The International Association of Fire Chiefs recently honored filmmaker Gordon Massingham, president of Detrick Lawrence Productions of Edgartown, Mass., with a lifetime achievement award. The “Level A Award” was presented at the 21st annual International Hazardous Materials Response Teams Conference held in Hunt Valley, Md.

The award was in recognition of Massingham’s long time commitment as a filmmaker to supporting the safety and effectiveness of emergency responders. In presenting the award, Chief John Eversole, the conference chairman, praised the filmmaker: “Gordon Massingham has long gone out of his way to develop educational films that have provided an increased level of competence for hazardous materials responders. He has been very careful to get the very best advisors that not only teach the best methods but safety is strongly emphasized in all his films.”

In accepting the award, Massingham praised all emergency responders who risk their lives in the performance of their jobs. He went on to thank his loyal filmmaking crew with whom he has worked for many years and the numerous emergency response organizations that have welcomed him into their communities and helped make the films a success.

Massingham has produced some 150 emergency response training films, that have won over 125 national and international awards for training effectiveness and filmmaking excellence. Some 200,000 copies of these programs have been distributed throughout the world and have trained millions of emergency responders.

Following a brief stint in television, Massingham served as the Manager of the Film Department at the National Fire Protection Association where he made his first fire fighter training films as well as fire safety films for children, and the award-winning Dick Van Dyke “Learn Not to Burn” public safety announcements.

Later, with his own production company, he turned to creating hazardous materials training films in the aftermath of the disastrous methyl isocyanate gas leak in Bhopal, India. The company’s first film, “Sulfuric Acid & Hydrochloric Acid.” was embraced by fire departments and hazmat teams around the world, providing Massingham with the encouragement to persevere in this field of specialty programming. He subsequently formed Emergency Film Group, a division of Detrick Lawrence that distributes the production company’s output.

Massingham produced dozens more programs on hazardous materials, then broadened his focus to include rescue, incident command, security, and other emergency topics. Following the 1996 Murrah Building bombing in Oklahoma City, he turned his attention to terrorism response, producing to date a dozen films that area used by agencies as diverse as the FBI, CIA, Secret Service, the armed forces, and hundreds of police, fire and EMS organizations.

To advise him on the technical content of each film, Massingham hires a committee of widely recognized leaders in emergency response training. His technical advisors are his among his biggest champions. According to Greg Noll, principal in Hildebrand & Noll Consultants, a long time advisor to the company, "Emergency Film Group and Gordon Massingham have established a reputation for excellence in hazmat response training, and that search for excellence now carries over to counter-terrorism training and response."

In addition to the Emergency Film Group output, Massingham is often tapped to create custom training programs for corporations, associations and government agencies. These organizations have included U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Transportation, American Petroleum Institute, National Association of State Fire Marshals, National Fire Protection Association and the International Association of Fire Fighters. Some 28,000 copies of a program he recently created for the Institute of Makers of Explosives have been distributed to every fire department in the country- making it one of the most widely distributed educational films in history. Before the 2002 Winter Olympics, he was recruited to create security training for the Utah Olympics Public Safety Command. The resulting film, sponsored by the Department of Defense’s Interagency Operations Security Support Staff was so successful that it will also be used during the Athens Summer Olympics.

All filming is done on location throughout North America, using emergency response personnel performing realistic training exercises. Post production work is carried out at a state-of-the-art digital post production facility on Martha’s Vineyard, where the company has been headquartered since 1999.

More information is available on the Detrick Lawrence film site at www.detricklawrence.com and the Emergency Film Group Web site at www.efilmgroup.com, or call for a catalog of programs at 800 842-0999.