The International Association of Fire Chiefs EMS Section today named Asst. Chief Bruce Evans of the North Las Vegas Fire Department the recipient of the 2010 James O. Page EMS Achievement Award. The award will be presented at Fire-Rescue Med next month in Las Vegas.

The award is presented annually to an individual who has played a key role in creating and/or promoting non-clinical innovation and achievements in fire-service EMS management and leadership that has had a positive impact nationally. The award is named in honor of Page, a national leader in fire-service EMS for more than three decades.

“It’s an honor to receive an award named after Jim Page, to try and follow in his footsteps and live his principles,” Evans said. “He was a kind of model for me as an EMT and for the possibility of what he could do in a career.”

Evans first met Page at an EMS conference, and Page took the time to talk to him one on one. When Evans moved to Mercy Ambulance in Las Vegas, Page prodded him to join a fire department. “Jim helped me understand the politics and trials and tribulations of EMS and fire departments,” Evans said.

Evans has been FIRE CHIEF’s “EMS Viewpoints” columnist for nearly a decade. He’s the past chair of the National Association of EMTs (NAEMT) Safety Committee and is in the working group creating the EMS Safety Course for the NAEMT.

Evans serves on the National Fire Academy’s strategic planning committee for EMS and also is an adjunct faculty member in the EMS, incident-management and terrorism programs and a certified faculty member for the International Public Safety Leadership and Ethics training program. Evans also is an NFPA Fire Instructor III and a faculty member for the College of Southern Nevada’s Fire Technology Program. He’s

Evans also has been a longtime member of the IAFC, serving on the Fire-Rescue Med planning committee, the avian flu task force and as a representative to the NAEMSP.