Promote, Unify, Represent and Educate the Fire Service of Texas |
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Executive Director's Corner |
Greeting members,
Well, the holidays are behind us (at least those holidays!) and we forge into a new year. I trust everyone’s Christmas was merry, and the new year’s celebrations were safe and happy.
As always, the new year here at the SFFMA office is off with a bang, with annual membership renewal in full swing. Each year the entire staff is extremely busy helping people with the renewal process for themselves or their departments. The office is inundated with phone calls and emails from people needing assistance or questions answered. Please be patient regarding your request, and we will do our best to provide help as soon as possible. If you need some help with renewal, I strongly recommend sending an email to us instead of calling.
With that said, I do want to express my thanks to you for continuing your membership with SFFMA. I trust you’ve been able to take advantage of some of the benefits, and I am excited for the changes we are working on for this year that should make membership even more advantageous:
- New certifications being developed and offered by SFFMA
- Continued expansion of certification testing via the new online testing platform
- Continued development of the new data system and user interface for members and staff
- Exploring additional benefit programs that can be added to the members’ portfolio
- The development of a new SFFMA Education & Travel Grant Program (more on this below)
As always, let me know if you have any questions for me. I look forward to making as many spring district meetings as possible, and I am sure your executive board members plan to do the same. Although we start the new year with continued safety precautions as we travel and gather, I am optimistic that 2022 will be a fruitful year for each of us, our member organizations, and our association.
Tim Rutland
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A Message from our Executive Board President |
Another year has come and gone. Your Executive Board and office staff have been busy making our association better and stronger. Here are a few of the things your Board has been working on:
Certification Testing – Now that we have testing in place we look to re-gain some of the members we lost the past couple of years. When COVID hit, it shut down our testing that was done by TEEX. All TEEX personnel were assigned to duties to help fight the pandemic. When that re-assignment occurred, we had no back-up plan in place to continue testing. That is no longer the case. We now can do our own testing. Our office staff is set up and equipped to do testing. We are in negotiations with some colleges to proctor some tests for us.
New Memberships – Your Executive Board is also looking at creating a new membership for retired members who may not belong to a department any longer. We are also looking at the possibility of allowing new members to be added during the year and only charging dues on a pro-rated basis.
Creating an Education and Travel Grant Program – We are also looking at starting a grant to help members attend the conference. This grant will help cover the cost of things the 2604 grant does not cover, such as room, meals and travel. Vice President Richardson has a short article on this subject in this publication.
Programming – We knew the GrowthZone platform was not working like we needed. To begin fixing that issue we hired a programmer to build our own platform. We knew this would be an effort that would take some time to accomplish. We are steadily making progress on this project.
Planning Conference – This year’s planning conference will follow the same model as last year. More information about this below.
Your Executive Board looks forward to meeting with you at the District meetings this spring. Let us know if you need anything.
President Richard Van Winkle
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SFFMA Education and Travel Grant
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Greetings Fellow SFFMA members,
One of the most cited reasons for not attending the SFFMA Annual Training Conference and Convention has always been the cost associated with travel. Your Executive Board has been working on a solution. We have developed an Education and Travel Grant that we hope to have implemented in time for the 2023 convention in McAllen.
This grant will be funded by donations and administered by the SFFMA. We are currently working out the details on asking for donations, how departments will apply, and how the grant will be awarded. When complete, this grant will pay hotel cost and meals for grant awardees and possibly instructors as well.
This is an exciting challenge. Look for updates at your district meetings and in this newsletter.
Chuck Richardson
SFFMA 1st VP
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We sent a directed e-mail out to all of the Coordinators on record in the state, but wanted to give you an update on the changes which became effective January 1, 2022. Please note that notifications were included in the Info-Fire e-newsletter as the decisions were made, and this is just a reminder. The entire Certification Program Manual available for download HERE.
1) Separate 1001: Live Fire Prerequisite training completion certificate applications will no longer be processed. The training will still need to be reported as a portion of the Firefighter I curriculum, but we’re no longer issuing the training completion certificates as we now have the 1072: HazMat A/O certification as prerequisite instead. This keeps the total fees the same overall.
2) 1072 HazMat A/O skill exams start and documentation for your review found HERE. Individuals who were eligible to challenge the HazMat written exams prior to 01/01/22 and did not must now also complete the skill examination.
3) Updated 1001: Firefighter I & II skills sheets by level available HERE.
4) 1002: Driver/Operator – Wildland and Tender programs HERE.
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Data Management System Update
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Happy 2022!
