CFSI Press Release (Feb. 20)--The Congressional Fire Services Institute and the NFFF just announced their choices for the Senator Paul S. Sarbanes Fire Service Safety Leadership Award: the International Association of Fire Chiefs for its Fire Fighter Near-Miss Reporting System and Common Voices for its advocacy efforts around fire sprinklers.

The awards will be presented at the 21st Annual National Fire and Emergency Services Dinner on April 2, 2009 in Washington, D.C. Named after retired-Senator Paul S. Sarbanes of Maryland, a strong advocate of our nation's firefighters and rescue personnel during his 36-year career in Congress, the award recognizes organizations for their outstanding contributions to firefighter health and safety. Both State Farm Insurance and VFIS serve as the corporate supporters of the award program.

The International Association of Fire Chiefs is being honored for its development and administration of the National Fire Fighter Near-Miss Reporting System. The goal of the program is to prevent and reduce injuries and deaths in the fire and emergency services by sharing data and case studies of near-miss incidents submitted by firefighters. Since the program was established in 2005, more than 2,500 reports have been submitted from firefighters - from the largest metropolitan departments to one-station rural departments. Because of the value of the information, departments across the country are now incorporating near-miss data into their training programs and education materials.

A survivor advocacy group founded by the National Fire Sprinkler Association, Common Voices consists of six women who have been sharing their stories of personal loss to advocate for fire sprinklers. Since the group was formed in 2007, they have visited Capitol Hill on many occasions to meet with members of Congress to advocate for the Fire Sprinkler Incentive Act. They were also actively involved in the adoption of the ICC's Residential Code in 2008, providing compelling testimony at the ICC hearings. In addition, they continue to travel across the country speaking to the fire service and local decision makers and testifying at code hearings to move forward fire sprinkler initiatives.