firefighter who is not a department member may apply to become an associate member. Associate members are not entitled to any benefits or a vote by virtue of their membership. Dues will be in accordance with Article III, Section 3.  

Section 8. Sustaining membership shall be open to manufacturers, vendors, and fire/emergency organizations. Representatives of Sustaining Members may attend meetings, other than closed sessions of the Executive Committee, but shall have no voting rights. Certificates of membership shall be issued annually to Sustaining Members. Sustaining Members shall also receive permission to use the Association Logo in their advertising and in addition will receive preferred booth space at the Annual Convention. Dues will be in accordance with Article III, Section 3.

Dues

Section 1. Each Engine, Truck, Hose or Squad Company, volunteer Fire/Police, Industrial Fire Company, Ambulance Squad, Fire Prevention Staff, Training Staff, Dispatch Staff, Repair staff, shall pay a membership fee per the schedule listed in Section 3. Dues are payable on or before July 1 each year. The dues for the first year of membership will be covered for the balance of the first year that a member joins the Association. The Secretary of the Association may request a current roster of any fire company of fire department upon written notice to the Captain or Lieutenant of the Company or the Chief of the department. Unless this is received by the Secretary within 30 days, any claim of the firefighter in this unit may be held and not processed pending the receipt of the list of names. In volunteer fire companies or departments with stations in addition to the headquarters company, each station shall be considered by this Association to be a separate company, even though they may have the same company or Department Officer’s and each company must join the Association as a separate company member.

Section 2. The annual dues shall be paid on or before the first day of July in each year, in advance, for the ensuing year and all company and departments who fail to pay said dues within six months after said first day of July shall thereupon, and by reason of such failure cease to be members of this Association, and cannot again become members except by new application made in regular form and paying the prescribed fee for new membership. Sustaining memberships are due and payable on the first day of July of each year. Sustaining membership shall be for a period of one year.

Section 3. DUES SCHEDULE

NEW MEMBERSHIPS AND REINSTATEMENTS:

COMPANY DUES:                                                                                   $80.00

ANNUAL DUES:

COMPANY DUES:                                                                                   $80.00

NEW MEMBERSHIPS AND REINSTATEMENTS

DEPARTMENT MEMBERS                                                                         $35.00

ANNUAL DUES:

DEPARTMENT MEMBERS:                                                                       $35.00

SUSTAINING MEMBERS ANNUAL DUES                                                 $250.00

CSFA Rules about Benefits: Injury and Line of Duty Death (LODD)

Benefits for Disability or Injury

Section 1. Members shall be compensated for disability, disease or injury incurred while performing fire duties as defined in Article VIII if funds have been provided for that purpose by the State of Connecticut as follows:

1. Full-time career members: At a per diem rate as set per Article IX Section 7(Saturday’s and Sundays omitted). Said benefit will not be paid for the first seven days of any period of sickness or injury. Members submitting more than one set of claim papers for the same injury and fire duty date shall not have the first seven days omitted on their second or subsequent set of papers if they have not returned to fire duty, however, if they return to duty, but again request claim papers due to recurrence, the first seven days of any period of sickness or injury shall be omitted.
2. Any member as defined in Article XI, Section 2, who is paid no more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) annually and all volunteer members, as a per diem rate set per Article IX Section 7(Sunday omitted) for each day of the period of sickness or injury.
3. Said benefits will continue so long as the member is unable to attend to ordinary business by reason of such injury or sickness, unless terminated by action of the Executive Committee. Full-time career members shall cease to be eligible for benefits on the day of their retirement from any career or industrial fire department; this will not affect any benefits as defined in Article X, Section 1.

Section 2.  Except for sub-sections (a) and (b) listed below, any career firefighters assigned to a volunteer fire company by the proper fire department authority shall be considered, for the purpose of the Association, to be a member of the said volunteer fire company. The firefighter shall be entitled to benefits as provided in Article IX, Section 1a provided the volunteer fire company to which the said career firefighter is assigned, shall be a member of this Association.

1. Whenever the number of career personnel in a single volunteer company exceeds sixteen, they will be considered a separate entity and must have their own company membership.
2. Whenever the number of career personnel in multiple volunteer companies or fire stations in a municipality exceeds thirty (30) they must have their own company memberships. Each additional increment of thirty (30) must also have a separate company membership.

