The Ohio State Firefighter's Association and Auxiliary will hold its 71st annual conference,
August 14th - 17th, at the Double Tree Hotel in Columbus-Worthington.  This will be a terrific
educational opportunity as well as a social event for Ohio's fire service.  Attendees do not have
to be a member of the O.S.F.A. to attend this conference.

For the first time ever, we are partnering with the Ohio Fire Academy to provide a day of hands-on
training at the academy which will provide the students with state-of-the-art educational experiences.
There will also be a day of EMS seminars that will meet the requirements for continuing education units. 
The EMS portion of the conference is provided by The Ohio State University Medical Center, Center
for EMS.  Continuing education units will be given for both fire and EMS.

Here is a tentative schedule of what's in store for this exciting weekend:

Thursday, August 14th.
     Golf outing at Oakhaven Golf Club.  The cost to play will be $65 which includes golf, cart,
     prizes and refreshments.  This will be a separate registration from the other conference activities.

     Thursday evening there will be a meet and greet at The Winking Lizard Tavern which is located
      across the street from the Double Tree Hotel.  Pizza, wings and adult beverages will be provided.

Friday, August 15th.
     The opening ceremony will kickoff the conference activities.  Dignitaries from central Ohio will
     welcome the conference attendees.  We are planning to have a special guest speaker at the opening
     session but that is unconfirmed at this time.

     Immediately following the opening session, there will be a memorial service, honoring those from
     O.S.F.A. member departments that have passed away since last years conference.
    
      Exhibits will open at 10:00 a.m. and remain open until 9:00 p.m. The vendors will be part of the party
      in the evening.

     Immediately following lunch on your own, the EMS classes will commence.  All classes will be held at
     the hotel.  A complete schedule of classes will be made available as soon as they are finalized.

     Towards the later part of the afternoon, the waterball competition will be held.  All team members must
      be registered for the conference to participate.  Team members must provide their own turnouts to be
      worn during the competition.  Teams can be male, female or coed.

      There will be a vendor display at the hotel all day Friday with fire and EMS equipment and souvenirs
      for sale.

      The final event for Friday will be the Get-Acquainted-Party, featuring a live band for entertainment. 
       Snacks, pop and adult beverages will be provided.

Saturday, August 16th.
      Fire training will begin at Fire Academy bright and early Saturday morning.  Transportation  will be
      provided with the first bus departing the hotel around 8:00AM.   State Fire Marshal Bell has
      graciously given our Association the opportunity to partner with the Ohio Fire Academy to provide
      the finest fire training the state of Ohio has to offer.  A complete training schedule will be posted as
      soon as the classes are finalized.
     
      For those who wish to attend, at 10:00 AM, there will be a one-hour business meeting that will include
      committee reports from the O.S.F.A. committee chairmen.  They will be discussing the various activities
      that the Association has been involved in over the past year.

     In the evening, there will be a banquet with a cash bar for all of the conference attendees included with
     your conference registration.  Following the dinner will be the presentation of awards and entertainment.

Sunday, August 17th.
     Sunday will start with church services provided by the O.S.F.A.'s Chaplains.

     After church, there will be the final business meeting to wrap up any unfinished business from Saturday with
     the conclusion of the conference around noon.

As one can see, there are plenty of activities for everyone  And, you don't have to be
a member of the O.S.F.A. to participate.  Please check back to this site for updates as
they become available.  The cost of the entire weekend is $75.  For those that would prefer to take
advantage of just the educational portion of the conference, the cost will be $30 for each day.

Attendees will be responsible for their own room reservations.  Our negotiated rate with the Double Tree
Hotel is $89.00 per night before noon on July 23, 2008.  You must identify yourself as a guest with The
Ohio State Firefighters' Association to get the group rate.