Welcome to Fall! What a wonderful time of the year as the trees will start displaying their fall colors soon, the evenings will be a bit crisper and school and community activities will kick into high gear. Hopefully, summer was kind to you and you had the opportunity to accomplish all the things you had planned.
The Missouri State Fair has come and gone and I hope you had the opportunity to enjoy the event. Hopefully, if you were on the fairgrounds you took the time to stop in at the Fire Station and share some stories, get a cool drink and visit with old and new friends. The weather for the majority of the fair was not typical for August and certainly made visiting or working there much more pleasant. If you remember, about a year ago we were excited to report through our efforts in contacting State elected officials, the Department of Agriculture received funding for renovations of the Missouri State Fair Volunteer Fire Department station on the fairgrounds. We are equally excited to report through our continued contacts, additional funding has been added providing a total of over four million dollars for the station project. Thank you to all who have worked on this project and thank you to the Governor, Legislators, and other elected officials.
I was fortunate to get to join many members, current and past, of the FFAM at a dinner gathering to help celebrate the 70th anniversary of FFAM held at the State Fair Fire Department. We enjoyed some great grilled food and stories were shared, some by members that were involved in the formative years of the organization. Through efforts from those early members and the efforts by you as current members, the FFAM will continue to grow and represent fire service personnel throughout the state whether career or volunteer. My thanks to everyone who was in attendance and my thanks for the part you play in FFAM no matter how large or small you may think your contribution is. Everyone contributes to our mission.
A highlight of my fair experience for this year was getting to see R.B. Brown receive one of eleven inaugural Friend of the Fair Awards “for going above and beyond.” State Fair Director Jason Moore, Department of Agriculture Director Chris Chinn, the State Fair Commission and other Fair staff personnel were on hand to honor R.B. along with members of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, DMAT, Department of Conservation and the State Fire Marshal’s Office. For those of you who know R.B. very well you know how dedicated he is to the fair and he can be found on the grounds throughout the year representing FFAM and is deserving of this recognition. Great job and congratulations sir!
October is certainly a great time to interact with your community through your fire prevention program working in conjunction with Fire Prevention Week which is recognized nationally. Hopefully, you have events scheduled or perhaps have even completed some early ones. Getting the word out, particularly to school-age children, about fire safety and preparedness helps us build safer communities and often leads to a lifelong awareness of fire safety. Keep up the good work as you educate your community.
The annual Memorial Services will be held in Kingdom City on October 5th and 6th and is always a moving tribute to those fire service members who have passed away. The evening Candlelight Service will be on the 5th followed by the Memorial Service on the morning of the 6th. I will not be able to join you this year as I have another commitment that requires my attendance, but I hope you have your calendars marked and are planning to attend. The ceremonies are well-planned and executed by the Memorial Foundation and are an excellent way of honoring those who have passed.
If you were in attendance at the August meeting of the FFAM Board of Directors you witnessed what I believe was the largest number of appointments I have made at one time since becoming the President of your association. With some changes to our bylaws, retirements and redistricting there were several options available for our personnel to further serve the organization and our members. Jonathan Evans will serve as the Sergeant at Arms until the next election following the retirement of long-time Sergeant at Arms Rex Reynolds. Josh Koepke will chair the Education Committee and Shawn Ritchie was appointed to serve on the committee. Charlie Peel was appointed to serve on the Legislative Committee which leaves an opening on the Awards Committee where he had been serving, so if you are interested in helping with the awards please let me know. Blake Callen will now be an Assistant Director in District 1, Kylie Frerking and Brandon Cole will serve as Assistant Directors in District 4, Mike McNeill will be an Assistant Director in District 6, Robert Floyd will serve as the Director in the newly re-districted District 8 and Mark Arnold will be the Director in District 9 with Chris Sterner serving as his Assistant Director.
My thanks to each of these individuals for stepping up and agreeing to serve in the various roles. There are other opportunities to serve available so contact your District Director and see what may be available in your area or contact me to discuss your interest further. With the continued commitment by these people and the others currently serving on the Board of Directors our organization will remain strong and dynamic in service to all members of Missouri’s fire service. Your individual involvement is also a vital piece of our success and we look forward to working with you.
If any of the Board of Directors can be of assistance to you or your agency please contact us as we are here to serve you.
Be Safe!
FFAM