Section 3. In no case shall benefits be paid to a member of this Association for injuries received or sickness contracted in the performance of regular routine house work in and about the fire station.

Section 4. No claim for benefits, except for Section 5, shall be considered for a recurrence of an injury unless such recurrence shall incapacitate the claimant within one year from the date of the return to duty from the injury for which the recurrence was claimed.

Section 5. In case of corrective surgery directly attributable to a previous injury, the time limit may be extended to two years provided that: (a) The claimant notifies the CSFA Secretary prior to the expiration of the time limit as provided for in Section 4 of this

article, or (b) the claimant submits a sworn statement from the surgeon in charge, if they are different persons, linking the surgery to the original claim, and (c) the Extension is approved by the Executive Board of the Connecticut State Firefighters Association.

Section 6. In case of exposure to chemicals, other materials or infectious diseases, which might prove to be injurious to the firefighter’s health, a claimant will be given ten years from the incident date to file claim papers, provided a claim report had been filed with Secretary of this Association within one year of the incident, which caused his disability, and he is still a member of the fire department where the incident occurred. A claim of this type must be approved by the Executive Committee..

Section 7. From time to time, but not less than annually, the Executive Committee shall establish per diem rates for benefits to be paid pursuant to Article IX, Section 1. In establishing said per diem rates the Executive Committee shall consider funds available from start appropriations, if any, as well as funds from all other sources. The per diem rate for new claims shall be the rate in effect when the claim is presented, not the rate as of the time of occurrence. The per diem rate for all claims may be amended by action of the Executive Committee so long as said amendment is consistent with the availability of funds. Nothing in this section shall prohibit the Executive Committee from establishing a per diem rate of no dollars ($0.00) if funds are not available for the payment of benefits.

ARTICLE X

Total Permanent Disability

Section 1.When any member of this Association has sustained disability, injury, or sickness arising out of fire duty as defined in Article VIII and has received benefits as provided in Article IX, the member may establish said disability as Total and Permanent and be able to receive benefits as provided in said Article IX provided

1. Proper application has been made for benefits as provided in Article XIII.
2. The disability has been established as permanent by a physical examination made by a physician appointed by the Executive Committee. Said physician must regularly have an office in a town other than the town in which the applicant resides and the physician is not the applicant’s regular physician. The expense of the examination shall be borne by the Association.
3. The member submits to additional physical examinations as the Executive Committee may, from time to time direct.
4. During the period in which benefits are paid, the member is not employed. If it is established that the member is employed, the Executive Committee may discontinue benefit payments forthwith.
5. That before any benefits are paid under this article, they be approve from year to year by the Annual Convention.
   

1. That before being acted on by the Annual Convention, the Executive Committee shall have considered the matter and made a recommendation to the Annual Convention. In making said recommendation the Executive Committee shall consider the amounts of funds available from state appropriations, if any as well as funds from other sources.
2. The rate for new claims shall be the rate in effect when the claim is presented, not the rate as of the time of the occurrence.

1. The rate for all claims may be amended at the Annual Convention or by the action of the Executive Committee at any regular meeting, so long as said amendment is consistent

with the availability of funds. Nothing in this Article shall prohibit the setting of a rate of ($0.00) if funds are not available for the payment of benefits.

1. Upon approval of a claim for Total Permanent Disability, the disabled member will not be required to file periodic claim papers as required in Article XII.

Section 2. Any member receiving benefits under Article X shall receive in addition there to, for each natural or legally adopted child of said member under eighteen years of age (as further qualified in paragraph “F” of Article X) a sum set by the Executive Committee per day until each child becomes eighteen years of age, and as each child becomes eighteen years of age, said payments for such child shall cease.

Section 3. Upon the death of any member receiving benefits under Article X, death benefits will be paid as provided in Article XI.

