*MASKS ARE NOW REQUIRED AT THE CROFTON OFFICE FOR ALL STAFF AND VISITORS*
MSFA Weekly Report for County Associations and Partners

Week ending 2.25.2022

MSFA Proposed Name Change *UPDATED TO INCLUDE SECOND PROPOSAL

As many of you know, an initial request for a by-law change was submitted and approved
by the Executive Committee in January to update the name of the Maryland State
Firemen’s Association to the Maryland State Firefighter’s Association in an effort to
allow the MSFA to fall in line with over 70% of all other state associations that have
embraced this change, including, most recently, the Firefighter’s Association of the State
of New York, as well as the Virginia State Firefighter’s Association, and many more.
**There has also been an additional by-law change proposal submitted by another
member department to change the name of the Maryland State Firemen’s Association to
the Maryland State Fire & EMS Association. The member company feels “that this
change should reflect the clinicians of Emergency Medical Services as these responses
are now the bulk of the emergency services workload.”

We continue to share this information with the intent to have every member company
aware of the proposed name changes so equal opportunity is afforded to everyone to vote
on such an important endeavor in June. If you or your Association have any questions or
concerns, please feel free to reach out to any of the Presidents or Chairman of the
Legislative Committee, Bob Phillips.

**VENUE CHANGE** MSFA Recruitment Boot Camp

–The MSFA SAFER Program Manager and Recruitment and Retention Committee are
excited to announce the planning of the 2022 Recruitment and Retention Boot Camp
that will be held at Branchville VFD (Prince George’s County) on March 26 -27th!
This interactive two-day workshop is open to all County and Department R and R
personnel and those wishing to learn more about recruiting and retention. We are excited
to bring you the most recent tools and resources as well as strategic lessons from R and R
experts! Recruiters can register to attend here:
https://www.marylandvolunteer.org/2022-maryland-recruitment-retention-boot-camp/

MSFA March Executive Committee Meeting March 19-20

President Joel McCrea has scheduled his next meeting of the Executive Committee of the
Maryland State Firemen’s Association for Saturday, March 19 and Sunday, March 20,
2022. The meeting will be held at the Community Volunteer Fire Department of
Bowley’s Quarter, 900 Bowley’s Quarter Road, Middle River. MD. The meeting will be
called to order at 10:00 a.m.

For those desiring to stay overnight, arrangements have been made at the Holiday Inn
Express, 10542 Philadelphia Road, White Marsh, Maryland. Call Holiday Inn Express at
410-282-2200. There has been a special rate of $89.00 plus tax per night. To receive the
special rate, make your reservations prior to February 18th and also advise the hotel that
you are with the Maryland State Firemen’s Association.

MSFA Statewide Mental Health Awareness Training

The newly-appointed Mental Health Awareness Taskforce, put in place by 1st Vice
President Ben Kurtz, has held several meetings to discuss the need for statewide training
on Mental Health and resources that are available to first responders. It is the taskforce’s
intent to hold this training in each region in the months of April, May, and early June. If
your department is willing to host a session, please contact Executive Director Loveless
to be placed on the calendar and a member of the taskforce will get in touch with you to
coordinate.

MSFA 2022 Convention and Conference

Reminder to Departments: Please be sure to get your online credentialing completed for
the 2022 Convention. Emails for both the President of the Department as well as the
Delegate Chair will now be a required field on the form to ensure that we have the correct
information for the emailing of ballots for the online voting process. Submit your
credentials at: https://convention.msfa.org/registration/department-credentials/

Reminder to Departments: Please be sure to take the opportunity to submit your Program
Book Ads! Convention Program Book Ads are a great way to showcase your
department’s milestones or achievements, new apparatus, or even to thank your members
for their dedication and hard work! Submissions can be made online at:
https://convention.msfa.org/sponsors/advertising-opportunities/

Reminder to Businesses and Partners: Please be sure to register for booth space early!
There have been changes made to the set up and take down days for exhibitors:

–Registration and Move in for booth vendors will be SATURDAY 8am-11am
–Registration and Move in for apparatus will be 11am – completion

This will allow for the exhibits to open on SUNDAY from 11am-3pm to capture the
increased weekend traffic through the Convention Center.

**For those vendors who cannot get into Ocean City until Saturday evening or early
Sunday morning, we will have additional move in times available from 7am-1100am on
Sunday morning prior to opening the exhibit hall.

–Move out would then be moved to Tuesday at 3pm at the close of the Exhibit Halls.
With these changes, exhibit times would then be:
Sunday, June 19th 11am – 3pm
Monday, June 20th 9am – 4pm
Tuesday, June 21st 9am – 3pm

Prices for Early Bird submission are through March 1st and with the expansion of the
Convention Center, you won’t want to miss the opportunity to be one of the first vendors
in the updated exhibit space! Spaces are filling up so register today at:

Exhibitor Registration

PLEASE BE AWARE THAT WE CANNOT ALLOW ANY PARKING OF
APPARATUS IN THE CONVENTION CENTER PARKING LOT(S) DURING
CONVENTION WEEK, INCLUDING OVERNIGHT PARKING.
Please be sure to visit the convention website, www.convention.msfa.org, often for up-todate info on the MSFA 2022 Convention! If you or someone you know would like to join
the Convention Committee, please contact Chairman Ron Siarnicki at
rsiarnicki@aol.com.

Reminder: Statewide Volunteer Recruitment/Open House Weekend
–PLEASE NOTE DATE CHANGE: Due to the Easter holiday, the date for the 2022
Statewide Recruitment/Open House Weekend has been changed to April 23th and
24th, which closes out National Volunteer Week! If your department plans on holding a
recruitment Open House, please send your information to MSFA SAFER Program
Manager Heather Gorski at hgorski@msfa.org to be announced on MSFA’s social media
platforms and the marylandvolunteer.org website. We would also love to highlight your
open houses and events in our publication, the “Volunteer Trumpet,” so please send any
photos and write-up to Editor Jonathan Dayton at jonathan.m.dayton@gmail.com.
Please be sure to reach out to your county’s respective Executive Committee
member/representative if you have any further questions.