FDIC Wrap-Up IV – The 2014 Firefighter Turnout

Yes, I am finally sitting down to polish off the final wrap-up for FDIC. It is hectic getting back to normal life after FDIC, but particularly harder this year because Captain Wines and I were in South Dakota the weekend before FDIC this year. Read part 1, part 2, and part 3. In the end, my only regret was not catching up with the crew of Glove Crafters while at FDIC. I am sure there are plenty of other people I didn’t get to bump into, but we made the most of it!

Scroll down for video and photos.

On Friday night at FDIC, we threw a party. Last year, Captain Wines and I threw a small party and we had about 150 people in attendance. This year, there were 850 people there. However, it wasn’t only our party. We teamed up with the crew from Firefighters Worldwide, FirefighterWife.com, and all of the other bloggers on the 1st Arriving Network. Everything was a lot bigger and better this year.

We also teamed up with sponsors who made it a great event. The event was sponsored by Paratech Fire & Rescue Equipment, Amkus, TECGEN XTREME, Black Diamond Fire, FireRescue1.com, and Fire Cam Police and Fire Cameras.

We had high hopes for the event…and let me tell you that we were pleasantly surprised by the turnout. As a matter of fact, I heard very few negative comments about the event (none come to mind), yet I heard a lot of great comments about it and the fact that many cannot wait until next year!

And yes, it will be bigger and better for next year!

As Willie and I would say…We don’t know where we are going, but we are making good time! It doesn’t matter to us where we go or when we get there, when we are a part of events like this we know we are having a blast!

The event was free to all who attended, we had food, drink tickets given away to the first 500 people through the door, and so many great prizes given away.

While there were so many highlights of the night, the Renegade Pipes and Drums playing was one of the best.

Thank you to all who came to the event. We hope you had a great time and look forward to seeing you next year!

View all of M. Schimmel’s photos from the 2014 Firefighter Turnout here

Here are some other posts to read about FDIC and this event:

• FDIC Wrap-Up Part I – Making a Splash with Demers (from The Fire Critic)
• FDIC Wrap-Up Part II – The Indy Metro FOOLS Brotherhood Bash (From The Fire Critic)
• FDIC Wrap-Up III – Friday With Black Diamond Boots (from The Fire Critic)
•  The Youth of FDIC (IronFiremen.com)
• Amazing Grace… FDIC 2014 was a HUGE success! (IronFiremen.com)
• ModelCityFirefighter.com: FDIC 2014: Brotherhood Bash and The Booths (Part I)
• ModelCityFirefighter.com: FDIC 2014: Event Wrap-Up (Part II)
• The Firefighter Wife View on FDIC 2014 (FirefighterWife.com)
• FDIC 2014 Re-cap (FirstDueTackle.com)

 All photos below by Matt Schimmel