NASHVILLE—Firehouse Editor-in-Chief Tim Sendelbach announced this morning during the Firehouse Expo opening ceremony that starting in 2017, Firehouse’s top Community Service Award will be known as the Thomas Carr Community Service Award, named after the late fire chief who previously held the top position at the Charleston and Montgomery County fire departments.
The Firehouse Community Service Award is designed to encourage fire departments to not only get involved in community service activities, but to engage in activities that truly give back and elevate a community in a way that can change lives.
Sendelbach noted that it is therefore only fitting to name the top award after a man who took the concept of community service to a higher level when he revamped the struggling Charleston Fire Department (CFD) by focusing on leadership, customer service and safety, all for the greater good of the community. Specifically, Chief Carr took the reins as fire chief of the CFD approximately one year after the Sofa Super Store fire claimed the lives of nine firefighters and, according to Sendelbach, managed to steer the department in the right direction—and for the right reasons.
Examples of how Chief Carr demonstrated his commitment to community at the CFD include his work to institute a fire marshal program as well as an “after-the-fire” program.
As it relates to the fire marshal program specifically, Chief Carr's strong commitment to preventing 9-1-1 calls was the driving force behind his effort to get fire inspections brought back into the fire department's responsibility. Additionally, he convinced the city that fire inspection was only one component of the fire department's responsibility to reducing risk in the community. This persuasion led to the establishment of the CFD's Fire Marshal Division. The nucleus of this program was the hiring of a full-time fire prevention and code enforcement specialist, Battalion Chief Mike Julazadeh. With Chief Carr's keen endorsement, the CFD FMD has grown from an army of one to nine members fully devoted to fire prevention and risk reduction.
When a fire did occur, however, Chief Carr was a firm believer that an opportunity availed itself beyond the deployment of suppression forces. He fully supported a program where the same companies that responded to the fire returned to the community the following shift to discuss the fire. This outreach put firefighters in the neighborhood to answer questions, offer to conduct home inspections, check smoke alarms and let the community know that the CFD was there for more than just fire suppression.
Carr’s wife Anne said the Carr family is deeply grateful that Firehouse Magazine’s Community Service Award will carry Tom’s name. “Tom was a person who believed that a fully lived life should always carry the spirit of ‘service to others,’” she said. “We are honored that Tom's name will be associated with people who demonstrate that same spirit.”
The Thomas Carr Community Service Award will be part of Firehouse’s larger awards program, the Valor & Community Service Awards, the largest awards program of its kind in the fire service. Nominations for the awards open each year in January, with submissions due in April. To have your department’s acts of valor or community service considered for an award, please e-mail [email protected].
To read more about the honorees in this year’s Valor & Community Service Awards, visit firehouse.com/valor-awards.
