The Higgins & Langley Memorial and Education Fund, working in conjunction with the Swiftwater Rescue Committee of the National Association for Search and Rescue, is seeking nominations for its 2010 memorial awards.

Nominations may be individual achievements and swiftwater-flood rescue team efforts, as well as those who have dedicated years of service to developing and implement­ing swiftwater-flood rescue training programs. Public-safety media-education efforts also will be considered for nomination.

Industry-standard swiftwater-rescue training and certification is a pre-requisite for all water-rescue award categories. Nominations for the 2010 flood and swiftwater Incident Awards may include incidents that were responded to between Jan. 1, 2009 and Feb. 1, 2010.

Next year marks the 17th year of the awards. Award categories include outstanding achievement, lifetime achievement, program development, specific incident and special commendation.

The awards honor civilian rescuer, Earl Higgins, who died in February 1980 while attempting to save a child being swept away in the flood-swollen Los Angeles River, and firefighter/paramedic Jeffrey Langley of the Los Angeles County Fire Department, who lost his life in a helicopter accident in March 1993.

Deadline for submissions is Feb. 19, 2010. The awards will be presented during the annual conference of the National Association for Search and Rescue at the end of May 2010.

Download nomination forms at http://higginsandlangley.org or contact nominations@higginsandlangley.org