BOSTON, May 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Liberty Mutual Insurance, one of the nation's leading home and auto insurers, today is celebrating America's firefighters by announcing the recipients of its National Firemark Award. Lieutenants Paul McAllister and Christopher Seelenbrandt of West Warwick, R.I., are recipients of the Liberty Mutual Firemark Award for Heroism; and Lieutenant Robert Hendrigan of Brockton, Mass., has earned the Liberty Mutual Firemark Award for Community Service and Public Education. For their everyday self-sacrifice and tireless efforts to protect and promote public safety, Liberty Mutual will award the West Warwick (IAFF Local 1104) and Brockton (IAFF Local 144) Fire Departments each with a $10,000 grant in their respective winners' honor.

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A committee comprised of numerous fire safety organizations selected the Liberty Mutual National Firemark Award winners from among a pool of more than 150 firefighter nominees, each of whom had received a local Firemark Award from a Liberty Mutual Insurance office in their community throughout 2011. The selection committee includes representatives from such fire safety groups as the International Association of Fire Chiefs, the National Volunteer Fire Council, the National Fire Protection Association, the National Association of State Fire Marshals, the Society of Fire Protection Engineers, and the Center for Public Safety Excellence.

"The Liberty Mutual National Firemark Award winners exemplify the unique courage and commitment firefighters demonstrate every day to help us prevent the devastation of a home fire and to protect us when they do occur," said Greg Gordon, Liberty Mutual Insurance senior vice president of Marketing. "As a company that also embraces our responsibility to protect lives and homes, it is fitting for us to honor Firefighters McAllister, Seelenbrandt and Hendrigan, and to celebrate the countless men and women career or volunteer who serve our communities so selflessly."

Liberty Mutual National Firemark Award for Heroism

Lieutenant Paul McAllister and Lieutenant Christopher Seelenbrandt, West Warwick Fire Department

On March 1, 2011, the West Warwick Fire Department conducted an ice-rescue training exercise with four new recruits. Little did they know that only hours later two of their more seasoned firefighters would be in freezing Rhode Island pond waters saving the life of an 8-year-old boy who had fallen through thin ice. Lieutenant Paul McAllister was the first out of the truck and he set out across the ice in his survival suit connected to 100 feet of lifeline, falling through the ice three times along the way. About 20 feet short of reaching the panicked child, the rope reached its end. McAllister unhooked himself and continued without his safety line, reaching the young boy just moments before he lost what was left of a tenuous grip on the ice.

Lieutenant Chris Seelenbrandt, following moments later in the department's hazmat vehicle, arrived to find his colleague stranded more than 40 yards from shore, without a lifeline and with the young boy clinging to his neck. Seelenbrandt crept across the ice with 300 feet of lifeline to rescue them both, ultimately relying on the other West Warwick firefighters on shore to tow all three back in. The boy was treated and released from a Providence hospital later that evening.

West Warwick Fire Chief Joseph Baris says the department will earmark the Liberty Mutual grant toward purchasing a new boat, motor and trailer to aid in future water rescues. The department currently relies on a reconditioned inflatable boat; and that craft only recently replaced a 1954 aluminum boat the department was forced to retire after it proved inadequate during the 2010 floods.

Liberty Mutual National Firemark Award for Community Service

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Liberty Mutual Insurance Celebrates Three Firefighters For Outstanding Heroism And Community Service With The Liberty ...