|
Promote, Unify, Represent and Educate the Fire Service and EMS of Texas
September 2025 |
|
|---|
|
Firefighters with Todd Mission VFD during a recent training. They covered pump operations, nozzles operations, wildland hose connections, and hose extensions. |
|
|---|
|
Pro Tip: If you view this newsletter in your browser, you can enlarge it for easier reading! You can also go to our website and click on the link to the issue you want to read, allowing you to enlarge it as well. |
|
|---|
|
|
Welcome to SFFMA e-InfoFIRE! |
|
|---|
|
Fall is almost here and that means district meetings! Check out our website to get all the info. (But always confirm with your district as we occasionally don't have the latest and greatest details.) And feel free to invite local fire departments to join you at the meeting. District leaders - be sure to connect with our District Liaison, Kim Hilsenbeck, to share board officer info and meeting details.
Our 2026 Call for Presenters is up and ready! The submission deadline is October 31. Selected speakers will be notified in the spring. Read more here.
PLEASE NOTE: the John P. Norris First Responder Health & Wellness Symposium was postponed until spring 2026. SFFMA is a proud supporter of this event, which will bring together experts in mental health, resilience training, physical wellness and spiritual care. Learn more on the event website.
Have you heard? SFFMA has a new reciprocity agreement with the Texas Commission on Fire Protection (TCFP). This is a huge deal! Where can you learn more and get your questions answered? Visit our website and be sure to click on the Step by Step Directions from TCFP.
We want your photos! For the November newsletter, we want to honor military veterans. Read more and submit photos and info by November 1.
Enjoy this issue of e-InfoFIRE. Making this newsletter something you want to read each month is our goal. Want your department or a specific member featured in an upcoming issue? Email Kim Hilsenbeck: newsletter@sffma.org. |
|
|---|
|
National Firefighter Registry for Cancer |
|
|---|
|
What is the National Firefighter Registry (NFR) for Cancer? It's the largest existing effort undertaken to understand and reduce cancer among U.S.firefighters. SFFMA is asking all Texas firefighters to participate in the registry. Why? Because the more we know about cancer, the more we can do to prevent it. Register here.
Background: In 2018, Congress passed the Firefighter Cancer Registry Act. This Act directed NIOSH* to develop a voluntary registry of firefighters to better understand the link between firefighting and cancer.
*National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health is the part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention responsible for conducting research and making recommendations to reduce workplace illness and injury. |
|
|---|
|
|
SFFMA Call for Presenters - 2026 Conference |
|
|---|
|
Got a great presentation and want to share your knowledge with firefighters and EMS responders? We're now accepting speaker submissions for our 150th Annual Training Conference, happening June 11-14 in Waco, Texas! Training sessions will be on June 12-13, 2026.
This year, the SFFMA conference will have five training tracks:
1. Firefighting Operations/Tactical
2. EMS
3. Wildland
4. Instructor/Officer Development and Leadership (could include anything from the Fire Marshal side of the house)
5. Special ops e.g., hazmat, rescue; industrial
Interested presenters are asked to submit the online Presenter Submission Form on or before October 31, 2025. Please complete all sections and include contact information. Final approval of presentations will be made by the SFFMA Speaker Selection Committee. Presenters will be notified in the spring of selection via email or phone.
Use this link to see all the details and submit your presentation proposal. |
|
|---|
|
|
A monthly note from the SFFMA Board President |
|
|
|
|
by Mark Wobus (Download and listen to this letter here!)
Hello fellow SFFMA members,
Your Austin Staff and Executive Board are gearing up to start the travel circuit of Fall District Meetings. We are finalizing schedules and excited to come out and visit.
Many of the board members will be delivering items for Recruitment and Retention for the districts to utilize and share with the local departments.
If you are interested in attending a district meeting, please check the SFFMA website.
Planning is moving forward for the 150th Conference and Convention in June of 2026. Austin Staff, Executive Board Members and multiple committee members have already visited Waco and will be making another visit in October to continue working on our event. We hope that you will make plans to attend the conference.
|
|
|
Certification Reciprocity from SFFMA to TCFP is moving along nicely. Several of our members have taken advantage of this new opportunity and I have talked with many more that will. We are excited about this opportunity and look forward to more collaboration with our friends at TCFP.
Our friends at VFIS of Texas and Texas Mutual Insurance have once again opened a grant opportunity for fire departments to apply for health & wellness items. You can visit the VFIS of Texas website to learn more and apply for this grant. This is an excellent opportunity to help your department and membership.
