National Honor Guard Commanders Association
This page was last updated: August 16, 2011
Funeral Procedures and SOG's

The links on this page will provide you with guidelines and recommendations that other Honor Guards and fire service organizations have used in order to help them prepare for a funeral.

In the future, the NHGCA will be developing recommended funeral response levels and guidelines. Check back for updates. If your unit or organization has Honor Guard SOG's/ SOP's or funeral procedures that you think might be of help to other units, please feel free to send them to us in either a MS Word document or in a PDF file.

National Fallen Firefighters Foundation Links

Building Standard Operating Procedures
Establishing Levels for Types of Fire Service Funerals
Funeral Manual
This is a 78 page PDF document from the Chaplains Manual for Fire Department Funerals.
LODD Action Checklist
Planning Considerations for a Line-of-Duty Death
Samples of SOG's/ SOP's
There are samples of SOG's and SOP's from various fire service organizations that are available in PDF format.

International Association of Fire Chief's Links

IChiefs LODD Response Plan  This is a 56 page comprehensive plan for handling a LODD. This file is in PDF format.
IChiefs LODD Response Plan Dealing with Family Support
This is a 14 page PDF document.
IChiefs LODD Response Plan Dealing with Notification
IChiefs LODD Response Plan Appendix (Checklist)
This is a 14 page checklist in PDF format that will help with all of the planning.

Connecticut Statewide Honor Guard
Standard Operating Guidelines
This is a comprehensive 40 page PDF document that not only covers funeral procedures, but also covers all of the operating procedures of the units including the duties of the officers and uniform guidelines.

Illinois Association of Firefighters Honor Guard
Funeral Guidelines
This is one of the most comprehensive set of funeral guidelines, it contains 30 sections that you can click onto individually to find information on guidelines such as casket movement to the various coordination positions. While this has been designed for IAFF use, it can easily be adapted for the volunteer fire service as well.

Virginia Fire Chiefs Association
Honor Guard Manual