In mid-February, the Texas Gulf Coast Chapter hosted our first-ever meeting in the Lone Star State. Based in Houston, the Winter Meet program included tours of the Houston Space Center, the Houston Fire Department Museum and the chapter’s impressive rig restoration shop and storage facility on the fringe of Hobby International Airport. A highlight of the mid-February meet was a massive display of truly exotic industrial firefighting apparatus owned by members of the regional Channel Industries Mutual Aid group.

Once more, the Central New York Chapter welcomed us back to Syracuse (Liverpool) for the 2005 Summer Convention. A highlight of this event was a bus trip to the magnificent American Museum of Firefighting in Hudson, N.Y. – the largest repository of original hand-drawn fire apparatus and memorabilia in the country.

Lynnfield, Massachusetts member Paul Romano succeeded Ray Pitts as SPAAMFAA President. One new chapter – Maine – received its charter this year.