The 10 finalists in contention for the international Conrad Dietrich Magirus Award have been chosen. Hailing from nine different countries, their missions are as diverse as their locations. They represent different team structures from volunteer fire departments to professional fire brigades and airport fire services.
After extensive deliberation, an expert jury has decided on the top 10 finalists. Now it is time to turn over the final vote for the Firefighting Team of the Year 2016 to the general public.
All are invited to learn more about the finalists' impressive missions at www.magirusgroup.de/award and to vote for their personal favorites from October 21 to December 11. By casting their votes, people around the world are taking the time to express their appreciation for the tireless dedication of fire brigades.
From major fires to complex rescue operations, fire brigades around the globe dedicate their lives to protecting the public 365 days a year. Magirus has presented deserving international fire brigades with the Conrad Dietrich Magirus Award since 2012. The goal of the award is to honor the work and courage of fire brigades around the world.
The jury was impressed by the high level of this year’s applications. “It was a quite tough decision for us this year because of the complexity and variety of the operations. However, I think we found 10 international firefighting teams, each of them showing exceptional commitment,” said Michel Bour, General Secretary of CTIF (the International Federation of Fire and Rescue Services), on behalf of the international jury. In addition to Bour, the jury consists of: Ann Marie Knegt, Editor-in-Chief of the English magazine Fire and Rescue, Hermann Kollinger from the Austrian fire brigade magazine Brennpunkt, Pietr Pajor, Vice-president of Firemax Sp. z o.o. from Poland, and Tristan Reitz, Magirus.
The evaluation process focused primarily on the quality of the missions, on the teamwork demonstrated and on the strategies used. The jury's extensive experience in the firefighting sector was crucial for evaluating the applications.
What the winners can look forward to
Magirus will invite the best finalists to the handover ceremony in Ulm, Germany on January 27, 2017. The top three finalists and the winners will be announced live at this event. The winning team will not only receive the coveted Conrad Dietrich Magirus Statue, the "Oscar of the fire-fighting world," they can also look forward to an once-in-a-lifetime trip to New York. During their stay they will meet their peers from the most famous fire brigade in the world, the Fire Department of New York (FDNY), visit the "The Rock" training academy on Randall Island, and enjoy many more highlights that the city has to offer.
The 2016 Conrad Dietrich Magirus Award will be supported by key industry companies ENDRESS Elektrogerätebau, DÃNGES, and LUKAS/VETTER.
The ten finalists for the “International Firefighting Team of the Year 2016”:
- Volunteer Fire Department Altenmarkt near St. Gallen (Austria)
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Posted: Oct 24, 2016
Fireworks shot off by someone who trespassed onto a closed Cobb park the night of July 4 caused a fire that resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage to county property. Cobb commissioners on Tuesday will vote on a contract to rebuild the park facilities damaged by the resulting fire.
"(Noonday Creek) park was closed and locked and secured as we do any park, but someone, we can't tell if it was a resident or who, went into the closed park, so they were trespassing, and used our parking lot to shoot fireworks, and it was fireworks that caused this damage," said Cobb Public Services Director Jackie McMorris.
The fire caused a "substantial" amount of damage to a maintenance building and pole barn at the park, which were deemed a total loss, according to county documents. Commissioners will vote on a nearly $366,000 contract with Osprey Management for design and build construction services to rebuild the facilities.
The construction contract is almost half of the estimated $736,200 value of the destroyed structures and their contents, of which $250,000 will be paid by the county's claims fund, while insurance proceeds are expected to reimburse the remaining balance of the loss, according to county documents. The total cost in the wake of the fire is expected to increase, as the heat of the flames also damaged three park maintenance vehicles parked near the facilities, McMorris said.
"They were parked outside the building, and it burned one really bad, and then another one was really singed that was parked next to it," she said. "At this time, the office is still looking at the cost of replacing those vehicles and any ancillary expenditures."
No one so far has been charged in connection to the blaze, said Lt. Dan Dupree, spokesman for the Cobb Fire Department.
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Posted: Oct 24, 2016
Road and facility construction top the list of projects that Lawton's Capital Improvements Programs are funding throughout the city, a citizens watchdog group was told. Members of that CIP Watchdog Committee are tasked with overseeing the five CIPs and their millions of dollars in sales and property taxes that are funding a series of projects that range from arterial and residential street overlay to construction of a new public safety facility and a fire station.
Fire Station No. 8, a $5.96 million facility being built in southwest Lawton on Bishop Road, is the first entirely new fire station to be built in Lawton in years and has been under construction since summer.
City Manager Jerry Ihler said the contractor (Ross Construction Group) has completed the station's floor pad, has erected the walls for the firefighter living area and now is erecting walls for the bay area. Infrastructure work also is planned to support the station that will serve the city's southwest quadrant, Ihler said, noting that a new waterline has been installed and work on a sewer line is underway. In addition, T&G Construction has been issued a notice to proceed on work to upgrade Bishop Road between Southwest 52nd and Southwest 67th streets so the road will support the weight of fire trucks (the same work will be done on the southern portion of Southwest 52nd Street, north of Bishop Road). Construction is expected to take almost a year.
That station is not the only public safety facility being planned for Lawton.
The 2015 CIP will fund construction of a public safety complex on Railroad Street, south of East Gore Boulevard, which will house the Lawton Police Department and city jail, Municipal Court, and Central Fire Station. Ihler said Dewberrry Architects has begun designs of the 100,000-square-foot building for a construction project that is expected to total $29 million to $30 million. The project is expected to be let for bids in 2017.
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