As I close out, I again want to take the opportunity to thank you for what you do for the citizens of your area and the department you serve.
Stay Safe and we will see you soon.
Mark Wobus
President, SFFMA 2025–2026
|
|
|---|
|
Welcome to Our New Staff Member: Nikki |
|
|---|
|
SFFMA is happy to welcome our new staff member, Nicole (Nikki) Petrekovich to the team! Her start date is September 18.
Nikki will primarily handle the SFFMA store, as well as answer phones and support other staff members.
She comes to us from H-E-B where she has more than two and a half years of customer service experience.
Nikki graduated from Texas State University and lives in Dripping Springs.
We're looking forward to her arrival! |
|
|
|
|
Cherry Kay Abel is the Executive Director of SFFMA |
|
|
|
|
by Cherry Kay Abel (Download and listen to this message here)
As your Executive Director, I wanted to take a moment to share some exciting updates from your Austin staff and Executive Board. We’re currently working on preparations for next year’s budget, and we’re also excited to let you know that our annual membership drive will be launching in about six weeks, so please stay on the lookout for more details coming soon!
All upcoming District Meetings throughout Texas are now listed on the SFFMA website. Please take a moment to look over the schedule and you may want to attend one in your area this fall.
We’re also excited to announce that we’ve added a new member to our team! Nikki will be joining us as our new Store Team Lead, officially starting on September 18. She’ll be hitting the ground running, and we’re thrilled to have her on board. Please join us in welcoming her and don’t hesitate to reach out and say hello!
We’re also looking ahead to next year’s big event, our 150th Annual Conference and Convention in June 2026. Next month, we’ll bring the SFFMA Conference Committee together on-site for the first time in a long time at our conference hotel in Waco. We’ll walk the property and begin discussions around the event schedule. It’s an exciting milestone, and we’re looking forward to building an unforgettable experience for our members.
On the certification front, we’re excited to share that skills testing is now available through the SFFMA PORTAL. A few weeks ago, we quietly launched the new Skill Exam module to ensure everything ran smoothly and we’re happy to report it’s going very well. Now, we’re ready to encourage full use of the updated process!
Members can now request and report Skill Exams directly through the portal, and full step-by-step instructions are available for download. You can:
- Determine if you can serve as a Skill Examiner
- Locate a Skill Examiner in your area
- Access the Skill Examinations Hub
- Create a new skill exam session
- Download session documentation
- Enter final grades online
Please reach out to Kevin Creamer if you need any information or questions regarding skills testing.
As always, thank you for your dedication to your department and supporting SFFMA.
Cherry Kay Abel
Executive Director, SFFMA
|
|
|---|
|
Staff Spotlight - Teresa Junkin |
|
|---|
|
SFFMA Accountant Teresa Junkin at the 2024 conference. |
|
|
|
|
No time to read? Download and listen to the story here! |
|
|---|
|
Like other SFFMA staff, Teresa Junkin wears multiple hats. She started with the association in 2019 as a membership assistant. She also assisted with some of the bookkeeping functions, including accounts payable and payroll.
Teresa earned an Accounting degree from Southwest Texas State, now called Texas State University. What made her choose that major?
“I like math,” she said. “But it turns out there isn’t a lot of math in accounting.”
There are, however, lots of numbers. She now keeps track of all the association’s numbers, as her job evolved over the last several years.
In early 2024, Teresa took over all the accounting functions, including accounts receivable, bill paying, banking deposits, payroll, providing monthly financial statements sent to executive director and finance committee, managing the association’s retirement plan, and helping with budgeting. Plus, helps with the professional development classes.
Teresa continues to help with membership – answering calls and helping members.
The transition also including managing the SFFMA store, which entails ordering and tracking inventory, keeping the merchandise neat and presentable, selling store items during the annual conference, and fulfilling orders from firefighters and departments.
“We primarily sell books and boots,” she said. “But we also sell shirts, hoodies, ball caps, challenge coins and more.”
She also orders the swag items SFFMA hands out when attending conferences. In addition, Teresa started helping with the two professional development classes offered by SFFMA.
One of five children, she grew up in Euless, Texas, near DFW Airport.
|
|
|
“My dad was a commercial pilot,” she said. “Before that, he was a Navy pilot.”
During her sophomore year in high school, the family moved to Hunt, Texas. Teresa attended and graduated from Kerrville Tivy High School.
