FDIC International Awards

FDIC sign

Lifetime Achievement Award

The Fire Engineering Lifetime Achievement Award has been given out during the General Session at FDIC since 1998. In 2009, the award was renamed for Tom Brennan, who was the editor of Fire Engineering for eight years and a technical editor until he passed away in 2006.

Fire Engineering Lifetime Achievement Award Recipients:

  • Frank Brannigan (1998)
  • Tom Brennan (1999)
  • Vince Dunn (2000)
  • Alan Brunacini (2001)
  • Don Manno (2002)
  • Ray Downey (2003)
  • John Eversole (2004)
  • James Page (2005)
  • Leo Stapleton (2006)
  • Dr. Denis Onieal (2007)
  • John Mittendorf (2008)

Tom Brennan Lifetime Achievement Award Recipients:

  • John Norman (2009)
  • Ronald Jon Siarnicki (2010)
  • John F. “Skip” Coleman (2011)
  • Jack Murphy (2012)
  • Glenn Corbett (2013)
  • Ronny J. Coleman (2014)
  • Bill Peters (2015)
  • Jerry Tracy (2016)
  • Rick Lasky (2017)
  • Billy Goldfeder (2018)
  • Bill Gustin (2019)
  • Mike Dugan (2020-2021)
  • John Salka (2022)
  • Bobby Halton (2023)
  • Steve Chikerotis (2024)

Courage and Valor Award

The Ray Downey Courage and Valor Award was presented annually at FDIC International to recognize a firefighter who was shown exemplary courage on the fireground.

  • FDNY Deputy Chief Ray Downey (2002, posthumously)
  • St. Louis (MO) Firefighter Derek D. Martin, (2003, posthumously)
  • Novato (CA) Captain Douglas McDonald (2004)
  • Philadelphia (PA) Captain John Taylor (2005, posthumously)
  • Detroit (MI) Senior Firefighter Sean Neary (2006)
  • FDNY Lieutenant Howard Carpluk (2007, posthumously)
  • Fall River (MA) Lieutenant Michael Cabral (2008)
  • Milwaukee (WI) Firefighter Anthony Rueda (2009)
  • Yuba City (CA) Captain Eric Hankins (2010)
  • FDNY Firefighter First Class Peter Demontreux (2011)
  • Chicago (IL) Firefighter Larry McCormack (2012)
  • Stamford (CT) Firefighter William O’Connell (2013)
  • Bryan (TX) Lieutenant Gregory Pickard (2014, posthumously)
  • Warren Township (IN) Captain Sean Killelea (2015)
  • New Haven (CT) Firefighter Jason Rivera (2016)
  • FDNY Firefighter James Lee Jr. (2017)
  • Cobb County (GA) Firefighter Rusty Brown (2018)
  • Hanover County (VA) Fire Lieutenant Brad T. Clark (2019)
  • Worcester (MA) Fire Lieutenant Jason Menard (2020)

Hand entrapped in rope gripper

Elevator Rescue: Rope Gripper Entrapment

Mike Dragonetti discusses operating safely while around a Rope Gripper and two methods of mitigating an entrapment situation.
Delta explosion

Two Workers Killed, Another Injured in Explosion at Atlanta Delta Air Lines Facility

Two workers were killed and another seriously injured in an explosion Tuesday at a Delta Air Lines maintenance facility near the Atlanta airport.