Firehouse is seeking nominations for the 2025 Firehouse Valor and Community Service Awards. Firefighters will be honored in June 2026 for their actions saving lives at emergency incidents, or their efforts in preventing the emergency from happening through community education and outreach.
Nominations for the Michael O. McNamee Award of Valor and Unit Citations are for incidents that occurred in Jan. 1 - Dec. 31, 2025. Submissions for the Thomas Carr Community Service Award include efforts from recent years, where members focused on public education, including fire and life safety efforts to prevent 9-1-1 from being called by citizens.
The Michael O. McNamee Award of Valor is named after McNamee, who was the first incident commander at the Worcester Cold Storage Fire that claimed six firefighters in 1999. His efforts to stop additional firefighters from entering the fire ravaged building illustrated the ultimate act of valor, saving the lives of countless firefighters that tragic night.
The Thomas Carr Community Service Award honors the life-long commitment by former Thomas Carr, the former fire chief in Montgomery County, MD, and Charleston, SC, to prevent fire loss or injury and death in his communities.
"While the U.S. fire service is known for the bravery in times of peril, acts of valor demonstrate extraordinary bravery and courage in a firefighter’s commitment to save lives," Firehouse Editor-in-Chief Peter Matthews said. "The valor awards honor individual efforts but we also honor companies through their unit citations because teamwork is key to fireground success."
You can submit your nominations here. Submissions will be accepted through Jan. 27, 2026. You can email [email protected] with any questions.
