Conferences, Meetings and Opportunities
The past several weeks have had, and the next couple months will have several fire service related opportunities.
The Fall Fire Conference in Spearfish was held in October with our guest speakers Tom Merrill and Rodney Foster as the keynote speakers. As always, they were so appreciative of the South Dakota hospitality and friendliness of people everywhere they went.
Those were the same sentiments expressed by all the attendees at the NVFC Conference in September.
The Fairburn VFD, south of Rapid City, was having their annual fundraiser. Several of the NVFC directors and spouses loaded up in cars and travelled down for the event. It was the perfect example of the volunteer fire service coming to the aid of another department. People helping people.
What was expressed by many and made it so enjoyable was that the Fairburn folks made them all feel like they were local friends and relatives. (I admit, I was back at the hotel welcoming other NVFC folks as they arrived. But I did send along some cash to put in the boot.)
You may have seen the photos in the October newspaper of the supper hosted by the Pennington County Fire Services. What a display! Between Fairburn and PCFS, their events were the talk of the weekend.
I think that speaks well of the people of our great state.
The South Dakota Salutes Appreciation Event was held at Hunters Pointe near Humboldt. Volunteers helped SD Salutes with over 500 participants over the two day event. Go to the SD Salutes website to see lots of smiles in photos https://www.sdsalutes.org/appreciation-shooting-competition/2025-shooting-event-photos .
If you applied for a grant from the SD Salutes or Independent Insurance Agents of SD, you should be receiving your award notifications. Over $75,000 dollars was awarded to fire and EMS agencies across the state by these organizations. Thank you for the continued support.
The SDFA will be looking to appoint a new NVFC Director this winter. Current South Dakota director Jeremy Walla of Whispering Pines VFD has retired from the fire service. Thank you Jeremy for your years of service to the Black Hills area.
Each state is allowed two Directors to serve on the NVFC Board of Directors. Currently, I serve as the other director. If you are interested in becoming the NVFC representative, let your SDFA District Director know and feel free to contact me for more information. Likewise, checkout the NVFC website.
If you’re not sure what the NVFC does for the volunteer fire service, the SDFA board voted to send an SDFA member to the conferences with the other directors. Each spring is in Washington DC. The Fall meetings are hosted by a state association at a location across the country.
Other fire service events coming up include the Fire Chiefs Conference (it is good for anyone) in December. SD Fire Instructors Society conference in January. Check the SDFA website for event registration and information as it comes available.
Fall has arrived. Thanksgiving will be here, soon. Please, take the time to express your appreciation to your family and those who are, or, have been an important part of your firefighting career.
Have a safe and Blessed Thanksgiving.
Charlie Kludt
SDFA President