Shrewsbury – Capt. Rick Tustin, president of the Massachusetts Association of Fire and Safety Educators, (MaSAFE), presented the Fire Chiefs’ Leadership in Fire Education Award to Shrewsbury Fire Chief James M. Vuona at the Fire Chiefs’ Association of Massachusetts’ (FCAM) annual professional development conference Feb. 4 in Boxborough.
“Shrewsbury Fire Chief James Vuona has changed the culture of his department through his emphasis on customer service, and has made fire education the cornerstone of that change,” Tustin said. “His ability to communicate and share this vision with his staff, residents and other town agencies is an example of his leadership in community risk reduction.”
MaSAFE created the Fire Chief’s Leadership in Fire Education Award to honor fire chiefs for excellence in leadership of community fire education efforts. Often these efforts are behind the scenes and not readily noticed. No community fire educator can be successful without the support of the fire chief. Introducing the award, Tustin said, “Fire chiefs know they not only have the responsibility to respond to and suppress fires but also to prevent them from happening. There is no better way to accomplish this than with prevention through education.”
Some of the programs Vuona is involved in include: fire station tours, educational classes for groups such as Boy Scouts, classes for members of the Senior Center/Council on Aging, the annual fire department open house and many learning opportunities in the school system. The chief continues to encourage members of the department to attend the annual Fire and Life Safety Conference which helps to build relationships with other departments and learn new ways of teaching fire safety.