Hope everyone had a great New Years and Christmas holiday.
As far as the development goes, we are making headway on the website redesign. We have moved from the concept phase to actually building it out.
The same can be said for the actual applications. Right now, I’m creating some UI standards, then I will move on to building a public facing “Members App” that you all would be able to play with and give feedback.
I’m currently working on the Staff interface, Event System, Database, Logging and Service API for the staff configuration system. This is the system that will allow staff to adjust and add new Certifications, Tests, Membership Types, etc. Everything is going well. I just need to type faster.
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Departments Needed for R&R Campaign
The NVFC is creating several new video public service announcements (PSAs) for the Make Me A Firefighter (MMAF) campaign and searching for a department interested in participating. These videos will be used by the NVFC to promote the campaign on a national level and used by departments locally to support their recruitment efforts. The requirements include a diverse department and native Spanish speakers, as one of the PSAs will be in Spanish. Apply here.
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22nd Fort Davis Mile-High Wildfire Academy
Sponsored and hosted by the Fort Davis VFD and Texas A&M Forest Service
When: February 17-20, 2022
Where: Fort Davis VFD
201 Court Avenue, Fort Davis, TX 79734
Cost: $100
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Conference News and Events
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The Annual SFFMA Training Conference & Convention is coming up, June 24-29, in Beaumont. The host hotel is the MCM Elegante, 2355 I-10 South, Beaumont, TX 77705. Hotel reservations can be made by calling 409-842-3600. Be sure to ask for the 2022 SFFMA Annual Conference to receive the special group rate.
In preparation for the conference, planning sessions with the Executive Board are scheduled for January 28 at the SFFMA office. The following committees will meet with Executive Board members at the times listed:
11:30 a.m. – TFA President: lunch with conference planning staff
1 p.m. – Constitution & By-Laws Committee, Poster Committee, Driving & Pumper Race Committees
2:30 p.m. – T-FLAG, Certification Board, Sergeant-at-Arms Committee
4 p.m. – Training/Speaker Selection Committee, Memorial Committee, Exhibits Committee
If you have any questions or concerns about the conference planning sessions or have questions, please email us or call Heather at 512-454-3473, extension 112.
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Retirement Celebration!
You are invited to a retirement celebration for
Fire Chief Richard Van Winkle
45 Years of Service
to the Alvarado Fire Department
February 1, 2022 at 4:00 P.M.
111 Reunion Dr, Alvarado, TX 76009
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Fire Chief Development Program
Space is still available in our 2022 Fire Chief Development Program class. This year’s program will be a 64‐hour program of leadership topics taught by SFFMA leaders over a period of four weekends at the SFFMA office. The cost of the class is $265 per phase/weekend and has been approved by the Texas A&M Forest Service for HB2604 reimbursement. Application available here. For those departments that qualify for HB2604 funding, the only out‐of‐pocket costs to participants will be their time, fuel costs, and incidentals.
Email us with questions and/or to reserve a space. Be sure to include your name, rank and department. Please click here to view the class schedule, including dates and instructional topics.
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,As many of you know, we have started our renewal cycle and are currently accepting payment for your 2022 membership renewal. Please keep in mind that this is the busiest time of the year for membership, so there may be a 1-2 day delay in returning voicemails and email requests. We are working as diligently as possible, and answering all phone calls/emails in the manner in which we receive them. If you have any invoice requests (either need a reprint or updates on your roster), please feel free to email us. Email is our best method of processing requests at this moment, so we would appreciate it if you could send all invoice requests through that method.
We would also like to remind you that when you submit your department’s membership renewal, make sure that every individual has their DOB, last four of their SSN, and an email on file. This way we can transition their account into our new database when it becomes available later this year. If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact membership at any time.
We appreciate your time and attention!
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FireRescue1’s Side Alpha Podcast
FireRescue1’s Side Alpha podcast puts fire service leaders and emerging leaders in front of the hot topics facing firefighters today. Side Alpha is hosted by FireRescue1.com and FireChief.com Executive Editor Chief Marc Bashoor, who writes the Chief‘s Forum column for FireRescue1.com. Listen on Apple . Podcasts.
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Grant Funding Available for Fire and EMS Departments
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New from IFSTA: Fire Investigator, 3rd Edition!
Fire Investigator, 3rd Edition, provides fire and emergency services personnel and civilian inspectors with the information necessary to meet the job performance requirements (JPRs) of NFPA 1033, Standard for Professional Qualifications for Fire Investigator, 2021 Edition. Read more here.
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