What a busy time for all of us in the fire service. The spring weather has been beautiful, and we have not been receiving any rain to amount to anything. As far as the weather goes, everyone at the FFAM Annual Convention in St. Joe, Missouri told me it was one of the best that they can remember in many years. I want to thank Gail Hagans for all of the photographs. She did an outstanding job of recording the history of the 2018 FFAM Convention. I have yet to go through all of the photographs. History is so important, please never forget that.
The opening ceremony on Friday night went well and I appreciate everyone that attended. The contests were well attended and a crowd of around 250 was in attendance at the Saturday night banquet. All of these things I mentioned did not just happen by chance, but was because of a well planned and executed effort by the St. Joseph FD and the Convention Committee led by Chief Larry Jones of the Madison Fire Protection District.
Congratulations also to all the award winners and contest winners. I will let the committee chairs write about this in their articles. The speaker at the banquet did a good job.
It was a great convention and I thank everyone that had a part in its presentation. There is no way I could even begin to name everyone that helped. Again, awesome job.
Missouri State Fire Marshal J. Tim Bean, a member of the Missouri Fire Fighters Foundation, will be our Sunday morning speaker at our annual Fallen Fire Fighters Memorial on May 20, 2018, at 10:30 a.m., in Kingdom City, Missouri. I am sure Chairman Keith Smith will write more about that event.
Our Candlelight Service will be May 19, 2018, at 9:00 p.m., and David Hedrick, Retired Director of the University of Missouri Fire and Rescue Training Institute will be the speaker. David will encourage each of us as we remember those that have gone before us.
Honor Guard Commander again this year will be Chief James Ludden, Bolivar City Fire Department. We invite all honor guards and pipes and drums to come and participate on Sunday morning and you may contact Commander Ludden at 417-770-4312 or by e-mail at jludden@bolivar.mo.us.
We also had an election of officers at convention and that brings me to congratulate everyone that was elected to office. I appreciate all of the officers, directors, and assistant directors that invest many hours serving FFAM in many ways, attending meetings, promoting FFAM in their districts, serving on various committees, and having a can-do attitude when I ask for a special task to be accepted. As president, I could not ask for a better group of individuals to serve with.
Our next board meeting will be held on June 3, 2018, at 9:00 a.m., in Sedalia at the fire station.
As always, I want to hear from anyone that has a question or a concern. This is everyone’s association. You may contact me by phone at 573-581-6235 or by e-mail at chiefhoover@sbcglobal.net.
Until we gather again, I wish each of you the best and God Speed.
Kenneth Hoover, President
Fire Fighters Association of Missouri
FFAM
