Chief Fire Officers ‘fire away’ with annual conference

The annual conference of the Chief Fire Officers Association is to be held in Kilkenny later this week, after a 3-year pandemic gap.

It will be Kilkenny County Council’s third time to host the fire specialists conference, the previous years being in 1967 and 1981.

This year’s conference, themed as ‘Fire Away’ will offer speakers and delegates the opportunity to ‘fore away’ with discussion and debate, which according to Kilkenny’s Chief Fire Officer John Collins is less subtle and playing with the words “keep” fire away, touching on fire prevention.

CFO Collins said “With most health restrictions lifted, I am delighted and very proud to be hosting the Chief Fire Officers’ Association Annual Conference in Kilkenny on the 4th & 5th May 2022. It has been a difficult 3 years for everyone since our last conference and this should be a great opportunity to meet up with old friends and visit Kilkenny.”

“I would like to extend a warm welcome to all Delegates, Trade Exhibitors, Speakers and Guests from Ireland and overseas to Kilkenny to our annual Conference” he said.

This year’s conference brings together leading speakers, all of them very experienced in their own discipline, from both within and outside the Fire Service community to share their expert views.

CFOA Conference in 2016. Photo: Declan Keogh / Emergency Times

Fire Away is defined “if someone wants to say or ask something, you can say “fire away” as a way of showing that you are ready for them to speak.” Thus, encouraging debate and discussion with the speakers and exhibitors. Less subtle and playing with the words “keep” Fire Away touches on fire safety/prevention talks and trade equipment and again “Some” Fire Away touches on a fire incident in UK which one of our speakers will be covering.

The two-day conference will focus on three key aspects, technology, strategy and leadership.

Chief Fire Officers are hopeful the conference will afford delegates, speakers, manufacturers and trade representative a platform to engage with each other by asking questions and debating on current and future technology to assist the Fire and Rescue service in serving our communities, looking at strategy for dealing with current issues and in the preparation of future issues and Leadership development in Fire Service delivery.

This will be facilitated by speakers from Ireland, England, The Netherlands and Belgium who will share their experiences.

CFO and Conference Secretary, John Collins is thankful of the support from Ms Colette Byrne, Chief Executive of Kilkenny County Council and he especially acknowledges the huge commitment of Kilkenny Fire and Rescue Service staff in assisting the CFOA in hosting this year’s Conference.


Notice: The EmergencyTimes.ie website will remain offline until 1st June 2022 to allow for essential maintenance and rebuild. You can still reach content through its social media platforms @emergencytimes