Fire symposium set Sunday in Boardman

BOARDMAN — The Mahoning County Fire Chiefs Association will conduct its 11th fire symposium Sunday at Southwoods Executive Center Auditorium, DeBartolo Place.

Fire departments, paid and volunteer, from as far as 100 miles away will be sending personnel from Ohio and Pennsylvania.

The symposium’s topics are “Building Construction of Fire Officers” and “Trusses — How Much Time Do We Really Have?” This year’s speaker is Michael L. Smith, retired deputy fire chief of the District of Columbia Fire Department.

Since retiring in 2004, Smith has provided consultation to various commands within the U.S. military community training and exercise development to its first responders and to a wide array of emergency management entities.

Smith also has degrees in fire science, construction management and fire and public administration. He is a graduate of the executive fire officer program at the National Fire Academy and is a certified public manager from George Washington University.