EMS Provider of the Year
Honor your outstanding volunteers with a nomination for the Firemen’s Association of the State of New York EMS Provider of the Year Award. Each year, FASNY recognizes exemplary emergency medical personnel with this prestigious honor designated for those who best express what EMS is all about.
2018 EMS Provider of the Year Sponsored by:
2018 Winners
Ian King & Shane Sharkey
Southampton Volunteer Ambulance
Ian King joined the Southampton Village Volunteer Ambulance as a senior in high school in 2002, became an EMT-B in 2004 and an EMT-CC in 2006.
During his tenure with Southampton Village Volunteer Ambulance, he served in all three Chief positions, including three years as Chief ending in 2012. He started working as an ALS First Responder with Southampton Volunteer Ambulance (SVA) in 2007 as well as other agencies within the Suffolk County EMS system.
He has worked for Manorville Ambulance, Rocky Point Fire Department, Gordon Heights Fire Department, East Hampton Village Ambulance, Montauk Fire Department and is currently serving as First Responder Supervisor at SVA and Senior EMT at the Amagansett Fire Department.
Shane Sharkey started volunteering in the Southampton Village Volunteer Ambulance in the early spring of 2014 as a senior in high school. He also joined SVA in the spring of 2015.
He obtained his NYS EMT-B Certification in August 2015. He received recognition from the SVA as “EMT of the Year” in 2016. In 2017, he waselected to be the Second Assistant Chief of SVA and is currently serving as Chief of Department. He is a CEVO 3 Instructor and an American Heart Association CPR Instructor as well.
On June 18, 2017, the Town of Southampton Police dispatch received a call concerning a motor vehicle accident. SVA, along with Southampton Town Police and the North Sea Fire Department, was activated.
King and Sharkey arrived on-scene and notified dispatch that the vehicle was on fire with an occupant trapped within.
Without hesitation or regard for their personal safety and without personal protective equipment or a hose line to protect themselves from the flames, King and Sharkey descended a small embankment, traversed a dense thicket of vines and proceeded toward the burning vehicle.
The vehicle appeared to have rolled several times, coming to rest on its passenger side. The engine compartment was well-involved with fire. An arriving firefighter deployed a small fire extinguisher in an attempt to aid King and Sharkey by pushing the fire away from the passenger compartment.
King and Sharkey entered the heavily damaged cab of the vehicle and made contact with the occupant. While inside the cab, King and Sharkey deployed a small fire extinguisher to drive back the flames and facilitate patient extraction as the fire had gained intensity.
Working as a team, King and Sharkey managed to pull the victim from the vehicle and deliver him to a safe location, carrying him through the thicket and up the embankment to the shoulder of the roadway. They immediately began assessment and treatment of the patient. Moving the patient required great physical effort as the brush was dense, their path uphill and the patient, weighing 190 to 200 pounds, unable to assist in his own rescue. This was no small task.
Approximately six minutes later, flames from the vehicle reached 12 to 15 feet in height and were extending to the overhanging cedar trees. King and Sharkey had to retreat with their patient to the opposite shoulder of the roadway as the fire threatened their location.
The responding SVA ambulance and crew arrived and assisted with treatment and transportation of the patient to Southampton Hospital.
The actions of SVA EMT-CC King and SVA EMT-B Sharkey directly resulted in saving the life of the vehicle occupant at great personal risk, reflecting great credit upon themselves and exemplifying the best traditions of the Southampton Volunteer Ambulance, the Suffolk County Emergency Medical Services system, Long Island fire/EMS volunteers and EMS personnel everywhere.
Past Award Recipients:
| Year | Name | Fire Department |
| 2006 | Chief Leonard Martin, Firefighter George Bassler, Firefighter Ronald Ouimette, AEMT-CC Patrick Barriere | Keeseville Fire Department |
| 2007 | Firefighter James Rosse II | South Schodack Fire Department and Castleton Ambulance |
| 2008 | Firefighter/EMT Mark W. Gilson | Olcott Fire Co. |
| 2009 | No Award Given | |
| 2010 | Valerie White | Community Ambulance |
| 2011 | Karen L. Rathke | Southside Fire Company |
| 2012 | Kyle J. Reitan | Miller Place Fire Department EMS Corps |
| 2013 | Karen L. Haab | Springs Volunteer Fire Department |
| 2014 | William Street | Ulster Hose Company #5 |
| 2015 | Joel Melamed, Andrew Melamed | Albertson Fire Company |
| 2016 | Riley DeJong | Lewisboro Volunteer Ambulance Corps |
| 2017 | Brandon Sutton | Rapids Volunteer Fire Co. |
| 2018 | Ian King & Shane Sharkey | Southampton Volunteer Ambulance |