Saturday May 27
7:00am – 7:50am
Golf Registration
Check in enjoy a fun day on the links.
The Ranch Golf Course
8:00am – 2:00pm
Golf Tee Off – Shotgun Start
The Ranch Golf Course
2:30pm – 4:00pm
Golf BBQ
The AFCA has a fun BBQ scheduled following the tournament. Please join your AFCA members, trades and sponsors for a delicious BBQ and a great time to reconnect.
Tournament Prizes to be Awarded
The Ranch Golf Course
Sunday May 28
8:00am – 5:00pm
Registration
Check in at registration and obtain your event badge and be sure to download the conference App.
Foyer – Hall C, Edmonton Expo Centre
9:00am – 9:30am
Opening Keynote
Service Technology ” From Pump Cans to Drones”
The fire service across the globe is seeing a rapid influx of technology integrated with the workforce. Our equipment is operating on microchips our personnel can be tracked and data is overflowing from platforms trying to make sense of it all, we literally went from Pump Cans to Drones in a matter of a few decades.
This presentation will provide attendees a recap of the past and look at the future of technology and how it can benefit fire departments and personnel. The attendees will see new ideas and Concepts to allow them to consider the future.
Ballroom, Edmonton Expo Centre
Brian McAsey, Assistant Deputy Chief, Fire & Rescue Services, City of Calgary
Sponsored By
9:35am – 10:20am
Workshop #1
Innovation to Improve Response
The City of Medicine Hat approached the problem of how to improve response service to residents in a non-traditional way. Instead of going the typical approach of adding more fire stations, more staff, and more equipment, the decision was made to approach response based on hazards and strategically relocating existing fire stations to provide desired response coverage. This presentation will cover the innovation and technology used in that analysis and decision making process.”
Ballroom, Edmonton Expo Centre
Introduction by Deputy Chief Sponsor:
Kevin Burgemeister, Senior Vice President, Operations, ATCO Electric

Brian Stauth
Managing Director, Public Services Division
City of Medicine Hat

Jaci Fox
Acting Strategic Manager and Business Analyst, Medicine Hat Fire and Emergency Services
Sponsored By
Natural Gas & Electricity Utilities
10:20am – 11:05am
Workshop #2
NG911 – What’s All the Hype About?
Next Generation 911 has been hyped as the digital transformation of 911 services that will allow 911 to adopt the emerging capabilities of modern communications systems. This session will cut through the hype and cover what NG911 is and what it isn’t. Will explore some of the benefits of the new National Emergency Services IP network {ESInet}, as well as the risks that come with it. Some regulatory timelines are imminent and PSAPs who fail to meet them will be non-compliant with Alberta 911 standards, and soon be unable to receive 911 calls. Are you ready?
Ballroom, Edmonton Expo Centre

Andrew Renfree
9-1-1 Manager, Alberta Emergency Management Agency
Sponsored By
11:30Am – 1:30pm
Rural Membership Round Table

Hosted by: Chief, Drayton Bussiere
Alberta Fire Chiefs Association, Director at Large, Rural Membership

Sponsored By
Seeking Sponsorship
11:00AM – 2:00pm
Urban Membership Round Table
An open discussion forum covering topics and challenges facing urban fire services.
Room 101, Edmonton Expo Centre

Hosted by: Chief Trevor Brice
Alberta Fire Chiefs Association, Director at Large, Urban Membership

Sponsored By
Seeking Sponsorship
4:30pm – 6:00pm
Opening Ceremonies & Memorial Service
Join the AFCA along with Government representatives for the Opening Ceremonies and Memorial Service.
Ballroom, Edmonton Expo Centre
6:00pm – 9:00pm
Trade Show & Welcome Reception
Hall C, Edmonton Expo Centre
Sponsored By
Monday May 29
7:30am – 12:00pm
Registration
Check in at registration and obtain your event badge and download the conference app.
Foyer – Hall C, Edmonton Expo Centre
7:30am – 8:30am
Breakfast & Keynote
Bold Ones: How to Innovate and Disrupt Ourselves
The world is getting weirder, wackier and wilder by the minute. It has never been more crucial to adapt and evolve with the times. Yet, when faced with radical change, we tend to double down on what made us successful in the past.
Bold Ones is an awe-inspiring and provocative keynote on how individuals can apply the innovations and disruptions occurring around them to become more dynamic and valuable. Specific, actionable techniques—from uncovering ‘secrets’ within your field, to designing experiments, to creating an unstoppable personal flywheel—that will help one evolve and excel will be shared.
Ballroom, Edmonton Expo Centre

