Articles Of Interest

The premier of the movie "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry" starring Adam Sandler and Kevin James is slated for July 20th and has been anxiously anticipated by the staff of FireAwards.com. Just over a year ago we were contacted by the friendly people at Universal Pictures regarding some props for a movie and based on the trailer – it looks like some of them made it to the big screen (check the walls in the Captain’s (Dan Aykroyd) office). Early reviews of the movie have been great. Check out the Chuck and Larry web site.

Tags: Chuck and Larry, FireAwards, movie props

A quick search on the Fireawards.com site for the term “Maltese Cross” will return dozens of items used as gifts or awards for firefighters. A quick search on Google for the same term returns about 1,230,000 results. The short version of how this symbol became synonymous with firefighters and fire service is as follows:

The Maltese cross is known around the world as a symbol of the fire service. It is often seen painted on fire trucks, on the clothing of firefighters, depicted on firefighters badges, and is quite often the chosen design of firefighter tattoos. So where did the Maltese cross come from, and how did it get to be known as a symbol of the fire service?

The Maltese cross is named after the island of Malta, which came to be the home of the Knights of St. John. The Knights of St. John existed during the 11th and 12 centuries. The armor worn by the Knights covered their entire bodies as well as their faces. Because of this it was often difficult for the knights to recognize one another during battle. They realized they would need some type of symbol that could be used to quickly and easily identify them selves. They chose the Cross of Calvary, which would later be known as the Maltese cross. During the Crusades, the enemies of the nights commonly used fire as a weapon. It was quite common for a Knight to have to risk his own life to save another Knight or extinguish a fire.

The Knights of St. John were also known for their care of the sick and injured. Combined with their abilities to fight fires, and the pride and honor they took in their work, the Maltese cross seems a fitting symbol of the modern fire service. Firefighting is a proud profession, and only a symbol of pride would exemplify the work of a firefighter.

So basically, you had a bunch of guys banding together under a common symbol, working for the common good – sound familiar? Tags: firefighters, maltese cross, fire service symbol

Why do people volunteer to become firefighters?  We have compiled a list of what we feel are the top 15 reasons in no particular order:

1. To continue a family tradition.
2. To learn new skills for future career possibilities.
3. A desire to help others.
4. To get out of the house.
5. The need for camaraderie  – Brotherhood-Sisterhood.
6. To serve the community.
7. To do something different from your job.
8. To meet new people.
9. To gain or enhance leadership skills.
10. To fill the needs of a hobby or pastime.
11. To contribute expertise or knowledge.
12. To gain recognition.
13. To make a difference.
14. To further personal growth and self-esteem.
15. To fill a need for achievement.

If you have one or more of your own to add please comment.

Posted by Gary FireAwards.com

The essence of any award and recognition presentation begins with the question of who will be the recipients of the awards. While in most organizations, both professional and volunteer, the choices may at first glance be obvious based on pre-determined criteria or an undeniably outstanding achievement, but the question often overlooked is “Does obvious choice = only choice?”

A perfect example of what we mean can be found in a common award presentation used frequently by volunteer fire departments known as “Volunteer Firefighter of the Year.” This is an award often presented to the firefighter who has shown above average performance relating to such things as calls made, dedication to duty, contribution to the betterment of the department, or community service, over the course of a given year. The winner of this award is no doubt a “doer”, someone who has invested a great amount of time and effort to the department – an “obvious” choice for the award. What needs to be considered in this case is whether or not this “doer” has had the assistance of an “enabler” and if so, whether or not the enabler is deserving of an accompanying amount of recognition. In many situations as described above, the spouse of the honoree is indeed the “enabler”.

Unrecognized enablers abound in our society and can be found in all shapes and forms. In the above example would not a “Volunteer Firefighter Spouse of the Year” accompanying award be a great addition to the presentation? A truly thoughtful and purposeful recognition program should consider the “enablers” of the world and whether or not to recognize them appropriately.

Gary Barber – www.FireAwards.com