Safe Firefighter of the Month awarded to Lt. Lance Shaw of Grants Pass, Oregon
CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa. — When you’re a firefighter, you need to train like your life depends on it because, in the line of duty, it truly does. For Lt. Lance Shaw, an eight-year veteran with Rural/Metro Fire Department in Grants Pass, Ore., this is the motto he encourages his team to live by every day. As the July winner of Hale’s Safe Firefighter of the Month award, Lt. Shaw is being recognized for his initiative to help start a firefighter health and safety program.
“Statistically, if you look at the fire service, cardiac arrest accounts for almost 50 percent of fatalities. This is the reason I wanted to get involved,” said Lt. Shaw. “We’re looking at the whole wellness package, from mental to physical preparation, and trying to get everyone in better shape. We want to keep firefighters safe and healthy during their careers and into their retirement.”
Lt. Shaw, who is developing the program with another lieutenant and the department’s health and safety officer, plans to start a warm-up routine for all firefighter training exercises and a new, healthy eating regimen. He also wants to block off a regular timeslot each day that will be allotted for work-out time only. Lt. Shaw is working to implement the program not only at his own station, but throughout all seven Grants Pass fire stations, three of which are 24-hour staffed.
When asked what he thinks is one of the top lessons for firefighter safety, Lt. Shaw said, “Stay situationally aware — any time, any place — whether you’re working or not. To avoid any incidents even in your day-to-day life, you need to stay aware of what’s going on around you.”
To nominate someone for Hale’s Safe Firefighter of the Month Award, visit www.safe-firefighter.com. Each month, a top candidate will be chosen from the submissions made by firehouses across the United States, and the winners and nominees will have their photos and profiles displayed on the website.
About Hale
Hale, based in Conshohocken, Pa., is a fire and rescue equipment company founded in 1914 by three Pennsylvania firefighters who believed they could build a better fire pump. Today, the company has grown through new product innovation and strategic acquisitions to supply pump modules, compressed air foam systems, electronic controls and valves. For more information, visit www.haleproducts.com.