ARTICLE XI

Death Benefits

Section 1. In case of death of a member due to disability, disease, or injury arising out of fire duty as defined in Article VIII, there shall be paid from funds provided for the purpose, by the State of Connecticut, such amounts as hereinafter indicated:

a.(1) To the spouse of the deceased a benefit, in the amount of which shall be determined at the end of the fiscal year during which the death occurs. The Executive Committee shall determine the amount of funds available or the payment of death claims from state appropriations and shall divide said funds equally among the spouses of said deceased firefighters. The maximum death benefit so determined shall be set by the Executive Committee.

a.(2)(a.) To each natural or legally adopted child of the deceased under eighteen years of age (as further qualified in paragraph “F” of this section) a sum set by the Executive Committee per week until each child becomes eighteen years of age, and as each child becomes eighteen years of age, said weekly payments for such child shall cease. For the purpose of this article “child” shall include each natural or legally adopted child of the deceased and any person under the age of eighteen years who qualifies as a “dependent” of the deceased as defined in United States Internal Revenue Code in effect at the time of his death.

1. In the event that no spouse survives the decedent but there are children under eighteen years of age, then said weekly benefit set by the Executive Committee for each child shall be paid to the legally appointed guardian of said child or children under the same conditions as provided in “a” above. The proper officers of this Association shall authorize the payment of the sum set by the Executive Committee for funeral expenses of the decedent and the sum set by the Executive Committee to be paid to legal guardian of the said child or children for the benefit or education of said children.

1. If there is no spouse or children under eighteen years of age, but there is a child or children over eighteen years of age, said death benefit may be expended by the proper officers of this Association toward funeral expenses, any unexpended balance shall be paid to such child or children.
2. If there is no spouse or children but there is a dependent parent or parents, then said death benefit may be expended by the proper officers of this Association toward funeral expenses and any unexpended balance shall be paid to said dependent parent or parents.
3. If there is no spouse or children or dependent parent or parents, then the proper officers of this Association may expend an amount set by the Executive Committee toward funeral expenses.
4. Provided further: That no weekly benefits as herein before provided shall be paid to or for the benefit of any minor child or children between the ages of sixteen and eighteen years unless it is affirmatively shown to the satisfaction of the Executive Committee of this Association that such child or children are regularly attending a duly constituted and accredited day school during regular school periods, and the Executive Committee’s decision as to whether or not such child or children between the ages of sixteen and eighteen are entitled to weekly benefits, shall be final.
5. The term “parent” herein includes the natural parents, the parent by adoption or the stepparent; but such parent shall not receive any of the benefits for which provision is herein made unless such parent shall have been actually dependent for support on the decedent at the time of the firefighter’s death Dependency, in every case, shall be determined by the Executive Committee of this Association and its decision shall be final.
6. The term “proper officers of the Association” shall mean a committee consisting of the President, the Treasurer and the Secretary.

ARTICLE XII

Association Funds

Section 1. No claims for benefits of any nature shall be paid from the Association funds.

ARTICLE XIII

Filing of Claims

Section 1. It shall be the duty of any member who may be entitled to benefits, as provided in Article IX, to notify the officer in charge of his company or department of his sickness or injury. Said officer shall notify the Chief of the department who shall apply to the Secretary of the Association for a form “Application for Benefit Claim Papers”. Said form “Application for Benefit Claim Papers” must be applied for, filled out and returned to the Secretary of the Association within 60 days after receiving the injury or contracting the sickness. In case of reoccurrence within twelve months (as provided in Article IX, Section 4) the “Application for Benefit Claim Papers” must be made to the Secretary within 60 days of the first day the claimant cannot report to his regular occupation. The time for requesting for requesting “Application for Benefit Claim Papers” may be extended beyond 60 days by the Executive Committee for good reason shown but said extension will not exceed twelve months from the date of injury or sickness except in the case where a firefighter’s health may have been affected by exposure to chemicals, other materials or infectious diseases, in which case said extension shall not exceed 120 months from the date of the incident, providing Hazardous Exposure Verification Form has been filed within the time limits of Article IX. When the “Benefit Claim Papers” are received they shall be filled out and certified by the Chief of the Department; but no company, volunteer fire-police patrol, rescue squad or department officer enable him to conform to the requirements of the prescribed forms , he may make a written application fore relief to the Executive Committee who are empowered to make any order that justice may require; and if said Executive Committee refuse relief asked for in said application, said applicant may appeal to the Association at its Annual Meeting to refer the claim to the incoming Executive Board for final action.

Section 3 .No claim papers shall be sent in to the Secretary of the Association covering a period of more than 100 days of disability. When a disability extends more than 100 days, additional claim papers must be filled out for each 100 day period or less.

CSFA Online 2016