Charlotte, NC—Members of the Charlotte Fire Department were among several state swiftwater rescue teams to be recognized with the Higgins & Langley Memorial Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Swiftwater Rescue.  The award was presented at the National Association for Search and Rescue (NASAR) Conference in Oakland, CA on Friday, May 27. 

Governor Mike Easley nominated the teams in April.  "During the 2004 hurricane season, our state's swiftwater rescue teams saved more than 1,110 lives," said Easley.  "I am proud of our dedicated rescue personnel who put themselves in harm's way to keep their communities safe.  This award is a fitting tribute to their hard work."

"There are no borders in the fire service when a call for help is received," said Charlotte Fire Chief Luther L. Fincher Jr. "We are grateful the training and equipment made available to the Charlotte Fire Department can and will be used to protect the citizens of North Carolina. 

CFD's swiftwater rescue team is a component of the department's Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) unit, which carries all the necessary equipment for structural collapse, confined space rescue and trench rescue. The unit is housed at Fire Station #11 and is the primary unit for the North Carolina USAR Task Force-3. The Task Force also includes a Haz-Mat component, an Incident Support Team and the USAR component. 

Flooding is the leading cause of weather-related death worldwide. The Higgins & Langley Memorial Awards were established in 1993 by members of the Swiftwater Rescue Committee of NASAR in honor of Earl Higgins, a writer and filmmaker who lost his life in 1980 while attempting to rescue a child from a flood-swollen river, and Jeffrey Langley, a firefighter-paramedic who lost his life in a helicopter incident in 1993. 

For more information contact:
Capt Rob Brisley
Charlotte Fire Department
Office of Public Information
704.336.2094