The Fire Department Safety Officers Association is pleased to introduce the FDSOA Safety Forum Scholarship, sponsored by Dave Dodson, fire service author, lecturer and trainer.
The FDSOA Safety Forum Scholarship includes registration to the Safety Forum, one pre-Forum seminar (Incident Safety Officer or Health Safety Officer), airfare or mileage, and lodging.
Dodson proposed the scholarship program to create a way to introduce new safety officers to the educational opportunities at the FDSOA Safety Forum.
“I’ve been very fortunate in my fire service life and feel it is time to pay it forward,” said Dodson. “Many individuals have influenced and assisted me along the way, so now it is my turn to assist others.”
Dodson is a 40-year fire service veteran, serving up to the position of Battalion Chief. His Art of Reading Smoke class has been presented to over 70,000 firefighters in the USA and Canada. He recently completed a ground-breaking project with John Mittendorf – The Art of Reading Buildings (Fire Engineering Books and Video). Dave’s best-seller, Fire Department Incident Safety Officer the updated 3rd edition released in 2015.
Dodson is a charter member of FDSOA and served on the founding Board of Directors as Vice President. He became President in 1992. In 2017, he was presented with the first annual Lifetime Service Award by the FDSOA Board of Directors.
Criteria for the scholarship application includes current uniformed member with a minimum two years’ experience in a fire or emergency services organization and never attended an FDSOA Safety Forum in the past or in the past five years. Department approval for attendance must accompany the application. The application is available at www.fdsoa.org/fdsoa-safety-officer-scholarship-award/
Rich Marinucci, FDSOA Executive Director, said, “As one of the founding members of the FDSOA, Dave has always been a huge proponent of preparing safety officers. He has showed that again by presenting a great opportunity for a safety offer to attend the Safety Forum, someone who would not have had the chance at the experience.”
The 2019 FDSOA Safety Forum will be held January 23-24 at the Wyndham Orlando Resort I-Drive, Orlando, Florida. Prior to the Safety Forum, the two-day Incident Safety Officer Academy and the Health & Safety Officer Academy will be held on January 21-22.
Concurrently, the FDSOA Apparatus Specification and Maintenance Symposium is January 21-23, 2019. Pre-conference programs are scheduled for Sunday, January 20th and a new post-conference, hands-on aerial maintenance program is scheduled for Wednesday, January 23rd.
For more information visit: www.fdsoa.org.
