Wow! What a busy couple months we’ve had with fall open houses by numerous department to getting up for fire prevention week, trainings, and memorials. I would like to thank the Cosby-Helena Fire District for the invitation to come train with them on auto extrication and also Sentinal Fire Equipment for bringing all the E-tools up to use. I met a great group of people that train to make themselves better everyday to provide the best they can for their community. I’ve been impressed with all the social media post of the excellent work for fire prevention the month of October from both volunteer, combination and career departments and applaud everyone for their commitment of involvement within their districts.
On a more solemn note, I had the opportunity to attend the IAFF Fallen Memorial located in Colorado Springs, CO. I invite anyone who has the chance to see the beautiful granite walls and the serenity feel of the memorial, whether you’re an IAFF member or not it’s a truly humbling experience and grateful for IAFF Local 5 doing an excellent job hosting the memorial. If you can make a ceremony or the candlelight vigil, that is an experience within itself. As a bonus there is so much to do around town. There is something for everyone, especially an eatery with great people and great food called N3 Taphouse, a retired fire house that was kept as original as possible during the make over.
It’s that time again folks! Time to renew your department and its members for the 2019 year. For any questions please reach out to your FFAM representative and we’ll gladly assist you in any way we can and spread the word to neighboring mutual aid departments. This also includes EMS and Dispatching entities. Please have them get in contact with us so we can explain benefits and perks. Word of mouth can help us along the way especially with un-staffed stations so the FFAM representative can set up a time to meet with them.
It’s official we have the 2019 FFAM firefighters convention dates for April 12-14 2019, and it will be hosted in Sedalia, MO, at the Missouri State Fairgrounds. The second vice president Grant Oetting and myself took a day and met with the hotels in the area to reserve at reduced rates. Please make your reservations and plan to attend! We are looking for more teams to compete in the firefighter games on Saturday, so put a team together and come have fun against departments from across the state. Who knows, your team could take home the title.
Once the snow and ice hits our state, remember to be mindful on the fire ground of the quick potential of ice development if you use a tanker/tender shuttle the optional around the pond is high as the tanker/tenders leave after refilling the draft site or the fill location as the water sheds from disconnect or drains off the rig as it pulls away leaving a hazardous situation for apparatus and personnel around the roadway.
As a final thought remember as we enter the winter months, the training seems to slow due to inclement weather. There is always plenty of training that can be done whether it be over district SOP/SOG, gear drills, air management, NIMS or online courses. Which can be assigned to the department members who are free or may have new cadets/members, to bring them up to pace and familiarize themselves with equipment location and uses in the warmth of the bay rather than on scene and they don’t know what you asked to get or do. Although you cant do the fun stuff outside, doesn’t mean to stop educating yourself because they say if you are at a point of not wanting to training and learn it may be time to retire. Unfortunately this field is ever changing and not in our favor, and as individuals and departments we should want to stay up to date with the evolution of our career and safety. It’s a great opportunity to do mutual aid training especially if a department has an indoor maze or search structure. This doesn’t just go towards a small department, it goes towards all departments including the big cities to train with their neighbors.
Feel free to contact me for your FFAM needs and I Hope everyone has a safe and great holiday season.
FFAM
