Division Chief Michael T. Love of Montgomery County (MD) Fire & Rescue is the second annual winner of the Excellence in Fire & Life Safety Award.
Chief Love, on his own initiative, recognized the need for much better collaboration among fire safety professionals across the country. The problems that one AHJ may be facing in his or her community could be, and probably are, very similar to those that have been addressed elsewhere. However, there was no mechanism for easily asking questions and sharing information and solutions among fire prevention professionals.
With the explosive growth of the Internet and the resources that it provides, Chief Love realized that there was a tool that was, literally, at our fingertips and that was completely free to use. He established two chat groups on Yahoo—the National Fire and Life Safety Educator group and the EPARADE group—to foster information exchange. The growth in these two groups has been tremendous. Division Chief Love stood out among the other nominations based on the national scope of his accomplishments... Read more (pdf)
Photo, from left: Mr. Jim Tidwell, ICC's VP of Fire Services Activities; Mr. Richard Weiland, ICC's CEO; Division Chief Love; Chief Adolf Zubia, FLSS Board member