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Published six times annually July 2026 |
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Check out our sponsors/advertisers! |
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We invite you to visit the web sites of our sponsors/advertisers, like the ones above. SFFMA is grateful for the support of these and other companies and organizations! |
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Congrats to the 2026-2027 Executive Board members! The new president is RJ Thomas and we look forward to a productive, collaborative year. And welcome to the new 4th Vice President, James Longbrake. See photos and more below. Thanks to attendees who took the post-conference survey. We appreciate your input.
SFFMA continues its celebration of our 150th year of supporting the Texas Fire Service throughout the rest of 2026. And while the annual conference has come and gone, we're still working on the 150th commemorative yearbook (pre-sales here) and podcast conversations with past presidents!
If you attended conference for the first time or the 50th, we hope you learned some things, found time to meet up with old friends, and made some new contacts. Networking with firefighters across Texas is just one of the many benefits of SFFMA.
Congratulations to the Firefighter of the Year, EMS Responder of the Year and the new Legacy of Service award winners! Additional congrats to the photo and poster contest winners, along with the Firefighter Gauntlet winners! See more below.
Next year will bring us to Wichita Falls and we're excited! The wonderful folks at the SFFMA Red River District already offered to help with whatever is needed. Thanks, y'all! (Especially Ryan.)
District meetings begin in the fall so keep an eye out for dates and locations. Check our website for info.
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Help us Create the SFFMA 150th Yearbook!
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We need your department history and photos! We're looking for a write-up (roughly 200 words), and photos both old and new. All this information will be used to create the SFFMA 150th Commemorative Yearbook!!
Pre-orders for yearbooks began during the Waco conference and will continue through the end of July for those who want their book delivered via SFFMA staff at a district meeting. You will still be able to order yearbooks throughout the rest of this year and into 2027!
Please send department photos and write-ups to info@sffma.org before the end of July - we want to include as many as possible. Photos should be sent as attachments, rather than embedded in a Word file. We accept .jpg and .png photo files. |
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SIDE NOTE: We are hoping to find some of the missing years of conference proceedings. Would you please help us? SFFMA maintains an archive of conference proceedings at the Austin Office. However, a few issues are missing from our holdings. If you have a copy of the proceedings from the following years and are willing to part with it, we would greatly appreciate either a donation or the opportunity to scan the contents: 1876-1904, 1907, 1910, 1915-1918, 1921, 1924, 1927-1930, 1932, 1952, 1963. Thanks for the help! Use the same email as above. |
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Below are the results from the voting during the closing business session at the SFFMA conference on June 13, 2026, in Waco, Texas
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See the final vote tallies for Executive Board positions: |
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Below are the results for the ballot amendments; please note that per SFFMA by-laws, all ballot amendments require 66% of the vote to pass. Proposals 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 passed. Proposal 4 did not. |
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Below is the vote tally for the 2029 conference location. |
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The Firefighter of the Year and EMS Responder of the Year awards are generously sponsored by VFIS of Texas.
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The Texas State Firefighters' and Fire Marshals' Association (SFFMA) is proud to announce the winners of the Firefighter of the Year and EMS Responder of the Year Awards! VFIS of Texas generously sponsors these awards. This year’s winners each received a $3,000 cash prize, and runners-up also received monetary awards. The helmet for the Firefighter of the Year Award was donated by Casco Industries.
Firefighter of the Year Finalists:
Joshua Bardwell – West Mountain VFD
Bruce Speak – 287 Richland-Chambers Fire & Rescue
Larry Yaws – Randall County Fire Department
EMS Responder of the Year Finalists:
Jeremy Brubacher – Hartley Fire & EMS
Corbin Bullington – North Hood County VFD
Ronald Morton – Harrison County Emergency Services District #4
And the winners are...
