Professional Development

PIO Training for Fire, Rescue & EMS

SMIFR is a dedicated PIO training conference for fire, rescue, EMS, and other emergency services professionals. EMTs, paramedics, emergency management teams, and communications staff are welcome. Build the skills to share incident updates, protect patient privacy, answer reporters, and strengthen trust in the agencies your community relies on.

September 22–23, 2027 · Embassy Suites by Hilton Orlando Downtown, Orlando, FL. Attend in person or join the live virtual stream.

What you'll be able to do

Every session is built around a skill you take back to your agency on Monday morning. After two days you'll walk away able to:

Run a posting cadence for working incidents — what goes out at 10 minutes, 1 hour, and 24 hours
Handle line-of-duty death and serious injury notifications with dignity and family-first sequencing
Shoot emergency-scene video that is scene-safe, policy-compliant, and HIPAA-aware
Correct false fire cause, casualty, and evacuation claims before misinformation spreads
Run on-camera media interviews at emergency scenes and build lasting reporter trust
Report analytics your agency leadership and city manager actually act on
Archive agency accounts and manage public records requests legally
Turn your department's feed into a hiring pipeline that fills academies

Training tracks

The program runs six tracks across two days, from the opening keynote on the fire service voice online, with lessons for EMS and other emergency services, to the closing awards. Mix and match — most attendees build a custom path across tracks.

Crisis Communications

Working incidents, wildland and long-duration events, evacuations, joint information centers, LODD messaging, and rumor control.

Content & Emergency-Scene Video

Helmet cam policy, scene-safe capture, privacy on medical calls, and turning everyday runs into stories your community follows.

Prevention & Recruitment

Safety campaigns that change behavior — smoke alarms, lithium-ion batteries, seasonal hazards — plus recruitment content that fills academies.

Media Relations

Media staging at emergency scenes, staging-area rules, on-camera interview practice, and building reporter trust.

Policy, Records & Retention

Comment moderation, public records requests, legal archiving of agency accounts, and the policies that protect you and your agency.

Hands-On Bootcamps

Ninety-minute working sessions: running a one-person PIO shop with templates and approval workflows, and reporting to agency leadership.

See the session-by-session schedule on the full agenda.

Who this training is for

Fire department and fire district PIOs

EMS and ambulance service PIOs

EMTs and paramedics sharing their agency’s story

Emergency management and other emergency services staff

Social media specialists across emergency services

Communications and PR staff supporting a chief or board

Fire prevention and public education officers

Recruitment officers building a hiring pipeline

Chiefs and command staff who speak for their department

Whether you're an EMT managing an ambulance service's social media, the sole PIO at a volunteer department, or part of a regional emergency services communications team, the bootcamp track has a dedicated session for running a one-person shop — and the roundtables seat you with agencies your size.

Details & registration

Dates: September 22–23, 2027, with a welcome reception the evening of September 22.

Location: Embassy Suites by Hilton Orlando Downtown, 191 E. Pine Street, Orlando, FL 32801. Hotel rate $179/night — breakfast & lunch included.

Format: In-person or virtual. Super early bird in-person is $499 (a $300 savings off the final $799 price) and virtual is $249, both through January 1, 2027; agencies sending four or more pay $475 per person. Optional hands-on bootcamps are a $149 add-on.