Shawn Kanungo
Partner, Queen & Rook
Sponsored By
8:00am – 9:00am
Trade Members Breakfast Meeting
Join your trade members for breakfast and provide feedback on the AFCA Trade Show.
Hall C, Edmonton Expo Centre

Sponsored By
Seeking Sponsorship
9:00am – 4:30pm
AFCA Trade Show
Trade demos will occur on two alternating stages through out the day.
Hall C, Edmonton Expo Centre
10:15am – 10:45am
Coffee Break
Hall C, Edmonton Expo Centre
Sponsored By
12:00pm – 1:00pm
Lunch in the Trade Show
Join your fellow members and trades for lunch in the trade show. Schedule your in person demos and earn points on the Leaderboard.
Hall C, Edmonton Expo Centre
Sponsored By
1:00pm – 4:30pm
Trade Show Draws
AFCA Trades will announce the prize winners through the conference app.
Hall C, Edmonton Expo Centre
2:00pm – 2:30pm
Coffee Break
Join us in Hall C for a coffee and a treat!
Schedule your in person meetings with Trades before the show closes.
Hall C, Edmonton Expo Centre
Sponsored By
WFR Wholesale
4:00pm – 4:30pm
TRADE SHOW CLOSES
Hall C, Edmonton Expo Centre
6:00pm – 9:00pm
Monday Trade Show Wrap Up Dinner
Join AFCA for a fun BBQ and social as we wrap up the 2023 trade show.
Ballroom, Edmonton Expo Centre

Sponsored By
Seeking Sponsorship
Tuesday May 30
7:30am – 11:00am
Registration
Check in and download the conference app to earn points on the Leaderboard.
Foyer – Ballroom, Edmonton Expo Centre
7:30am – 9:30am
Breakfast and AGM CALL TO ORDER
Ballroom, Edmonton Expo Centre
8:30AM
AGM CALL TO ORDER – AFCA Director and Committee Chair Updates
Ballroom, Edmonton Expo Centre
8:30am – 11:00am
AFCA Business Session
Ballroom, Edmonton Expo Centre
10:30am – 10:45am
Coffee Break
Foyer, Edmonton Expo Centre
Sponsored By
11:00am – 12:00pm
Concurrent Conference Stream # 1
Compensation and Loss Time Accident Claims for Volunteer and Paid on Call Firefighters
- Discuss the differences between full time employment claims vs. volunteer claims
- What can a department/member expect for coverage?
- WCB rebate incentives for organizations that employ volunteers
- Benefits for Volunteers
Room 107, Edmonton Expo Centre
Michelle Whyte
City of St. Albert

Sponsored By
Seeking Sponsorship
11:00am – 12:00pm
Concurrent Conference Stream #2
Radio Communication – New in the Fire Service (AFRRCS)
For over 6 years, AFRRCS continues to provide best-in-class voice service for Alberta’s first responders. The constantly evolving system introduces new features that supplement the P25 radio experience. The Virtual User feature which aims to enhance consistency of transmissions to pagers, and the BeOn PTT over LTE feature are two upcoming offerings to AFRRCS, and we are excited to share more details at this year’s AFCA conference.
Ballroom Edmonton Expo Centre

AFRRCS Panel Members:
Whitney Benoit, Business Relationship Coordinator, AFRRCS Operations, Public Safety and Emergency Services
Brian Saunders, Business Relationship Coordinator AFRRCS Operations, Public Safety and Emergency Services
Ali Rakie, AFRRCS Migration Technician, AFRRCS Operations, Public Safety and Emergency Services
Marcel Maure, Regional Fire Chief, Director of Emergency Management, Director of Protective Services, MD Smoky River No. 130
Mark VanWerkhoven, Deputy Chief, Communications, Grande Prairie Fire Department
Sponsored By
11:00am – 12:00pm
Concurrent Conference Stream#3
The 21st Century Fire Service
How are we currently using data and what are the possibilities of moving forward with information? Dan Haight will being his experiences in helping organizations build robust and resilient organizations into new realms with a different understanding of data.
Room 107A, Edmonton Expo Centre

