The International Aerial Firefighting Award is presented annually to recognize a significant contribution by an individual or organization to aerial firefighting.
The award was inaugurated in honor of the late Walt Darran, who was a pioneer and advocate for advances in aerial firefighting. Being a highly experienced S2-T airtanker pilot and former highly decorated U.S. Navy aviator from California, Walt was a constant and passionate advocate for safety and improvement in the international aerial firefighting community.
Award nomination process
The International Aerial Firefighting Award is a peer award, awarded by the global aerial firefighting community. The Award Committee now calls for nominations from the aerial firefighting community for the International Aerial Firefighting Award 2018.
- Nominations may be made by any individual or organization who can reasonably be considered by the committee to be a member of the global aerial firefighting or wild land firefighting communities.
- Individuals or organizations may not nominate themselves.
- Nominations must be accompanied by a clear statement outlining the reasons why the nominator considers the candidate to be eligible for the award, and describing the contribution made to aerial firefighting.
- Nominations must clearly identify the nominator. Contact details for the nominator must be provided.
- Nominations must be made to the person/organization specified by the committee, in each call for nominations, to receive nominations on behalf of the committee.
- Nominations must be received by the closing date specified by the committee in each call for nominations.
Award Committee
The nominations and resultant winner are administered by the International Award Committee – an independent international consortium from the International Fire Aviation Working Group (IFAWG) and Associated Aerial Firefighters.
The award is sponsored by Tangent Link Ltd., which agreed to provide publicity and the stage setting for the global aerial firefighting community.
Who can be nominated?
- Any person who has made a significant contribution to furthering the safety and/or efficiency of aerial firefighting.
- Any organization that has made an outstanding contribution to furthering the safety and/or efficiency of aerial firefighting.
Nominations can be submitted here; the closing date for nominations is March 2, 2018. The award will be presented at the Aerial Firefighting Conference Dinner taking place on March 13, 2018 during Aerial Firefighting North America 2018 in Sacramento, California.
About Walt Darran
The award was inaugurated in honor of the late Walt Darran (1940 to 2013) who truly embodied the aviator pioneering spirit and continued to be active in the international aerial firefighting community right up to his untimely death in 2013.
After 19 seasons as an air tanker captain, Walt finally retired from flying aerial firefighting missions in 2009 and took up the mantle of president of the Association of Aerial Firefighters, now known as the Associated Aerial Firefighters (AAF), committing the last decade of his life to promoting training and improving flight safety for aerial firefighting pilots.
