Team Brian Receives Awards

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The Amarillo Fire Department was recognized during Southwest Fire Rescue for their Team Brian safety program. Amarillo Fire Department was the recipient of the first Texas Fire Chiefs Association Safety Award. The TFCA Safety Award was presented to Amarillo Fire Chief Ross along with the Brian Hunton National Fire Service Seat Belt Pledge certificate on Monday, February 22, in Galveston.

Team Brian and the fire service seat belt campaign are named in honor of Amarillo firefighter Brian Hunton, who died in April 2005 after he fell from a moving fire apparatus. His tragic death would have been prevented if he had been wearing a seat belt. Only about half of the 1.2 million US firefighters surveyed four years said they wear seat belts.

The national seat belt pledge campaign was inspired by the accident and more than 143,000 firefighters now participate in the US, Canada, Australia and England. US Fire Administration, National Fire Academy and NIOSH officials were on hand for the presentation. In Amarillo and many other fire departments today, fire vehicles do not roll until everyone aboard has buckled their seat belts.

The TFCA Safety Award recognized Amarillo Fire Department for their Team Brian firefighter safety training and mentoring program and for changing the culture of the department to emphasize firefighter safety. Global Traffic Technologies sponsors the TFCA Safety Award because their Opticom traffic signal preemption technology prevents traffic accidents when firefighters are responding to emergencies.