Wright-Patterson Fire Department receives Miami Valley Customer Service award

  • Published
  • By Sandy Simison
  • 88th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  On Apr. 20, 2016, the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Fire Department received the 2015 Customer Service Award for outstanding organization. The award was presented at Sinclair Community College by the Miami Valley Fire/Emergency Medical Service Alliance Executive Committee.

The award was based on emergency response performance, department level awards, accreditations, certifications, customer outreach and public education, training, education, innovation and initiatives for safety, health, and quality of life.

"We continue to train, we continue to modernize our equipment, and we continue to enhance partnerships with our outside organizations. This award reflects that. It is one thing to be recognized on base by our commanders and receive accolades, but whenever our peers from outside organizations recognize us for our efforts on and off base, we feel especially honored," said Tracy Young, Fire Chief, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Fire Emergency Services.

The Miami Valley Fire Alliance consists of many organizations-just about every fire department in Montgomery County-so the competition is steep. Fire chiefs throughout the county look at the nominations and make the selection.

"The scope and the magnitude of our services consist of aircraft rescue-which is kind of like our bread and butter-to structural, which consists of the Air Force Research Labs in Area B that present unique hazards and the Air Force museum restoration to include hazardous materials. Our newest discipline is dive rescue and dive operations. Our dive team operations are a composite makeup with the other fire departments in the area. Whenever they roll out, we roll out. We have the capability and it's a unique capability. Our department, with all of the resources and personnel with trained rescue disciplines, present a unique resource to a lot of surrounding areas," said Young.