By Tim Hudson
Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise
DEWEY, Okla. — Dewey’s fire chief was recently honored with a prestigious statewide award for instruction.
Dewey Fire Chief Dale Little won the 2015 Harvey Conner EMS Instructor of the Year award from the Oklahoma Emergency Medical Technician Association, according to Dewey City Manager Kevin Trease.
“This is a real honor,” Trease said. “He was chosen over candidates from much larger departments and municipalities. For us, Dale is an outstanding instructor and I think this just shows that now the state has recognized that as well.”
The Dewey Fire Department consists of 22 volunteers. Little has served as a firefighter since 1992, and an EMT since 1994.
Little said the award caught him completely off guard.
“I was totally shocked,” he said, adding that he had just returned from a vacation, but co-workers convinced him to attend the awards ceremony under the guise that he was to hand out an award.
“They convinced me that I needed to go and present this award,” he said. “It’s a statewide convention for EMTs and they give out several awards.”
OEMTA winners must first be nominated by students or colleagues and then voted upon by the OEMTA board. In Little’s case, the nomination came after he did a pediatric life support training class.
“He instructs all over the state,” Trease said. “And that’s just on the medical side, he does a lot of fire service training, too. Fire service has evolved over the years and Dale was instrumental in helping to push that along.”
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(c)2015 the Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise (Bartlesville, Okla.)
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