Richard Kelley: OFCA President’s Report

Greetings Brothers and Sisters!

This year, James Heap has done an outstanding job as the OFCA President.

I want to thank him for his dedication to the Oklahoma Fire Service. I appreciate the passion he has displayed to improve our proud and noble profession.

At the 2023 Chiefs Conference in Lawton, James outlined his goal to lead from the top as he strives to work in collaboration with our fire service partners to create a standard for the fire chiefs in Oklahoma.

I would also like to thank James, his wife Bridget, the Frederick Fire Department and the Lawton Fire Department for an outstanding OFCA Conference. Great work, Chief Heap!

As I begin my term as OFCA President, I first would like to thank everyone involved in the OFCA for this humbling opportunity. I do not take this obligation lightly, as I will strive to make a positive difference.

Every day, I am blessed to work for such an incredible fire department that is filled with outstanding firefighters who serve our community at a high level. They are the reason I am here, and it’s their dedication and commitment to excellence that in- spires me to give back to the Oklahoma Fire Service.

This year, my goal is to work with our collaborative partners at the OSFA, ORFA, OSU-FST, OEM, PFFO, OML and others to move our organizations forward.

We need to focus on levels of funding for firefighter training to assure our firefighters have the capabilities to serve their communities.

We need to improve our response from the State to large, widespread, catastrophic events that are outside the capabilities of the local jurisdictions.

We also need to focus on assuring the firefighters coming behind us have the same programs, benefits and opportunities that we have been afforded during our career.

Our profession is not what it is today because of happenstance. It is where we are today through the efforts of the giants before us. And as President, I want to honor their service by working hard to make improvements.

If we all focus on the majority of the areas we agree upon instead of the few areas we do not, we will accomplish great things in our future.

In closing, I want to thank Greg Herbster, Moore Fire Chief, for his service on the OFCA Board.

Greg is an outstanding leader in the fire service who did wonderful things during his tenure on the board. More importantly, he is a great person and someone I am proud to call friend.

Until next time, strive for excellence because Leaders are not born, they are made.