Educational opportunities are available from January 30 - February 1! Seminars at the 2026 event will be held on Saturday and Sunday only. Don't miss the special roundtable featuring Vincent Dunn, Frank Leeb, John Norman, and John Salka! Other firematic lecturers include Denis Onieal, Paul Haynes, Michael Scotto, John Lewis and Robert Moran, and Kory Pearn. Students can earn 1.5 CMEs for attending the 2026 EMS class with Paul Cousins on Sunday. The 2026 Hands-On Training course is the Suffolk County Fire Academy Thermal Imaging Camera Class – “The TIC.” NYSAFC’s mobile training unit will be utilized at Nassau Coliseum for this live fire training on Saturday and Sunday. Codes Training will be held on Friday. Students will earn seven hours through code enforcement in-service approved courses. Seminars are open to all attendees. Special registration is required for HOT and Codes Training.

Chief/Commissioner Mike Lombardo (Buffalo Fire Department) will present “Dangerous Spaces: Challenges and Tactics When Dealing with Garage and Basement Fires” at 27 locations. Registration is $35 (NYSAFC members) and $50 (non-members) per person. Pre-registration is encouraged. Join NYSAFC in Broome, Chautauqua, Chemung, Clinton, Cortland, Dutchess, Erie, Fulton, Greene, Herkimer, Monroe, Nassau, Niagara, Oneida, Onondaga, Orleans, Oswego, Otsego, Rensselaer, Rockland, St. Lawrence, Saratoga, Schenectady, Steuben, Suffolk, Westchester, and Wyoming Counties.

Open enrollment is available for NYSAFC's two-day Regional HOT programs at sites across New York state. Beyond the Basics is coming to Dutchess and Erie Counties. Fire Behavior On the Inside will be held in Clinton, Onondaga, and Ulster Counties. Flashover will be presented in Albany and Erie Counties, plus at two sites in Ontario County. These courses are scheduled on weekends from January through May and September through early December. Only a few weekends are still available in 2026, so if your agency is interested in hosting, check out the training calendar and then submit a Host Request Form. The single-day Fire Behavior From the Outside course can be booked year-round on any day of the week at any time of day. Registration is limited to the host agency and invited guests only.

The International Association of Fire Chiefs has released its white paper on reforming the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Search and rescue teams were delayed responding to Texas when Acting FEMA Administrator David Richardson couldn't be reached.

A new four-bill package would require the FDNY to replace turnout gear, add regular health screenings for firefighters and retirees, and test firehouse drinking water.

Firefighter Patrick Brady was operating on the roof of a building at an all-hands fire in Brooklyn when he suffered a medical episode and went into cardiac arrest on November 8.

Paramedic Salih Abdur Rahman died on October 29 after completing a shift at the FDNY Fire Academy on Randall’s Island.

Chief Michael Monds told city councilors that the plans for a 10-megawatt battery storage system do not comply with the state fire code as the installation is currently proposed.

The former chief of the Village of Hoosick Falls Police Department and Town of Hoosick Rescue Squad was arrested and charged with stealing money from the squad to buy tires for his personal vehicle, state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli said.

Metered Site: The abrupt departure of Chief F.J. Spinelli on October 21 stirred long-held tensions between the department, elected officials and city administrators. Paul Pullar, a veteran of the department, was appointed as the new chief on October 24.

The former chief of the Town of Watertown Fire Department is accused of forging a firefighter’s name on a resignation letter.

Chief Tom Lucchesi is being credited with intervening to prevent a potentially catastrophic collision after encountering a wrong-way driver on Interstate 84 in the town of East Fishkill.

Supraglottic airway policy for BLS agencies; EMS equipment regulations approved.

Ithaca Fire Chief Robert Covert stepped down from his job to begin a new role as deputy state fire administrator with the Division of Homeland Security on November 6.

Assistant Chief Paul Pullar, a 21-year veteran of the department, was appointed to serve as fire chief for the city of Newburgh.

Troopers Derick Macaulay and Peter Pjetri were recognized for their life-saving actions during a serious crash that occurred on September 14, 2025.

Officials gathered to unveil a sign designating a bridge on state Route 28 in Big Indian, NY as the John “Jody” Rossitz Memorial Bridge.

View the NYSAFC calendar of events.