Dan Haight

Sponsored By
Seeking Sponsorship
12:00PM – 1:00PM
Lunch and Keynote Presentation
Join the AFCA in the Ballroom for lunch and the Keynote with Alex Benay.
The Future is Here
Look back at the last 50 years of technological innovation, and what the next 50 years look like as well as how this will impact the fire service for years to come. From robots, , to Ai and even human cyborgs, the future will be a very different place.
Ballroom, Edmonton Expo Centre
Alex Benay
Project Manager, Microsoft

Sponsored By
Seeking Sponsorship
1:15pm – 2:30pm
Concurrent Conference Stream #1
Drone Technology
Many still feel that drone technology and the use of drones in emergency response is ‘just around the corner’, but we have turned that corner! The two themes of this workshop include (1) examples and tips for integrating drones into emergency response and (2) using data collected from drones in modeling and mapping.
The first half of the workshop focuses on discussing drone technology improvements, examples of how drones can improve operations, drone selection, and available tools. We will explore urban and rural uses including search and rescue, wildland fire perimeter/hotspot mapping, preplanning, roof reports, and situational awareness.
The second half of the workshop focuses on the use of the data collected from drones; we discuss fuel mapping, current research, automated structural triage, hazard assessment, and real time mapping.
Room 107 Edmonton Expo Centre
Jeff Boisvert
Associate Professor, University of Alberta
Liam Bennett
Masters Student, University of Alberta
Sponsored By
1:15pm – 2:30pm
Concurrent Conference Stream #2
NG911 – Is Your PSAP Ready?
Join for an interactive workshop on NG911 readiness. We will discuss tactical considerations including operational impacts, cybersecurity, business continuity & disaster recovery, and Technical considerations including the Readiness of your CAD and logging systems to accommodate real-time text (RRT) and new file types. The scope of NG911 transitions are likely much bigger than you think. Participants will be provided with a high-level checklist to assess the readiness of their PASPs.
Room 107A, Edmonton Expo Centre

Andrew Renfree
9-1-1 Manager, Alberta Emergency Management Agency

Sponsored By
Seeking Sponsorship
1:15pm – 2:30pm
Concurrent Conference Stream#3
Operational Innovation – Where are we headed?
In today’s world of limited budgets and scrutiny of business operations, fire departments are increasingly being asked to produce data and analytics to answer questions, justify purchases, and build business cases. There are expensive business intelligence tools on the market that are financially out of reach for many departments. Many leaders are faced with limited time to compile statistics and reports in order to demonstrate performance.
This Workshop is intended to provide attendees with an introduction into how Parkland County has used Microsoft Office 365 tools such as Excel and PowerBI to quickly develop interactive dashboards and reports to better understand their operations. Attendees will walk through the steps and creating a basic dashboard showing activity, Heat Maps, and interact with data in real time in order to answer questions that might normally take hours to complete.
Ballroom, Edmonton Expo Centre

Chad Moore
Parkland County Fire Service
Sponsored By
2:30pm – 2:45pm
Coffee Break
Ballroom Foyer, Edmonton Expo Centre
Sponsored By
2:45pm – 4:00pm
Concurrent Stream #1
NFPA 1010 Update
Presentation on the NFPA Standards Consolidation Project and specifically changes to NFPA 1010 Firefighter Personnel Qualifications; which includes firefighter, driver operator, airport firefighter and marine firefighting for land-based firefighters. The presentation will cover the changes to the upcoming Edition as well as the standards development process and how to get involved with it
Ballroom, Edmonton Expo Centre