Firefighter of the Year - Josh Bardwell
EMS Responder of the Year - Corbin Bullington
SFFMA extends its since congratulations to the winners! The awards committee said it was a tough choice with so many great candidates. |
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EMS Responder of the Year Corbin Bullington after receiving his award. With him are 2025 EMS Responder of the Year, Sarah Hininger, along with VFIS of Texas President Stephanie Dew and VFIS of Texas Vice President Bianca Nelson. |
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Firefighter of the Year Josh Bardwell with his award (donated by Casco). With him are 2025 Firefighter of the Year Kelcey Trotty, along with VFIS of Texas Vice President Bianca Nelson and President Stephanie Dew. |
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Firefighter of the Year Josh Bardwell with his award (donated by Casco). With him are Kelcey Trotty, the 2025 FFOY, along with VFIS of Texas Vice President Bianca Nelson and President Stephanie Dew. |
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EMS Responder of the Year Corbin Bullington after receiving his award. With him are Sarah Hininger, the 2025 EMS winner, along with VFIS of Texas President Stephanie Dew and Vice President Bianca Nelson. |
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With support from VFIS of Texas, attendees to the 150th annual SFFMA conference learned about a new award: The Legacy of Service. This award celebrates a lifetime of dedication, leadership, and commitment to the fire service. The inaugural recipient was Retired Chief Bob Looney, who is also an SFFMA Past President. Congrats, sir - well deserved! In the photo are Phyllis Looney, Stephanie Dew, SFFMA President Donny Boggs and Bianca Nelson.
"Bob's contributions have left a lasting impact on firefighters and communities across Texas, making him a truly deserving recipient of this distinguished honor," said VFIS of Texas President Stephanie Dew. |
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Standing (L-R): Phyllis Looney, VFIS of Texas President Stephanie Dew, SFFMA Past President Donny Boggs, VFIS of Texas Vice President Bianca Nelson. Seated: SFFMA Past President Bob Looney, winner of the inaugural Legacy of Service Award. |
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While supplies last, get a free bottle a polish with each boot purchase when you buy through the SFFMA store! |
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On HOT Takes, SFFMA staff have conversations with a wide range of folks in the fire service or fire adjacent. Take a listen! Visit our website to learn more.
In Episode 13 we chat with two long-time SFFMA volunteers: Andy Dexter and Jesse Slaughter, about their involvement with the SFFMA Certification Board. We asked them how and why they became volunteers with that group, what they get out of the work, and how others might get involved either with the cert board or another SFFMA committee. It's a fun conversation and only about an hour long!
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Visit our Facebook page to see the winners of the SFFMA 2026 Poster Contest. |
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Below are the SFFMA 2026 Photo Contest Winners. Congrats to all! |
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Best in Show
Dillon Thomson – Alvin VFD |
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Lifesaving Acts
1st Place - Christopher Bashford - Wichita West VFD (Below left)
2nd Place – Dillon Thomson – Alvin VFD (Below right) |
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Fire Related Acts
1st Place - Christopher Bashford / Wichita West VFD
2nd Place - None |
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Education & Public Safety
1st Place - Marvin Kilsby / West Columbia VFD (Below left)
2nd Place - Christopher Bashford / Wichita West VFD (Below right) |
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SFFMA Certification Assistant Chair
Jesse Slaughter |
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SFFMA Certification Chair
Andy Dexter |
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This month we're bringing you a double spotlight on two long-time SFFMA volunteers, Andy Dexter and Jesse Slaughter, the chair and vice chair of the SFFMA Certification, respectively, You can also listen to the roughly one-hour Hot Takes with SFFMA podcast interview we conducted. But if you don't have quite that much time and you enjoy reading, then this is for you! |
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The "why" behind becoming a volunteer differs for individuals. For Andy Dexter, it was when he became Deputy Fire Chief of the Klein Volunteer Fire Department.
"I wanted to make sure the program we designed was meeting the standards we believed it was meeting," he said. "That's when I got my education from the existing certification program."
He said his department was informed that they were incorrect in how they were handling certifications.
