Fire Engineering’s Training Achievement Award was presented to Mark C. Butler, New York State fire instructor and attorney, at Thursday’s General Session. Diane Feldman, managing editor of Fire Engineering/FDIC conference manager, and Professor Glenn Corbett, the magazine’s technical editor, made the presentation.
Butler has come to be known as a role model for instructors; he teaches his students to be combat ready, and has devoted his talents and energy to guide and direct the New York State Fire Service in legal and liability issues.
“Fire instruction, like firefighting, is a team activity,” Butler said in his acceptance remarks. “I have the great privilege of being part of a great team. Thank you.”
Butler served 13 years as a structural firefighter, a hazardous-materials technician, and an emergency medical technician with the Snyder (NY) Fire Department. He is a New York State Department of Health certified instructor coordinator and a nationally certified incident safety officer-fire suppression. He heads the Fire Protection/EMS Provider Services Practice Group of the law firm of Harris Beach, LLC. A fire instructor for the New York State Office of Fire Protection and Control and a field instructor in Erie County and at the state’s Fire Academy in Montour Falls, Butler has also been instrumental in developing and updating courses to ensure compliance with state and federal regulations and standards.
His weekend course “Legal Issues for the Volunteer Fire Service” addresses common issues confronting the state’s volunteer fire service. These include the fire department’s relationship to the authorities having jurisdiction, membership, fulfilling multiple demands of the law on department members and officials, and enforcement of OSHA standards by the New York State Department of Labor.
