The Department of Defense Fire & Emergency Services (F&ES) community is on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at times putting their own lives on the line while "Protecting Those Who Defend America."

Most go unnoticed, but each year the DoD recognizes outstanding accomplishments and honors its fire departments and firefighters through the DoD F&ES awards program.

Commander, Navy Installations Command (CNIC) Vice Adm. Dixon Smith recently announced the winners of the calendar year 2015 Navy F&ES Awards.

"Bravo Zulu and congratulations to all of our Navy F&ES award winners and nominees. Competition at this level is very fierce and selecting this year's winners was extremely challenging. All participants should be very proud of their professional achievements and well-deserved recognition," said Smith in his announcement.

The Navy F&ES awards program was instituted in 1997 to implement the DoD F&ES awards program. Nominees were selected based on criteria developed by the DoD F&ES working group, which is composed of the chiefs of the service components' respective F&ES programs.

Regional winners are submitted to CNIC F&ES to compete for the Navy awards. CNIC convenes a panel to evaluate the submissions and select the winners.

Sixty nominations competed across 11 competition categories for the 2015 Navy F&ES awards.

The following winners will move forward as the Navy nominees for the corresponding DoD F&ES awards:

Navy Large Fire Department of the Year - Commander Fleet Activities Sasebo

Navy Medium Department of the Year - Commander, Navy Region Hawaii Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam District

Navy Small Fire Department of the Year - Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay

Navy Fire Prevention Program of the Year - Commander, Navy Region Hawaii Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam District

Navy Military Fire Officer of the Year - Aviation Boatswain's Mate (Handling) 1st Class Jason Bruce, Gulf Coast Navy F&ES

Navy Civilian Fire Officer of the Year - Mr. Matthew Goldstein, Naval Station Guantanamo Bay

Navy Military Firefighter of the Year - Aviation Boatswain's Mate (Handling) 2nd Class Derrick Rogers, Gulf Coast Navy F&ES

Navy Civilian Firefighter of the Year - Mr. Aoki Mamoru, Commander Fleet Activities Yokosuka

Navy Fire Service Instructor of the Year - Mr. Masahito Ogasawara, Commander Fleet Activities Yokosuka

The winners of these Navy-specific award categories do not have a corresponding DoD level award to compete for:

Navy EMS Provider of the Year - Mr. James Todd, Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay

Navy Fire Inspector of the Year - Mr. Yukihiro Taketomi, Naval Air Facility Atsugi

Navy Fire Chief of the Year - Mr. Warren Ferguson, Commander, Navy Region Hawaii Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam District

Navy F&ES Hall of Fame - Mr. James Meagher, Retired Region Fire Chief

Navy F&ES is just one of the more than 100 products and services managed by Navy Installations Command to support its mission of sustaining the fleet, enabling the fighter, and supporting families.

For more information about the Navy's F&ES program, visit http://www.cnic.navy.mil/om/operating_forces_support/fire_and_emergency_services.html

Navy Installations Command is comprised of approximately 52,000 military and civilian personnel worldwide responsible for the operations, maintenance and quality of life programs to support the Navy's fleet, Sailors, and their families.

For more about the Navy's shore enterprise, visit http://www.cnic.navy.mil

For more news from Commander, Navy Installations Command, visit http://www.navy.mil/.