Tuesday, September 8th 18 Hole Golf Tournament – Jug Mountain Golf Course Tee times begin @ 12:30 pm, Boxed Lunch Included 5:30 pm - Hosted Social Hour and Casual Dinner – Toll Station Pizza | Wednesday, September 9th 7:30 am - Breakfast at Evergreen Hotel 8:30 am – 9:30 am – Opening Session - Welcome and Introductions; -Thank you to Sponsors -Sponsor Short-Takes Presentations 9:30 am – 10:00 am – Membership Meeting - Elections, Audit Report 10:00 am – 12:00 pm – General Session – Joel M. Billings, Ph.D., “Sleep Study Findings – Case Study” Joel M. Billings, PhD is an assistant professor at Embry‑Riddle Aeronautical University. He is the Program Chair for the undergraduate degree program in Emergency Services teaches courses in fire and emergency services. Dr. Billings’ research expertise focuses on firefighters’ sleep and health. Specifically, he studies firefighter sleep process and sleep-wake cycles, fire department shift schedules, and the cardiovascular and sleep impacts of firefighter alerting systems. His research is funded by NIH/NHLBI and DHS/FEMA. His goal is to improve health, safety, and performance of members in the fire and emergency services profession by bringing together research and practice. He has former experience as a volunteer firefighter and EMT-Basic in Michigan. Dr. Billings serves as a member of the Science Alliance, council member for the Healthy Work Design & Well-Being cross-sector program at NIOSH, and serves on the Council of Governors at the International Fire Service Accreditation Congress. 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm - Lunch at Evergreen Hotel 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm - General Session – Eric Saylors – “Quantifying the Negtive” Fire departments are accustomed to measuring success through visible outcomes; response times, incident counts, and suppression effectiveness. Yet some of the fire service’s greatest successes are the events that never occur: fires prevented, injuries avoided, and community risk reduced. This presentation explores how departments can begin to quantify the negative by measuring the impact of prevention, mitigation, and proactive risk-reduction strategies. Drawing from research developed through a master’s thesis, the session examines practical methods for identifying avoided losses and estimating the value of Community Risk Reduction (CRR) programs, prevention efforts, training improvements, and policy changes. Attendees will learn how data analysis, comparative modeling, and case examples can help agencies translate “nothing happened” into measurable outcomes that matter to policymakers, governing boards, and the public. The session also addresses how leaders can communicate those findings clearly and credibly so prevention work is seen as a core operational success, not an invisible function. Participants will leave with practical ideas for integrating prevention metrics into department performance systems and for telling a stronger story about the fire service’s most important mission: protecting communities from tragedies that never happen. This class is especially relevant to fire service leaders who are asked to defend budgets, explain prevention outcomes, support CRR programs, or communicate organizational value to elected officials, boards, and the public. Fire service agencies increasingly need to show more than what they responded to; they need to explain the value of what they prevented. This session gives attendees both the analytical framework to estimate avoided losses and the leadership communication tools to turn those findings into persuasive, truthful, memorable narratives. In short, it helps leaders connect evidence to influence. Eric Saylors is the author of Quantifying a Negative (2015), Sense Making in Risk Assessments (2022), and The 7-Year Active Shooter Study (2026). He is a Fire Chief with over 30 years of experience and holds a Doctorate in Leadership from the University of Southern California (USC). He currently serves as Fire Chief of the El Cerrito–Kensington Fire Department, having previously spent 25 years with the Sacramento City Fire Department. Over the course of his career, he has served in every rank from firefighter/paramedic to Fire Chief, including engineer, captain, battalion chief, and assistant chief. His operational experience includes assignments on ambulances, fire engines, ladder trucks, a Type 1 HazMat team, and a heavy rescue unit. He has responded to and managed a wide range of incidents, including high-rise fires, large commercial fires, wildland-urban interface incidents, basement fires, and balloon-frame construction fires. Prior to joining executive leadership, he served as Battalion Chief 1 in downtown Sacramento, one of the busiest operational areas in the region. He regularly consults with fire departments nationwide on active shooter response, leadership development, succession planning, and post-incident analysis. 3:30 pm – 5:00 pm – General Session 5:30 pm - Barbecue Dinner Sponsored by Ultraclean Ponderosa State Park - Lakeview Shelter | Thursday, September 10th 8:00 am - Breakfast at Evergreen Hotel 8:30 am -10:30 am – Closing General Session - Dr. Brooke Bartlett – “Leading From the top: The Hidden Weight of Fire Service Leadership” Leadership in the fire service comes with a unique set of challenges that aren’t always visible from the outside. This presentation explores the psychological and emotional demands placed on fire chiefs and command staff — from shifting responsibilities and changing relationships to the isolation that often accompanies the role. We’ll examine how these stressors can quietly impact performance, morale, and identity — and what leaders can do to navigate them. Through culturally attuned insights and practical strategies, this talk offers tools to lead others without losing yourself in the process. Dr. Brooke Bartlett is a highly specialized public safety and military trauma psychologist with extensive clinical, research, and consultation experience working with law enforcement, fire service, EMS, dispatch, corrections, and military/SOF populations. She has over 20 published scientific research papers on trauma among firefirefighters, EMS, and military and has trained thousands of first responders, clinicians, and leadership teams on topics spanning trauma, operational stress, moral injury, leadership, peer support, and mental health. As the
owner of Center for Trauma, Anxiety, and Stress (CTAS), Dr. Bartlett is a
national speaker and currently serves public safety professionals and their agencies nationwide through therapy, consultation, training, and peer support program development. Her
approach blends clinical expertise with practical, real-world applications
tailored specifically for high-stress, mission-driven professions. 10:30 am – 11:00 – Break & Hotel check-out 11:00 am – Closing Roundtable Session |