F.F.A.M.

A Message from the 2nd Vice President – September 2019

Greetings FFAM membership. Whoa, where did the summer go? When you’re reading this article school will be already back in session, fall will be upon us, farmers will be in the field shortly with the harvest, pumpkin spice will be back and before we know it Christmas and the end of the year will be upon us.

The FFAM has had a very busy summer attending conferences to promote the organization. The Missouri State Fair has passed, and the fall season is looking at being a busy one as well, as organizations are asking the FFAM to attend their conventions and help doing some more promotions for the organization. I am glad to see because this is what keeps the organization strong. Thank you!

Since my last article I have attended two conferences that were very productive for the organization. The first was the Revolutionary Fire Tactics at the Lodge of the Four Seasons. At this conference, myself and Assistant John Scheper of the Gravois Mills Fire department had a great response not only from vendors that wanted to become cooperate members but also fire departments that were not members. I had one department that took membership packets for their whole county as Tim Bean, our fire marshal had told them about the FFAM at their county chiefs meeting. Thanks Tim, I really do appreciate it. The biggest surprise I got at this conference came from Chairman David Woodward and Treasurer George Creamer on the last night. They presented a check to me with our vendor fee being donated back to us to be given toward the memorial. Thank you gentleman for your great hospitality and thank you for your donation to the memorial. 

The second conference I attended was the Missouri EMS Conference at the Margartaville resort at the Lake of the Ozarks. This three day conference was extremely productive for the organization as a lot of EMS agencies were unaware that they could join the membership. This conference was attended by Assistant Director Josh Koepke, Assistant Director Jonathan Evans, Assistant Director George Wright and myself. Between the four of us promoting the FFAM, lots of membership packets and cooperate membership forms were handed out. The feedback we received is that they were glad the FFAM was allowing EMS into the organization. So if you have a EMS agency in your area that would like to join, please feel free to contact me and I will get the ball rolling.

The Missouri State Fair has just wrapped up. The Missouri State Fair Fire Department had a fairly busy year I have been told. The department responded to a total of 168 calls, 124 calls were EMS related and 13 fire calls which included two structure fires this year. They also had 31 standbys. Thanks to the many agencies that donated equipment and ambulances for this operation, without you this operation could not be possible. Many thanks to Chief Plumb and his staff for a job well done and thank you for promoting the FFAM at the Missouri State Fair.

If you have not heard the news, Director Terry Wynne of the Galt Fire Protection district has donated a side of beef to be used as a fund-raiser for the museum. Tickets are $10 each and gives you two chances to win with one ticket. If you would like any tickets contact myself or any FFAM board member. The beef will be awarded at the FFAM convention in May at Kearney next year.

If you have an event coming up that you would like the FFAM to attend or if you need any assistance please feel free to contact me. My email is grant_oetting@yahoo.com or my cell number is 660-229-4525. I will do my best to get you a board member or myself to your event in a timely matter. 

Until next time, Stay safe my brothers and sisters.