FORT LEE, Va. (April 7, 2011) -- Members of Team Lee can feel safe in their homes, offices and anywhere else within the reach of Fort Lee Fire and Emergency Services - not only because of its outstanding service to the community - but also because the department recently earned the U.S. Army Installation Management Command's Northeast Region 2010 Fire Department of the Year award for small fire departments.
In order to compete for the award, fire departments must meet specific guidelines in several categories including customer service, quality of life initiatives and firefighter health and safety initiatives.
The Fort Lee Fire Department's outstanding commitment to protecting Soldiers, their families and civilians living and working on Fort Lee is superior in every way, said Col. Michael G. Morrow, U.S. Army Garrison, Fort Lee commander.
"Their dedication and level of customer service is without equal," he said.
Among its many accomplishments, the fire department responded to more than 1,800 calls for help, provided education and awareness training to 7,500 members of the community and conducted more than 2,000 fire inspections while saving property worth $2.9 million with minimal loss.
Fort Lee firefighters are among the best trained in the Army, said Fire Chief Tom Bahr. Seventy-five percent of personnel at Fort Lee's department have attended advanced National Incident Management System training.
Despite Fort Lee's square footage increasing at a quicker pace than the Fire and Emergency Services personnel, the fire department continues to excel, which Bahr credits to the department's staff members.
"Our accomplishments are representative of what the guys and gals are doing in this organization," Bahr said. "The trucks are nothing, the buildings are nothing, the equipment is nothing unless you have the right people. We've really got some good people here."
In the coming weeks, the department will compete with other small installations for an opportunity to contend for the Department of the Army Fire Department of the Year and ultimately, the Department of Defense award.
With the growth of people and buildings here, the fire department will compete for the award next year in the medium installation category.
"We have a very low fire loss at Fort Lee," Bahr said. "In a recent garage fire, the resident did exactly what he should have done during a fire. He treated it with a fire extinguisher, closed all the doors and walked out. Our community training initiatives pay-off when we don't suffer loss of life or property."
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