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Fire Chief Magazine Honors 2009 Career and Volunteer Fire Chiefs of the Year
CHICAGO, IL (September 03, 2009) – Penton Media's Fire Chief Magazine today announced the 2009 winners of the 14th Annual “Fire Chief of the Year” awards. Career Fire Chief Randy R. Bruegman of Fresno, California and Volunteer Fire Chief James P. Seavey, Sr. of Cabin John Park Fire Department, Bethesda, Maryland, received the awards at opening session of the 2009 International Association of Fire Chiefs Fire-Rescue International Exhibits and Conference in Dallas, Texas.
Winners are honored for their dedication and leadership in the fire and emergency services. The annual awards were co-presented by Fire Chief Editorial Director Janet Wilmoth and the sponsor, Wilson Jones, president, Pierce Manufacturing, Inc., an Oshkosh Corporation Company.
Career Fire Chief Honoree – Chief Randy R. Bruegman, Fresno Fire Department, Calif. Chief Bruegman has, for thirty years, served as a professional firefighter in a variety of roles including training officer and has, since 1991, served as chief in increasingly complex organizations in California, Illinois, and Oregon. Fellow Fire Chief, Cliff Jones, of the Tempe, Arizona Fire Department nominated him for this award.
Bruegman began firefighting as a volunteer in Nebraska. Since then, he has served in a variety of key leadership positions where he has implemented service and efficiency initiatives. He is an author of primarily administrative textbooks including “Advanced Fire Administration” slated for publication later this fall. He has also lectured extensively at national, state, and local levels.
Chief Bruegman has served as chair of the Commission of Fire Accreditation International and has led the effort in two of his departments to attain accreditation. For the past 18 years, Bruegman has served in a variety of national leadership roles – currently, since 2004 as President of the Board of Directors of the Center for Public Safety Excellence. As Chief of the Fresno Fire Department, he led the formation of Fresno Fire Chief’s Foundation, a non-profit established to provide for enhanced life-safety education and community outreach and created the “4 Minutes to Excellence” theme to focus community and political efforts toward reducing response time.
Volunteer Fire Chief Honoree – Chief James P. Seavey, Sr., Cabin John Park Fire Department, Md. Two members of the National Volunteer Fire Council (and previous recipients of this award) nominated Chief Seavey, with endorsements from the Board of Directors of the Eastern Division of the International Association of Fire Chiefs and the Montgomery County Fire Rescue Association. Although Seavey had made firefighting his career and currently serves on a large urban fire department, he began his dedication to the fire service when he joined his local fire department as a junior member at the requisite age of 16 and has served as a volunteer since 1976. He has held, by election, position as Chief of Cabin John Park Fire Department since 1992 and is the longest serving chief in its history. Chief Seavey has led his department heroically in times of crisis, including administering the department’s staff and operations while his apparatus responded to the Pentagon following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Chief Seavey has served as Director and Alternate Director for Maryland on the National Volunteer Fire Council Board of Directors, President and Board Member of the Eastern Division of the International Association of Fire Chiefs, Chairman and Executive Committee Member of the Maryland State Fireman’s Association, and member of many taskforces and work groups that support and further the fire and emergency services.
Fire Chief Editorial Director Janet Wilmoth said, "This year we received a number of excellent nominations for the 2009 Chief of the Year Awards, and I think our Editorial Advisory Board had a tough time selecting just two chiefs from the nominees submitted."
“The top fire chiefs in the United States possess a vast array of experience and know-how as well as extraordinary dedication and, with the much anticipated fourteen annual Fire Chief of the Year awards, we seek to honor that, “ said Wilson Jones, Oshkosh Corporation executive vice president and president, Fire & Emergency. “
About Fire Chief Magazine
Established in 1956, Fire Chief is the magazine for progressive fire service leaders. Articles by fire officers from across the country and worldwide cover a wide variety of important areas to today's fire service leaders. In addition, a monthly lineup of departments provides even more information in a quick, accessible format. Fire Chief’s monthly readers include chief officers, with a sizable contingent of incident commanders, training officers, safety officers, and other titles and ranks. Issue content and more information on the publication can be found at http://www.firechief.com.
About Penton Media, Inc.
As a leading, independent, business-to-business media company, Penton knows business and how to create and disseminate the vital content that moves markets. With market-leading media products and services, Penton serves the information needs of more than six million business professionals every month in industries ranging from Agriculture and Aviation to Electronics, Natural Products, and Information Technology. Headquartered in New York City, the privately held company is owned by MidOcean Partners and U.S. Equity Partners II, an investment fund sponsored by Wasserstein & Co., LP, and its co-investors. For more information on Penton, visit www.penton.com
About Pierce Manufacturing
Pierce Manufacturing Inc., an Oshkosh Corporation [NYSE: OSK] company, is the leading North American manufacturer of custom fire apparatus. Products include custom and commercial pumpers, aerials, rescue trucks, wildland trucks, mini-pumpers, elliptical tankers, and homeland security apparatus. In addition, Pierce designs its own foam systems and was the first company to introduce frontal airbags and the Side Roll Protection system to fire apparatus. To learn more about Pierce visit www.piercemfg.com
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