"I wanted to start getting involved in the certification board so I could minimize that gap," he said.
He started asking questions, such as, "Can we have a voice in this? What does a good program look like and how do we get our people certified?"
That was in 2015 and Andy is now serving his third term on the certification board.
Jesse Slaughter said he got involved with the certification board in 2022 because of his work with Granbury VFD.
"I was one of the guys where it took 20 years to get a certification," he said. "We were trying to make this a faster process."
Jesse said he kept asking the local zone representative questions about certifications.
The guy told him, 'You have too many questions. You just need to do this job.' And I said, 'I have more questions now.' So I kind of got thrust into it because I had too many questions. I was trying to figure out what needed to actually happen, not just my assumption of what needed to happen."
It turns out that Jesse's question asking led to him getting answers and that is one of the main functions of a certification board member. But it also means you become a representative of the association overall.
"You become the kind of the first point of contact for a lot of people with the association, so you have to be well-versed in not just certification, but well-versed in the association itself," he said. |
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What is the reward for getting involved? What do you personally get out of this as a volunteer? |
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" It's one of the few positions I've had to be a part of where I can make true changes for the betterment of the entire state of Texas." - Andy Dexter |
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In terms of their role with the certification board, Jesse and Andy agreed that many volunteer fire departments are likely doing the training that would lead to a certification, but they're not documenting it and putting in the effort into the actual certification itself.
"I think there's a gap there where we can help educate folks to fill in those gaps so they actually have a certification at the end of it," Jesse said.
Andy said SFFMAs PORTAL, which rolled out in 2023, now allows members to have the tools they need to document their training appropriately and gain that certification in a very intuitive manner.
How can others get involved on the certification board?
Andy explained.
"If I want to be a voting member of the certification board I would have to be nominated by my district, and then my name submitted to the executive board president to be appointed," he said. "That happens at the president's first meeting in July."
SFFMA board presidents are elected at the annual June conference.
Andy continued, "We (certification board members) get appointed to a four-year term to represent a zone. That zone is multiple counties or segments of counties based on a population when we start drawing out the maps. We have total of 19 zones in place today across the state."
He and Jesse then explained that the certification board has 25 voting members; the 19 zone reps well as a host of other positions including the SFFMA Executive Director, and liaisons from other organizations such as the Texas A&M Forestry Service.
Andy noted that getting appointed to the board as a voting member is just one way to get involved as a volunteer.
"What I really want to foster a lot more of is assistants to zone representatives," he said. "You're going to be immersed in the certification program, the education pieces, all of the policies, everything that goes along with the certification board."
How would someone take that path?
He said, "Simply contacting that zone rep and saying, "Hey, do you have room for an assistant? Can I learn the process? Can I be a part of this?"
SFFMA also has numerous volunteer opportunities beyond the certification board. Many of those are one-year committee appointments. District presidents also nominate their members for those positions. The SFFMA website has a page listing out the various committees along with the expectations of the tasks involved.
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We Appreciate our SFFMA 2026 Sponsors!
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A note from SFFMA President RJ Thomas
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Read the blog by SFFMA Executive Director, Cherry Kay Abel
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Want to hear what's new and what's happening in SFFMA? Read the blog by Executive Director, Cherry Kay Abel. See current and previous blog posts here. |
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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. |
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Sleep is one of the biggest health threats in the fire service. Help is needed to study this issue and your voice really does matter!
The SHIFT Study (Shift Scheduling and Sleep Health in Firefighters) is a FEMA-funded national research study led by Dr. Sara Jahnke examining how sleep and behavioral health impact firefighter safety, performance, and long-term well-being.
All firefighters (career and volunteer) are invited to participate; volunteers may invite a spouse or partner to take the survey. |
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What's involved?
→ Anonymous online survey
→ Takes 30–45 minutes
→ Option to sign up for future research
Your experiences don't always make it into policy or practice. This study helps change that!
Remember, better outcomes require better data. We need your help!
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