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AWARDS.
HALL OF LEGENDS, LEGACIES AND LEADERS
The mission of the National Fire Heritage Center (NFHC) is to preserve the perishable history of the fire services and fire protection disciplines. The Hall of Legends, Legacies, and Leaders (HLLL), founded in 2010, helps fulfill that mission by providing recognition to the individuals who have made significant contributions and have distinguished themselves in the service of Fire and Emergency Services and Fire Protection disciplines and who have become known/recognized in the national and or international fire service arena.
HALL OF LEGENDS, LEGACIES, AND LEADERS INDUCTEES
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN WRITERS AWARD
Ben Franklin Writers Award
Established to preserve the history of America's fire services and fire protection disciplines, the National Fire Heritage Center recognizes that authors of books, magazines, newsletters, and a variety of media are key preservers of America's fire services and fire protection disciplines history. Their stories keep alive the events and people who might otherwise have been lost through generations of change. To thank and recognize the contributions authors make in preserving America's Fire Heritage, each year, the National Fire Heritage Center presents the Benjamin Franklin Fire Writer's Award.
In honor of Benjamin Franklin's unique combination of being a writer and publisher and simultaneously an advocate for fire protection in the community, NFHC created the Benjamin Franklin Fire Writer's Award to honor authors also dedicated to these missions.
Benjamin Franklin is recognized as the "Father of the American Fire Service." He is credited with the creation in 1736 of one of the first fire companies in the country. In almost any reference, whether it is fire prevention, fire suppression, fire engineering, or even fire education, his name is invoked as being among the first in this nation to be an advocate of fire and life safety. However, Franklin was most proud of his chosen trade: a printer. He made his fortune as a writer. Poor Richard's Almanac was only one of his efforts to convert ideas into words and act upon them in a meaningful manner. He had a profound impact not only on the fire service but upon our government, the insurance industry, our lifestyles, and the sense of self-assessment that still rings clear in contemporary society.
One of his efforts was to create the JUNTO — a club for mutual improvement — in 1736, which resulted in creating the first lending library, the creation of a volunteer fire company, the national postal system, and the insurance industry. All these institutions exist in contemporary society today. Franklin left a vast legacy of written products. He encouraged writers to "go on record" as to their beliefs, observations, and support of public and private initiatives. Through the Benjamin Franklin Fire Writer's Award, the National Fire Heritage Center encourages today's fire writers to do the same.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN WRITERS AWARD WINNERS
2016
Title: Juvenile Firesetting: A Community Guide to Prevention and Intervention
Authors: Robert Cole, Robert Crandall, Carolyn E. Kourofsky, Daryl Sharp, Susan Blaakman, Elizabeth Cole.
2021
Gold Awards
Title: The History of the Apollo and Skylab Astronaut Rescue Team.
Author: Bill Killen
Video Interview with the author
Title: Hazardous Materials: Managing the Incident.
Authors: Gregory Noll and Michael Hildebrand.
Silver Awards
Title: Faith by Fire
Author: Sherrie Wilson
Video interview with the Author
Title: Disasters Man-Made
Author: Anton Riecher and David White.
Video Interview with the authors
Title: University of Missouri FRTI 2017 Fire Service Training Survey Report.
Author: David E. Hedrick
Video interview with the author.
Bronze Awards
Title: Firefighting with Henry's Model-T found in the Model-T Times Newsletter.
Author: Bill Killen
Title: Hallock Chemical Fire Engine.
Author: Bill Killen
Title: Focus on Hazmat, a column in Industrial Fire World magazine.
Author: John Townsend
Video interview with the author.
2024
Bronze Award
Author: Michael Louis Kuk
Title: Army Firefighter in Vietnam, 1970-1971.
WHO'S WHO IN FIRE PROTECTION PROGRAM
The National Fire Heritage Center's Who's Who in Fire Protection is the de facto list of people who are making a difference every day in the North American Fire Protection disciplines. This includes Combat Firefighters and Officers, as well as people in Fire Prevention, Fire Protection Engineering, Fire Training, Fire Equipment and Fire Truck Manufacturing/Sales, Wildland Fire, Military Fire, Industrial Fire, Fire Researchers, ARFF, Regulators and Standards Writers, Authors, Emergency Managers, Dispatchers, EMS Responders, and anyone else in the broadest sense of fire protection.
Why the National Fire Heritage Center? The NFHC are the official historians of fire protection. Today's best examples of people in fire protection are the people that researchers in the future will be interested in. Those people who are making a difference at the Local, State, Regional, and Federal levels are essential to capture not only for the future but also for these people to become visible for their peers to know about various subjects. These are the "go-to" people in fire protection.
Being listed in the Who's Who in Fire Protection is not only important from a historical standpoint, it's your opportunity to showcase yourself or your team. The certificate is not only suitable for framing, but it is also a good thing to have in your file or on your resume.
How does it work? People in Fire Protection are self-identified and submit their information and photo to the NFHC through the easy to fill out form. If you are not able to complete the form in one sitting, you can come back to it later.
Once the completed Who's Who enrollment form has been reviewed and activated you can send a press release to your local media. You will also receive via email a frameable certificate stating that you have been registered in Who's Who in Fire Protection.
Take this opportunity now to be listed in Who's Who in Fire Protection.
WHO'S WHO IN FIRE PROTECTION MEMBERS
Tom McDonald
Christian Tubbs
Kevin Good
Ty Dickerson
John Ackerman
Chris Baker
David Collado
Christopher Connelly
Canale Davis-Monthan
J. R. Farnsworth
Lorenzo Gigliotti
Nathan Hollway
Daniel Jones
Michael Louis Kuk
John L. Cochran
Donald H. Hiett
Audie Carson
John S. Townsend
John W. Magyar II
Lynn B. White
Buddy Dewar
Stephen Carter
Cedric Patterson
Paul D. Brooks
Donald Skalsky
Tim Rogers
Mike Ventimiglia
Robert Lloyd
George Lindblade
Paul Hennemann
Samuel Goldwater