Members of the Bellbrook Fire Department are smiling just a little wider this week after receiving regional recognition for their work in customer service.

Chief Scott Hall was presented a plaque at last week's Miami Valley Fire/EMS Alliance meeting as the department was named the 2000 Customer Service Award recipient. City Manager Dave Hamilton and Deputy Mayor Robert Tobias were also on hand to accept the award.

According to Mike Haverland, Executive Director of the Miami Valley Fire/EMS Alliance, the award reflects the highest level of community commitment and customer service achievements by one of the Alliance's 25 members.

"The Bellbrook Fire Department always seems to go the extra mile when it comes to customer satisfaction," Haverland said.

Hall was proud to accept such a high recognition.

"Our citizens require us to be great providers of fire protection and emergency medical care," Hall said, "but it's the icing on the cake that we really like to focus on."

Examples of the customer service activities that occur throughout the year include the bicycle EMS unit, elementary school fire safety education, community CPR education, block party visits and the annual fire prevention open house in October.

Most importantly, however, Hall says the extra effort put in by members on incidents each day really makes a difference.

"We love going beyond what is normally expected of a fire department, especially when we can step in and make a big difference in someone's day," he said. "Our members also try to help out in situations that aren't true emergencies, even if the request is not fire or emergency medical in nature."

Also receiving recognition that day was Bellbrook Firefighter/Paramedic Gregg Nartker, who was nominated for an individual award for his work on Bellbrook TV.

The project, which is seen on Time Warner Channel 10, acts as a community bulletin board. Nartker is responsible for designing and producing the pages seen on Bellbrook TV.

"Gregg has really taken off with the project - and the community information continues to grow and grow," Hall said.

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