After months of planning, the Highlands & Islands Fire & Rescue Service ‘Commitment to Excellence Awards 2010’ were held at the Inverness Town House as guests of Provost Jimmy Gray and the Inverness City Committee. The event was also attended by Fergus Ewing, Minister for Community Safety, Fire Board Convener Richard Durham and H.M. Lord Lieutenant of Inverness.

Numerous individuals and teams from across the Service area were nominated by their peers for four award categories. There were many examples of outstanding service being provided in virtually every department and every area.

For Excellence in Community Fire Safety the following were short listed:

• Ian Smith, Crew Manager, Bonar Bridge
• Cathie Way, CRM Co-ordinator, HQ, Inverness
• Lairg Station
 

For Excellence in Emergency Operations with the following were short listed:
 

• Longhope and Stromness Stations
• Alan Clark, Group Manager, Operations, HQ
• Nikki Hercher, Firefighter, Beauly
 

For Excellence in Community/Youth Engagement with the following were short listed:

• Vicky Stonebridge, Firefighter, Lochcarron
• Cathie Way, CRM Co-ordinator, HQ, Inverness
• Peter Stevenson, Community Safety Advocate, Shetland
• Mark MacGregor, Crew Manager, Kinlochleven

For Excellence in Service Delivery with the following were short listed: 

• Fraser Parr, Watch Manager, Inverness
• Michael Williamson, Crew Manager, Delivery, HQ
• Duncan MacAulay, Firelink Project Manager, HQ

Everyone deserved the recognition but only four winners could receive the awards and these went to: 

Commitment to Excellence in Community Fire Safety was awarded to Retained Crew Manager Ian Smith from Bonar Bridge station for his work on the delivery of Community Fire Safety to the Retained Service. The judging panel agreed that without his contribution to generating home fire safety visits and promoting their importance during the course of his usual employment as a postman, the station performance would not be as effective as it is.
 

Commitment to Excellence in Emergency Operations was awarded to Group Manager Alan Clark for the commitment he has given to developing the Firefighting and Rescue at Sea capability of the Service.  GM Clark’s attendance at the Maritime Incident Response Group (MIRG) meetings have proved invaluable and under his direction, the Service is proud to be one of the leading authorities nationally in Fire fighting and Rescue at Sea.
 

Community Risk Management Co-ordinator, Cathie Way and Retained Crew Manager, Mark MacGregor were joint winners of the award for Commitment to Excellence in Community/Youth Engagement.  Community Risk Management co-ordinator, Cathie Way was awarded for developing an idea to produce an imaginative fire safety resource for young persons. She was the driver in producing plays and DVDs of young persons using puppets to promote fire safety messages.
 

Kinlochleven retained Crew Manager; Mark McGregor was nominated for the commitment shown over the last 12 months, to the Fire and Rescue Service and the community work he has performed around youth engagement. CM McGregor has introduced and managed Duke of Edinburgh and Hi Fires courses at Kinlochleven station. Before CM McGregor’s involvement in youth engagement, the Service had very little activity at Kinlochleven. He has made effective partnerships with the local school, its staff, local media, community youth workers, and many other people within the local community. 
 

Firelink Project Manager Duncan MacAulay scooped the award for Commitment to Excellence in Service Delivery for undertaking a complete refit of all Firelink radio systems to all of Highlands and Islands Fire appliances. The schedule that Duncan drew up needed to address the requirements of several external stake holders, as well as completing the project on schedule, despite the programme being under constant review.  

 

Category Winners

Following on from the Excellence Awards, the Long Service & Good Conduct Medals presentations took place. The following people were presented with their medals by the Lord Lieutenant of Inverness, Donald Cameron:

• Norman Sutherland, Crew Manager, Fortrose
• Alexander Catto, Watch Manager, Lochcarron
• William Douglas, Watch Manager, Castlebay
• Donald Gillies, Crew Manager, Ness
• John Latimir, Firefighter, Great Bernera
• Donald MacDonald, Crew Manager, Great Bernera
• Norman MacDonald, Watch Manager, Great Bernera
• Craig Grieve, Crew Manager, Stromness

 

Long Service & Good Conduct Medal Recipients 

There then followed a Chief’s Commendation which was presented to Chris Findlay, Retained Station Manager in Fort William.

On 17th June, Chris was working in the district office when he heard screams and shouts from the petrol station across the road.  Chris immediately went to the scene and saw that a man had been run over by a bus.  His legs were trapped, resulting in severe and life threatening injuries.  Chris called the emergency services, and after having carried out a dynamic risk assessment, he got under the bus to assess and manage the casualty and his injuries.  These decisive actions clearly saved the casualties life.
 

Chris then liaised and co-ordinated with Police and also lead the extrication of the casualty when Fire & Rescue crews arrived.  The casualty was released within 25 minutes of the incident occurring, which gave his the best chance for survival.

The family of the victim have personally thanked Chris for his actions, as they believe that he saved his life.

 

Chief's Commendation Recipient, Chris Findlay

Summarising the Commitment to Excellence Awards 2010, David Wynne, Chief Fire Officer said “This event was a fantastic opportunity to showcase our personnel who really do go that extra mile to ensure the safety of our communities. Whilst there were four awards presented this evening there were many nominees, however in my opinion, the real winners are the public who benefit from our excellent service.”