The National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) has named the recipients of its five national awards. Outstanding individuals and programs from across the country were nominated for the Lifetime Achievement Award, Fire Prevention Award, Junior Firefighter of the Year, and Junior Firefighter Program of the Year Award. The awards will be presented during a special banquet at the NVFC’s Spring Board Meeting on April 30 in Alexandria, Va.

Recipients of this year’s awards will receive a trip to Alexandria to attend the award ceremony, a personalized award and complimentary 1-year membership in the NVFC, among other items. In addition, the recipients of the junior firefighter awards will spend a day on Capitol Hill meeting their Congressional representatives.

Additionally, the Legislative Committee has named Senator Christopher J. Dodd (D-CT) the NVFC Legislator of the Year for 2010, with an award presentation to take place during the Spring Meeting.

The winners of the 2010 NVFC Awards are:

CHIEF JOHN MCAULIFFE
NVFC Lifetime Achievement Award
Sponsored by Scott Health and Safety
The Lifetime Achievement Award honors a firefighter who has provided a lifetime of service to the volunteer fire service. Chief McAuliffe has been active with the Wethersfield (CT) Volunteer Fire Department since 1958. During his tenure, he has held leadership roles in the Connecticut State Firefighters Association, the Connecticut Fire Chiefs Association, the City of Hartford Terrorism Committee, and the National Volunteer Fire Council. He was integral in the passing of state legislation that bans municipalities from restricting career firefighters from volunteering in the communities in which they live.

EARL CUNNINGHAM, JR.
NVFC Fire Prevention Award
Sponsored by First Alert
The Fire Prevention Award recognizes a volunteer firefighter whose accomplishments exemplify the philosophy of fire prevention. Earl Cunningham, Jr. has been a volunteer firefighter for more than three decades, currently serving with the Plymouth (PA) Fire Company. He has provided fire prevention information to day care centers, senior citizen homes, churches, campgrounds, and his own workplace. He has received recognition for his work in fire prevention from the U.S. House of Representatives and his city and county governments.

MICHELLE ALYSSA CARILLI
NVFC Junior Firefighter of the Year Award
Sponsored by Tyco International
The Junior Firefighter of the Year award was created to honor an outstanding junior firefighter. An honor roll student and Varsity volleyball player, Junior Firefighter Captain Michelle Alyssa Carilli has been a junior firefighter with the Coventry (CT) Volunteer Fire Association for almost four years. In that time, she has organized a program for her fellow high school students to become first aid certified, raised almost $2,000 so that the department could sponsor the Coventry Special Olympics, and led a recruitment campaign to get more students involved with the department, which resulted in many of their parents becoming volunteer firefighters and EMTs. She was the first junior firefighter to be named the Coventry Volunteer Fire Association’s Emergency Medial Service Provider of the Year.

WESTHAMPTON BEACH (NY) FIRE DEPARTMENT
NVFC Junior Firefighter Program of the Year Award
Sponsored by Tyco International
The Junior Firefighter Program of the Year Award honors an exemplary junior firefighter program or Explorer Post. The Westhampton Beach Fire Department junior firefighters have organized fundraising events that raised thousands of dollars for the local veterans support group, the Stonybrook Burn Center, and to help pay for medical treatment for a department member battling cancer. They also developed and hosted a fire safety puppet show for local home-schooled students, in addition to public school students. The junior firefighters have completed over a thousand hours of meetings, training, and community service.

SENATOR CHRISTOPHER J. DODD
NVFC Legislator of the Year
The NVFC Legislator of the Year award is given annually to a member of the U.S. House or Senate for their support of the nation’s volunteer fire service. Senator Christopher Dodd is a co-Chair of the Congressional Fire Services Caucus and was one of the authors of the original bills that created the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) and the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant programs. Dodd was the Senate sponsor of the Volunteer Responder Incentive Protection Act (VRIPA), which was enacted in 2007 and exempted certain benefits that volunteer emergency responders receive as recruitment and retention incentives from federal taxation, and he recently introduced legislation to reauthorize VRIPA. Dodd, a Democrat from Connecticut, is retiring at the end of this year after a 30-year career in the Senate.

Stay tuned to the NVFC’s Web sites and newsletters in the coming weeks for more information about each winner as well as for photos from the awards ceremony. Learn more about the NVFC’s annual awards at www.nvfc.org/awards.