The deadline to apply for several awards presented by the International Association of Fire Chiefs is approaching. Nominations for the Heart Safe Community Award are due March 9, and nominations for the Safety, Health & Survival Awards are due March 31. For nomination forms, visit to www.iafc.org/awards or call 703-273-0911.

Criteria for the Heart Safe Community Award have expanded from years past to reflect the 2005 American Heart Association Guidelines. The award historically considered only public-access defibrillation programs established by fire and EMS agencies in their communities. Now, agencies applying for the award must show how they have improved the quality of out-of-hospital resuscitation through bystander CPR, AED deployment (PAD programs), out-of-hospital 12-lead ECGs, 12-lead ECG advanced notification to the receiving hospital and other continuous quality resuscitation improvements. There will be two awards: one for communities with a population up to 100,000 and one for communities with a population of 100,000 or more.

The Heart Safe award, presented by the IAFC's EMS Section and and Physio-Control, a division of Medtronic, will be awarded at Fire-Rescue Med, April 30–May 2 in Las Vegas.

The annual Safety, Health and Survival Section Awards recognize both organizations and individuals in an organization (of any size or composition) that have made a significant contribution to the overall environment of health and safety in their organizations or the fire service. Awards will be presents in four categories: Safety Officer of the Year (co-sponsored by the Fire Department Safety Officers Association), Fire Service Executive Safety Award, Fire Service Organization Safety Award and IAFC Safety Performance Award. The awards will be presented at Fire-Rescue International, Aug. 23–25 in Atlanta.

The IAFC is also seeking nominations for the Fire Service Award for Excellence and the International Benjamin Franklin Fire Service Award for Valor. Nominations for both of these awards are due June 1.

The Fire Service Award for Excellence, co-sponsored by U.S. Safety Fire Technologies, recognizes innovations and success in managing resources to reduce the loss of life and property from fire and other emergencies. Seven finalists for the award are recognized with limited edition plaques and the winner is presented with the grand award at Fire-Rescue International during the Commission on Fire Accreditation International annual awards reception. The winner is also honored on stage during the IAFC’s general session with co-founders of the award, Chief Ronny J. Coleman and Wayne Boyd, president of U.S. Safety Fire Technologies.

The International Benjamin Franklin Fire Service Award for Valor, sponsored by Motorola, recognizes the spirit of service, courage and heroism that is the tradition among the world's fire-service professionals. All active firefighters — career or volunteer, on- or off-duty — are eligible for award consideration. The program is named for Benjamin Franklin, who founded the volunteer Union Fire Company in Philadelphia in 1736. The award is presented at Fire-Rescue International to a deserving firefighter or firefighters for expert training, professional service and dedication to duty displayed in the saving of a human life.