Cliff Davidson: OSFA President’s Report Hello everyone! I hope you all are doing well in these crazy times. I don’t mind paying a little more for fuel, but the trips to the grocery store are getting a Ringwood FD little out of hand. I gave up hunting many years ago. I just got to the point where it just didn’t excite me anymore. But if these grocery prices keep going up, I may have to hunt out of necessity. I feel for our elderly who are on a fixed income. We all need to look out for them and each other. We all get caught up in our own lives and tend to forget about the ones around us. As we get older, we start realizing how important it is to care for one another. I hope this current situation is just a bump in the road, and things will smooth out pretty quickly. But it’s not feeling like it, so I guess we need to do what we always do and prepare for the worst and pray for the best. I want to take a minute and recognize some of the firefighters on the Ringwood Fire Department. As we all know as volunteers, there are times when we are faced with some challenging situations with a limited amount of personnel. And these firefighters let their training and experience kick in and get the job done. As a chief, I couldn’t be more proud of them. Thanks to all you volunteers who take time away from your families and work to do the training and everything else that it takes to serve your communities. Safe hunting and I hope everyone enjoys their holidays.
OSFA STATEMENT ON SAFER GRANT On March 25, 2016, the Oklahoma State Firefighter Association (OSFA) was awarded the SAFER Grant. This grant had the purpose of covering costs for recruitment and retention of volunteer firefighters in the state of Oklahoma. Based on information that we have now, a partial amount of year-4 funding was lost due to FEMA administratively closing the grant. We are currently working to investigate what happened and will remain honest and transparent throughout this process. However, rest assured that the following is happening: • OSFA Executive Board is conducting a full investigation into the recording of spent funds that were supposed to be covered by the grant. • All vendors with outstanding invoices will be settled by the Oklahoma State Firefighter Association ASAP. • We do not believe money was embezzled or misused. • The OSFA was also awarded this grant in 2018. Please note, we are working to ensure any issues are corrected with our current grant and for future grants going forward. This investigation will be completed by early 2022. In the meantime, we will continue to update all members on the investigation process and how this will overall affect the organization.
Trim around the OSFA Office and Museum was painted recently, which improved the looks of the building tremendously.
Painting could only be done on dry non-windy days. When the temperature was over 90 degrees, the paint would dry before it could be spread on the metal. Thanks to President Cliff Davidson for the use of his lift (pictured).
O K L A H O M A S T A T E F I R E F I G H T E R S A S S O C I A T I O N
Oklahoma FirefighterNovember/December 2021/January 2022 5