“I married David Junkin, my high school sweetheart,” she said. “I was 21 years old.”
She attended Southwest Texas while David went to Texas A&M. He continued on to law school after that. He has a private practice and for a time he served as a State District Judge in Hays County.
Teresa and David are still together, having raised three children. They live in San Marcos and now have five grandchildren with another on the way in a few months.
How did she hear about SFFMA?
“From Heather,” she said. “We’ve known each other since 1997; we taught Mother’s Day Out in Wimberley, and we have children the same age.”
Teresa’s role will soon change again as she aims toward retirement in about a year. What is happening on that front?
“We are hiring a new store person,” she said. “That new staff member will also assist other staff as needed.”
Teresa will continue with all the accounting work four days a week. She will also train the new person on store operations.
She said she enjoys her co-workers and appreciates the nice office space at SFFMA. But she is looking forward to the future where she works part-time.
“I want to spend time with my grandbabies,” she said. “I also enjoy gardening.”
She just planted her fall garden, which includes cherry tomatoes, kale and broccoli.
|
|
|---|
|
FUN FACT
Teresa has hand-made more than 40 quilts since about 2005. She took a quilting class and has been making and gifting them ever since. |
|
|---|
|
David and Teresa Junkin standing on a dock by the bay.
|
|
|
One of dozens of quilts Teresa made over the past 20 years. |
|
|---|
|
SFFMA Chaplain in Kerrville After Floods |
|
|---|
|
The SFFMA Chaplain, Lowell Ercanbrack, spent time in the Kerrville area after the devastating July 4th flood. Here are a few pics from that trip. |
|
|---|
|
|
John P. Norris Memorial First Responders Health and Wellness Symposium |
|
|---|
|
|
SFFMA is proud to support the John P. Norris Memorial First Responder Health & Wellness Symposium. The event was postponed and as soon as we have the new dates, we will share them.Check out the event's FB page or visit the website to learn more about the symposium. |
|
|---|
|
Veterans Day Photo Request
SFFMA wants to honor our members who served in the US Military. For Veterans Day, please send a photo and brief write-up to newsletter@sffma.org. These will run in the November newsletter. We need pics and info by November 1.
Please include the veterans name, branch, years of service, and things of note including awards, special commendations, promotions/rank held, duty stations, etc. |
|
|
|
|
SFFMA Fall District Meetings |
|
|---|
|
You have a voice in this association and one great way to use it is to attend your local district meetings! See the dates below and check our website for full meeting details including times and addresses. Be sure to invite local departments from your area to join you. See you at the district meetings!
| SFFMA Fall District Meetings |
Date |
| North TX District |
9/20/25 |
| Wintergarden District |
9/20/25 |
| North Central District |
9/20/25 |
| North East TX District |
9/27/25 |
| Tri-Rivers District |
9/27/25 |
| Gulf Coast District |
9/27/25 |
| Hill Country District |
10/4/25 |
| Guadalupe District |
10/11/25 |
| Mid-West TX District |
10/11/25 |
| Permian Basin District |
10/17/25 |
| Central Texas District |
10/18/25 |
| East TX District |
10/18/25 |
| Red River District |
10/18/25 |
| South Central District |
10/25/25 |
| Rio Grande Valley District |
10/26/25 |
|
|
|---|
|
Check out the SFFMA Store! |
|
|---|
|
The 2025 commemorative ornament is ready for you to add to or begin your holiday collection. Be sure to get yours before they're gone. (Yes, you can still get the 2024 ornament!) We've also got new trucker caps, a new t-shirt and an awesome blanket for sale! Caps come in several colors and are adjustable. Blankets can be tossed in your car and are great for picnics, bleachers, or a day at the lake and have a waterproof side. The tees are 6.1-oz, preshrunk 100% ringspun cotton; the fabric is soft washed and garment dyed for added softness. Place your orders through the SFFMA store today! |
|
|---|
|
Not Renewed Yet for 2025? Your Insurance is Not in Effect |
|
|---|
|
Renew your membership now for 2025! SFFMA membership runs January 1-December 31 each calendar year. Remember, your coverage is not in effect if your membership is not active. Renew today and ensure your coverage is in effect! Find your benefit info on our website. And check out how the SAFER Grant can help your department; funds can be used for training, physicals, PPE, member dues and more! |
|
|---|
|
HOT Takes with SFFMA Podcast |
|
|
|
|
This is a podcast where SFFMA staff chat about important issues for our members. In Episode 8 we spoke with Chief Rick Lasky, a proud member of SFFMA and author of
Pride & Ownership. We talked about recruitment and retention, his love of the fire service and some great stories. Give it a listen!
|
|
|---|
|
Certification and Testing
by Kevin Creamer |
|
|---|
|
New Skill Exam Process
We launched the new Skill Exam module to PORTAL a couple of weeks ago without a lot of fanfare so that we could spot check for any issues. Things have gone very well, so we can now make a big issue of the new Skill Exam process.
