F.F.A.M.

A Message From The 2nd VP – March 2021

Alma Fire Protection District retirement ceremony for Fire Chief John Greiwe honoring 40 years of service.

Greetings my brothers and sisters. This winter has been one that we have not seen for a while in Missouri. Some departments have been busy with ice rescues, numerous structure fires caused by space heaters, and of course, the frigid temperatures making our jobs more challenging than ever. These challenges are nothing we cannot overcome or adapt to as the Missouri Fire Service.

This last week was special for me, I attended the retirement ceremony and annual dinner of the Alma Fire Protection District. This is the department that I started my career with. At this ceremony, they were honoring Fire Chief John Greiwe who had served the department for 40 years.

John was my mentor, I will never forget when I moved to Alma, he was one of the first to welcome me to town and invited me to join the department as he knew I was pursuing to get my EMT license. John also taught me how to pump a truck, how to treat patients with respect, and to kill people with kindness and a smile. These things I have always cherished in my life and still live by today.
I have many memories of my career with John, he invited me to Independence Fire, when at the time John was serving as an engineer on Pumper 2 and I had a ride-along with his crew and learned a lot about city EMS and fire-tactics vs rural. John was always a teacher and for that, I want to thank you.

John enjoy your retirement, you certainly earned it, enjoy that family time with Tammy, Nicole, Heather, and your grandkids and travel the world like you always wanted to. Thank you John for being my mentor and a great friend, I greatly appreciate it.

The FFAM continues to work for you as your voice in the Missouri Fire Service. We are attending many conferences across the state and also have representation in Jefferson City speaking on the issues at hand about the fire service.

The FFAM had to cancel the convention again this year due to COVID- 19. We will be hosting the fire district board class on May 1, at Sedalia at 9:00 a.m. at the Missouri State Fairgrounds. If you are interested in this class please contact Gail at MU FRTI to register. The annual meeting of the FFAM will be on May 2, also in Sedalia at 9:00 a.m. This meeting is very important to the membership, as this is the meeting that you get to vote for your executive council and your directors.

This meeting is in place of the convention due to it being canceled. Please register as a delegate and attend this meeting so you can hear the issues at hand and also place your vote. To register as a delegate please contact Jamie in the office.

The FFAM will have representation at the following conferences this year. The Missouri Public Safety Conference at the Lake of the Ozarks on May 16-18, the MU FRTI Summer Fire School on May 19-23 in Columbia, the Missouri Fire Protection District Conference in June at the Lake of the Ozarks, Revolutionary Fire Tactics at the lake on July 16, the Missouri EMS Conference, August 3–6 in St Charles, on Patriot’s Day, September 11, in Jefferson City, and the Jefferson Engine Rally on September 25.

As you can see the FFAM is out all over the state promoting your organization. If we can be of any assistance, please feel free to call Jamie at the office or you can email me at grant_oetting@yahoo.com or call my cell phone at 660-229-4525. If I don’t answer my phone please leave me a voice mail. Until next time, stay safe my brothers and sisters.