State fire conference coming here
♦ The Georgia Fire Service is expected to bring several hundred firefighters to downtown Rome in September.
This year, the Rome-floyd Fire Department will be hosting the annual Georgia Fire Service conference, a joint conference for members of the Georgia State Firefighters Association and the Georgia Association of Fire Chiefs.
The GSFA is the state’s largest and oldest fire service organization, dating back to 1952, and is currently comprised of 5,000 members.
Fire Chief Troy Brock said that the conference usually draws about 200 to 350 firefighters, both paid and volunteer, from across Georgia.
This year’s conference will be held downtown at the Forum River Center from Sept. 15 to 19.
“It’ll bring a lot of business to the downtown area,” Brock said.
The conference will have training programs, keynote speakers and classes for firefighters to attend, as well as act as a place of fellowship for firefighters to get to know and learn from one another.
The traditional Firefighter Competition will take place on the night of Sept. 18. All fire departments will compete as teams and face different challenges, such as a bucket brigade. The winning departments will receive prizes provided by the two associations.
The competition is one of the most popular parts of the conference, Brock said.
A full agenda and schedule for the conference will be released in May.
This is the first time in over 30 years Rome has hosted the conference and Brock said everyone at RFD is very excited about the opportunity.
The fire department has already started preparing for the conference by going to local businesses and seeing if they’d be willing to advertise in conference bulletins that will be handed out at the event. The prices for bulletin ads will vary depending on the size.
If interested in buying ad space, contact the Rome-Floyd Fire Department at 706236-4500 or by email at rfd2020conference@romega.us.