Randy R. Bruegman Agency Innovation Award

In 2018, the Center for Public Safety Excellence® (CPSE) established the Randy R. Bruegman Agency Innovation Award in recognition of his quarter century of dedicated service to CPSE between 1992 and 2017. Building on CPSE’s core values, this award will be presented to an agency that has embraced continuous improvement, is focused on outcomes, and embodies progressive leadership.

This annual award will be presented to an agency that is internationally-accredited by the Commission on Fire Accreditation International® (CFAI) and has worked collaboratively within their agency and community to innovate a practice leading to improved outcomes that could serve as a model for the greater fire and emergency service. The goal of the award is to recognize, incentivize, and advocate for innovation in the fire and emergency service.

Learn about other CPSE awards or contact CPSE if you have any questions.

Previous winners

2024 Spokane Valley Fire Department

2023 Henrico County Division of Fire, Virginia

2022 The City of Riverside Fire Department, California

2021 Clayton County Fire and Emergency Services, Georgia

2020 Clackamas Fire District #1, Oregon

2019 Lincoln, Nebraska, Fire & Rescue

The award is open to all CFAI-accredited departments regardless of size, location, or type. Past award winners are excluded from applying for a period of five years following receipt of the award. Agencies of current members of the CPSE Board of Directors are ineligible to compete for this award.

• The innovation being submitted for consideration must have been implemented within the last three years.
• The innovation may be a process, approach, or service that is focused internally on agency operations or externally on services provided to the community.
• The application will be evaluated and scored on five criteria:
  • Outcomes – A measurable improvement in lives and/or properties saved and/or injuries prevented. Community Risk Reduction efforts that have shown measurable outcomes are encouraged. Data must be provided to support the outcomes measurement. (30 percent)
  • Innovation – A new, not previously-seen, practice or creative approach to an existing practice that aligns with the agency’s strategic direction. (20 percent)
  • Collaboration – Depending on the scope of the practice, collaboration within the agency, municipality, and/or community is required. (20 percent)
  • Replicability – The ability by other fire and emergency service agencies to implement a similar practice. (20 percent)
  • Application – Submittals must be thorough and complete. (10 percent)

• The application period will open each July and close each October. Applicants must complete the form provided and submit electronically by 5 p.m. Eastern on October 31 via the online form below.
• The application will be reviewed by a board-designated subcommittee that will recommend an award winner. The CPSE Board of Directors will review the subcommittee’s recommendation and choose the award winner. A single award will be made each year.
• The award winner will be announced during the General Session of the CPSE Excellence Conference.

The winning agency will be invited, but not required, to attend the general session. In addition, the agency will be encouraged to present on their innovative practice during the conference, and present on their practice by web. 

If you have any questions, please contact CPSE Chief Operating Officer Debbie Sobotka at dsobotka@cpse.org.

Before filling out this online submittal form, we suggest you download a Word version to complete your application offline and then copy and paste your responses to the questions into this form.