2026 Seminar Series Announced

• By: Staff
• On: 02/03/2026 16:28:56
• In: NYSAFC News

NYSAFC is pleased to announce that Chief/Commissioner Michael Lombardo (Buffalo Fire Department) will present the 2026 Seminar Series “Dangerous Spaces: Challenges and Tactics When Dealing with Garage and Basement Fires” at 27 sites across New York state from February through November!

Pre-registration and on-site registration are available for the three-hour program. Registration is $35 per person (NYSAFC Individual and Department Members) and $50 per person (non-members). The seminar begins at 7:00 p.m. at all locations. The registration area opens at 6:30 p.m.

Some of the most dangerous fires we deal with are often looked at as routine: the basement fire and the garage fire. Basement fires are probably the most overlooked killer of firefighters engaged in combat firefighting in much of the U.S. The construction, layout, fire load, and access present difficult and dangerous challenges at below grade fires. From the incident commander to the firefighter on the nozzle, we must all recognize and be able to deal with these challenges. Huge migration to the suburbs starting with the arrival of the Baby Boomer generation saw the explosion of the attached garage. Many older cities never had the available space for homes to feature an attached garage or have any garage at all. The tremendous fuel load that is constantly evolving presents danger for occupants and firefighters alike. This class will address these challenges and alternative strategies and tactics that can be deployed to deal with these dangerous spaces.

Seminars will be presented in the following counties:

• Broome – February 23
• Chautauqua – October 28
• Chemung – September 3
• Clinton – March 31
• Cortland – October 15
• Dutchess – September 22
• Erie – October 6
• Fulton – September 10
• Greene – October 26
• Herkimer – February 18
• Monroe – October 21
• Nassau – November 4
• Niagara – April 16
• Oneida – November 12
• Onondaga – September 29
• Orleans – March 23
• Oswego – September 15
• Otsego – September 30
• Rensselaer – November 3
• Rockland – October 19
• St. Lawrence – April 1 NEW DATE
• Saratoga – September 16
• Schenectady – March 3
• Steuben – May 4
• Suffolk – March 4
• Westchester – February 12
• Wyoming – April 29

Mike Lombardo is a 47-year veteran of the fire service and was the commissioner/chief of department of the Buffalo Fire Department from 2006-2010. He currently operates with the Christiana (DE) and East Amherst (NY) Fire Departments. Lombardo was a member of the development team for the New York State Firefighter Survival and Rapid Intervention programs. He serves on the board of directors of the Fire Department Training Network, where he developed and presents the Fire Command program. Lombardo spent two years as the North America emergency response coordinator for the DuPont Corp. Recently, he completed near-miss investigations in Scranton, PA and Claymont DE, and also completed a review of the San Francisco (CA) Fire Department leadership and a safety audit of the Boston (MA) Fire Department. Lombardo is a two-time Firehouse Magazine Heroism Award recipient (1988 and 1994) and the 1999 recipient of the FDIC Tom Brennan Training Achievement Award. In 2024, he was a contributor to two book projects, 30 Fires You Must Know and The Book of Search. In 2015, Lombardo participated in the NFFF documentary “Giving Courage: LODD Chiefs Speak.”

Learn more about the program here. Read Chief Lombardo's article "Dangerous Spaces – Challenges and Tactics When Dealing with Garage and Basement Fires" from the Winter 2025 issue of NYSAFC's Size Up magazine here.