Senior Master Sgt. Gregory Marks, Combat Readiness Training Center Fire and Emergency Services chief, pose with The Chief Master Sergeant Edward W. Wolbert Award. The CRTC-Gulfport FES department is the 2014 Air Guard Fire Department of the year. The department beat nearly 60 other departments throughout the United States. The department will compete against other fire departments in other branches of the Department of Defense.
GULFPORT, Miss. - The Combat Readiness Training Center (CRTC) Gulfport Fire Department was recently selected as the best large department in the Air National Guard.
The CRTC-Gulfport Air National Guard Airport Fire and Emergency Services Department has been awarded The Chief Master Sergeant Edward W. Wolbert Award, which qualifies them as the 2014 Air Guard Fire Department of the year.
One of the firefighters involved in the success of the fire department won an award. Heath Sidaway won the 2014 Civilian Firefighter of the Year Award. This award recognizes superior job performance and outstanding contributions to a DOD fire emergency services organization.
The CRTC fire department beat nearly 60 other departments throughout the United States.
The award categories include Fire Department Management, Quality of Life, Community Relations, Awards, Operations, Training, Fire Prevention and Technical Services.
Among many accomplishments, the department was recognized by the city of New Augusta for the mutual aid response to a train derailment in February 2014, when more than a dozen hazardous material laden tank cars separated from the tracks. The Fire and Emergency Service personnel assisted with initial scene assessment as well as monitoring product-transfer from a damaged non-pressurized tank car to a MC-307 cargo tanker.
The firefighters are responsible for calls on base, at the Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport and in the community.
The department will now compete against other fire departments in other branches of the Department of Defense.
Heath Sidaway, a civilian firefighter with the CRTC-Gulfport Air National Guard Fire and Emergency Services Department, is awarded The Chief Wayne Farrar Award. Sidaway is the 2014 Civilian Firefighter of the Year. This award recognizes superior job performance and outstanding contributions to a DOD fire emergency services organization.
The Combat Readiness Training Center-Gulfport Air National Guard Airport Fire Department is awarded The Chief Master Sergeant Edward W. Wolbert Award 2014, which signifies them as 2014 Air Guard Fire Department of the year.
Heath Sidaway, center, 2014 Civilian Firefighter of the Year recipient, poses with Lt. Col. Berry McCormick, 172nd Air Wing base civil engineer, and Senior Master Sgt. Gregory Marks, Combat Readiness Training Center Fire Emergency Services chief.
