NEW ROCHELLE, NY — Delayed initially by Hurricane Sandy, Liberty Mutual Insurance representatives were finally able to present U.F.F.A. Local 273 President Byron Gray of the New Rochelle fire department with their annual FireMark Award. The ceremony today took place at New Rochelle Fire Station #3, located at 756 North Ave New Rochelle near Eastchester Road.
The ceremony, initially scheduled for late October and cancelled due to Sandy, took place in between an EMS call which delayed the ceremony by 30 minutes and a commercial alarm call that cut short a post-event celebration of coffee and cookies.
Liberty Mutual honored Gray for “…his involvement in creating a series of innovative fire safety videos designed to raise awareness in the community of how fires have become more dangerous.” The videos are linked and embedded below.
The video series, released on You Tube and Facebook and published here on Talk of the Sound is based on fire safety results of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Several firefighters involved in the video project tell their stories of how dangerous the job of firefighting is. One of the goals of these videos is to hopefully put out some fires before they start-through public awareness. Firefighter Gray is a 27 year veteran of the New Rochelle Fire Department.
For his dedication to educating the local community about fire safety, Firefighter Byron Gray received the Liberty Mutual Firemark Award for Community Service and Public Education, presented by Liberty Mutual Senior Sales Representative, Dan Ferrara and Senior Branch Manager Genie Hardesty.
The Liberty Mutual Firemark Award is presented annually to hundreds of firefighters throughout the country who best represent their communities through courageous acts and who best demonstrate the firefighter’s selfless spirit. And as a local Liberty Mutual Firemark Award winner, Firefighter Byron Gray will be considered for the 2012 Liberty Mutual National Firemark Award.
Two national winners – one honored for heroism, the other for community service/public education – will each receive a $10,000 grant from Liberty Mutual for their fire departments.
The Liberty Mutual Firemark Award takes its name from the firemark, a leaden plate in the form of a Phoenix rising from the ashes, which American fire offices in the 18th and 19th centuries used to mark all the houses they insured.
To nominate a firefighter for a Liberty Mutual Firemark Award or for life-saving tips and resources, visit www.befiresmart.com.
Boston-based Liberty Mutual Group is a diversified global insurer and the third largest property and casualty insurer in the U.S. and ranks 82nd on the Fortune 100 list of largest corporations in the U.S. employing more than 45,000 people.
The five Award-Winning videos:
New Rochelle Fire Fighters Speak of Pain, Suffering & Dangers of Fires
New Rochelle UFFA Local 273: The Burden of Saving Lives
New Rochelle UFFA Local 273: The Life of a Deadly Fire
New Rochelle UFFA Local 273: Why Seconds Count When Fighting Fires
New Rochelle UFFA Local 273: Bill Samoes Tells How His Bones Snapped When Whipped by a Fire Hose
New Rochelle UFFA Local 273: Joe Narcisso Tells of Toxic Smoke, Lung Damage and a Puncture Ear Drum