John Cunningham
Nova Scotia Firefighters School
Sponsored By
2:45pm – 4:00pm
Concurrent Stream #2
Workers Compensation Urban Focus
“WCB-AB trends from a Disability Management perspective in an integrated fire-EMS Service”
Session summary:
- Overview of relevant current trends and areas of focus with respect to WCB claims in an integrated service
- Overview of structure and scope of Disability Management team in Strathcona County; focus on collaborative relationship between Disability Management (a group within Human Resources), SCES Management, SCES union members and relevant third parties (e.g., WCB-AB, LTD insurance carrier, external subject matter experts, etc).
Room 107, Edmonton Expo Centre
Denise Annicchhiarico
Strathcona County

Sponsored By
Seeking Sponsorship
2:45pm – 4:00pm
Concurrent Stream #3
Introduction to the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs (CAFC) Executive Chief Officer program (ECFO) and Aspire program
Session summary:
-
Representing the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs to inform Chief Officers about the Executive Chief Fire Officers (ECFO) designation and the Aspire (Company Officers) designation.
Explanation of the designations and the process for obtaining this Competency based awared.
Room 107A, Edmonton Expo Centre

Trevor Brice
Fire Chief / DEM
Okotoks Fire & Rescue

Sponsored By
Seeking Sponsorship
6:00pm – 6:30pm
AFCA Annual Banquet Reception
Join your AFCA members for refreshments and networking before the annual banquet.
Ballroom Foyer and Ballroom, Sandman Hotel
6:30pm – 10:00pm
AFCA Annual Banquet & Entertainment with the Dueling Pianos
The Grand Dueling Piano Show presents you with a world-class performance you won’t forget. It’s all about fun when they hit the stage
Ballroom, Sandman Hotel
Sponsored By
Wednesday May 31
7:30am – 9:00am
Breakfast & Keynote
Join us in the Ballroom for breakfast and Keynote Speaker Carlos Tobar.
Future of Public Safety Technologies
Fire services and public safety in general is currently going through major technological transformation. With the evolution to NG911, 5G, and other enabling technologies, this trend continues into 2023 and beyond. In this session, Carlos will walk through the current state of technologies and innovations as well as how future technologies are driving change. We’ll walk through guidelines and tips in order to be successful in adopting and influencing evolving technologies and innovations.
In this session, will explore technologies to a systems thinking approach, and rethink our approach to innovation.
Ballroom, Sandman Hotel

Carlos Tobar
Telus

Sponsored By
Seeking Sponsorship
9:15am – 10:30am
Concurrent Conference Stream #1
Technology – Yes Go Forward
The two concurrent sessions of “Yes, Go Forward!” and “No, Hold On a Second” will be facilitated conversations where attendees will be assigned to a room and discuss the concepts of innovation and technology to build an argument for the final bear pit session where a “debate” of what critical thinking tools do decision makers need as they are faced with new technologies and innovations.
Ballroom, Sandman Hotel

Carlos Tobar
Telus

Sponsored By
Seeking Sponsorship
9:15am – 10:30am
Concurrent Conference Stream#2
Technology – No, Hold On a Second
Rutherford Room, Sandman Hotel

Laura King
NFPA’s Regional Director of Canada

Sponsored by
Seeking Sponsorship
10:30am – 10:45am
Coffee Break
Meet your AFCA members for a coffee before we close the day with the Bear Pit Session.
Ballroom Foyer, Sandman Hotel
Sponsored By
10:45am – 12:00pm
Closing Bear Bit Session
Yes Go Forward vs. Hold On!
Panel members Carlos Tobar and Laura King share view points from previous concurrent sessions “Yes Go Forward” and “No Hold On” to discuss and debate Technology in the Fire Service.
Ballroom, Sandman Hotel

Vern Elliott
Facilitator
Sponsored By
Seeking Sponsorship
Printable PDF – AFCA 2023 Conference Schedule
2023 AFCA Conference Schedule
Sponsors
Thank you to our Fire Chief Sponsors


Thank you to our Deputy Fire Chief Sponsors
Thank you to our Captain Sponsors
Thank you to our Lanyard Sponsor
Thank you to our Badge Sponsor
Thank you to our Lieutenant Sponsors








Thank you to our Leaderboard Gamification Sponsor
Thank you to our Fire Fighter Sponsors




