2025 Registered Attendees, Vendors and Sponsors
Before we get into the update the VFCA would like to extend our appreciation and thanks to each Vendor, Sponsor and attendee that had registered to attend, support and/or participate in this event. There were 1034 registered attendees pre-registered and we expected some additional onsite registrations based upon our past experience. We also had a record number of vendors and sponsors for this year’s event at 163. The 2025 VFRC would have been a great conference for all in attendance if we had been able continue. Again, on behalf of the VFCA we offer our sincere THANKS and appreciation to each of you for your support of this event and the VFCA!
On behalf of the Virginia Fire Chiefs Association, we wanted to provide a quick update on the 2025 Virginia Fire Rescue Conference (VFRC) cancellation and associated impacts. Key members of the VFRC were optimistic when we arrived in Virginia Beach on February 16th that the projected snow storm would move from its anticipated course and potentially move further south or that the accumulation forecast would not be correct. As we followed the weather forecasts on Monday and into Tuesday morning that optimism quickly diminished and on Tuesday afternoon the wind was taken from our sails as the decision was made to cancel the 2025 VFRC. Many VFRC participants left Virginia Beach that Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning to head home prior to the winter weather. The storm brought 12” or more snow in most parts of the city and a local emergency was declared as snowfall amounts exceed Virginia Beach’s snow clearing capabilities.
The Virginia Fire Chiefs Association has event cancellation insurance on the VFRC. We have been actively compiling all the related paperwork for claim submission to our carrier. This part of the process is first step toward closing out the event and finalizing the details on refunds. We have been in frequent communication with the insurance company and it is our hope that they will give this claim its immediate attention. Fortunately, in 50 years of the VFRC, we have not experienced a total cancellation; this process is extensive and we want you to know that our goal is to close out the claim as quickly as possible.
We would like to ask for your continued patience as we navigate this path forward for the attendees, vendors and sponsors. We are actively collecting electronic payment information needed to refund payments and for those that sent checks we are assembling a manual payment list too. With over 800 refunds to process once we get approval from the insurance carrier, it is expected to take the VFCA staff a bit of time to complete. We will verify every credit card used and every recipient’s name and address for manual payment processing. Once we start the refund process the VFCA will share that information with you to ensure you are updated on the next steps.
It is our hope to start the refund process within2-3 weeks (if not sooner) and once we start it is our hope to get these completed within 1-2 weeks. Again, we are navigating a path we have never traveled and we are grateful for your patience during this period.
If any of you have any questions or need anything additional from the VFCA please feel free to reach out to Chris Eudailey at ceudailey@vfca.us or by phone 540-809-9397.