Skill Exams are now requested and reported through PORTAL. Step-by-Step instructions available for download below.
Full Document
Location! Location! Location!
In an effort to help us provide better information to you and make bill payment more efficient, please be sure to update your individual record with your CURRENT mailing and physical addresses. If the same address is used for both, please add it to both areas. Mailing addresses are needed so that our online credit card payment processing software can correctly create invoices for payment. Physical addresses are used to determine what information is added to your 'Contact Us!' area.
Three (3) is the Magic Number!
...when it comes to HazMat Operations and Missions Specifics level certification, that is. In order to receive full IFSAC or ProBoard reciprocity for the certification SFFMA and TCFP both require documentation of Operations (Ch. 5), PPE (Ch. 6.2), AND Product Control (Ch. 6.6). Without all three sections we can only provide partial training credit.
Many individuals have submitted ProBoard documentation from TEEX consisting of only Operations and PPE. Unfortunately, we are unable to grant full reciprocity if the Product Control documentation is not also provided. TEEX offers HAZ031: Hazardous Materials Product Control Training as a 12-hour class to fill this need, with ProBoard certification available.
|
|
|---|
|
To find upcoming testing dates, log into your PORTAL account. |
|
|---|
|
Fire departments around Texas participated in a variety of 9/11 memorials, honoring the lives of those lost in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack on our country. Below are photos from just a few of the ceremonies, stair climbs, walks and other events. |
|
|---|
|
Newark VFD members participated in the annual 9/11 Tower Climb in Fort Worth. |
|
|
Members from Indian Harbor VFD held a stair climb at their local Planet Fitness to honor those lost on 9/11. |
|
|---|
|
Members of the Community VFD Honor Guard were privileged to present the colors alongside the US Marines during the opening ceremony of the Greater Houston Tunnel to Towers 5K. |
|
|
Two Uvalde VFD firefighters, Tristan Hale and Todd Dorris, participated in the annual 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb event held in San Antonio. |
|
|---|
|
Several members from Annaville FD joined hundreds of people at Whataburger Field in Corpus Christi for the annual 9/11 Memorial Workout (Stair Climb). |
|
|
Assistant Fire Chief Robert Wallace with Greenwood VFD at the Midland Memorial Stair Climb. |
|
|---|
|
Members of Paris (TX) Fire Department and Celina FD. among many others, took part in the Dallas Memorial Stair Climb. |
|
|
Three Wharton Volunteer Firefighters participated in the 10th Annual Memorial Stair Climb in San Antonio, Texas: Trevor Araguz, Sebastian Wilson, and Matthew
Resendez. They climbed 110 stories. |
|
|---|
|
Members from Burleson Fire Department took part in the Dallas 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb. |
|
|
Members of North Zulch VFD climbed 110 flights of stairs at Kyle Field at Texas A&M University in remembrance of the 9/11/01, terrorist attacks. Shown here are Chief Chuck Wiedecker, Firefighters Stuart Dial and Trey Conway. |
|
|---|
|
Belmont VFD members participated in the 2nd Annual 9/11 Memorial Walk. |
|
|
McQueeney FD members at the 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb in San Antonio. |
|
|---|
|
|
Continuing Education & Professional Credits from Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service
Learn more about training opportunities from TEEX on their website.
|
|
|
|
|
Questions about SFFMA? We’ve got answers! We occasionally get questions about the association, so we’re sharing them - and the answers - here.
> What types of grant programs are available for my department? Grants
Have questions about SFFMA or the benefits of being a member? Let us know! Send an email to Membership. |
|
|
|
|
|
Did you know we have a Classifieds section of our website? Our members can list job openings, services and equipment for sale. Non-members can run a 30-day ad for just $20.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
View this email in your browser
You are receiving this email because of your relationship with State Firefighters' and Fire Marshals' Association of Texas. Please reconfirm your interest in receiving emails from us. If you do not wish to receive any more emails, you can unsubscribe here.
|
|
|
|  |
|
|
|
|
