The National Wildfire Coordinating Group’s Incident Emergency Medical Subcommittee (IEMS) has announced they are accepting nominations for the 2014 Annual Wildfire Emergency Medical Service (EMS) Awards Program.

The NWCG Wildfire EMS Awards Program recognizes and honors individuals and agencies from a broad spectrum who have demonstrated outstanding work, actions, or programs in emergency medical service for wildland firefighters.

“There were many fine examples that were submitted during last year’s nominations that illustrated the extraordinary actions and initiatives taken to provide and assure the health and safety of responders on wildland fire incidents,” said Jan Peterson, Chair of the Incident Emergency Medical Subcommittee.

"We hear of many responders during the year who go above and beyond the ordinary call of duty and we seek their nomination for recognition this year,” Peterson said.

The five incident emergency medical service award categories are:

1. Outstanding Wildfire EMS Individual;
2. Outstanding Wildfire Squad/Crew/Team;
3. Outstanding Wildfire EMS Distinguished Service;
4. Excellence in Wildfire EMS and/or Rescue, and;
5. Lifetime Achievement in Wildfire EMS Award.

The IEMS Awards Committee will review nominations and select the award recipients. Deadline for nominations is November 1, 2014 and the selected nominations for each category will be announced in early 2015.

Each of the awardees will be recognized by the National Wildfire Coordinating Group and IEM Subcommittee with a plaque and an award certificate.

The 2013 Emergency Medical Service recipients were:

• Ms. Dia Gainer, Executive Director with the National Association of State EMS Officials in Falls Church, Virginia awarded the “Outstanding Wildfire Emergency Medical Service Distinguished Service Award.”
• Mr. Alex Abols, Boise Smokejumper with the Bureau of Land Management awarded the “Outstanding Wildfire EMS Individual of the Year Award.” 
• The Florida Forest Service EMS Cadre awarded the “Outstanding Wildfire EMS Squad/Crew/Team of the Year Award.”
• Horseshoe Meadows Interagency Hotshot Crew, Arrowhead Interagency Hotshot Crew, and Nick Wydra and Jace Lundquist with the Lewis and Clark Interagency Hotshot Crew all awarded the “Award of Excellence in Wildfire EMS and/or Rescue.”

The NWCG Incident Emergency Medical Subcommittee’s mission is to establish a methodology that meets the emergency medical and occupational health care needs of managed incidents, providing information, updates, and guidance to enhance the health and safety of firefighters and other personnel during wildland fire incidents.

The 2014 EMS award criteria, nomination form and additional information can be found at: www.nwcg.gov/branches/pre/rmc/iems/index.html.