MV Fire Chief Receives EMS Service Excellence Award

Meadows Valley Fire Chief Doug Buys received the 2026 EMS Service Excellence Award from the Idaho Fire Chiefs Association this past Saturday, May 2 in Coeur d’Alene. The Association’s annual conference presents a handful of awards each year based on nominations.

Buys said he was told that he received nominations for multiple awards and the association chose to award this one. “Between the Fire Fighter 1 training and some of the big saves we’ve had within our district within the last few years, they said we were a shoe-in.” Overall, Buys affirmed that while this award has his name on it, “it wasn’t me, it’s my people. My people make me look good. I’m just a spoke in the wheel of everything they do. I’m very proud to be part of such an amazing organization and how hard these volunteers work. It’s really their award not mine.”

This is the first IFCA award Buys has received. He noted his attendance at the conference was made possible by IFCA sponsorship, saying the organization holds benefits and auctions to raise money for these scholarships so chiefs, especially from smaller departments, can attend when they otherwise could not.

The Association states its vision is to improve career and volunteer emergency services in Idaho noting improvement opportunities through characteristics like leadership, collaboration, education and safety. Buys said the annual conference was very informative and he most enjoyed networking with other Fire Chiefs. Around 150 chiefs from around the state attended. Buys said whether large or small, they all deal with similar issues and it was valuable to hear from them about navigating challenges, including community growth, as well as hearing what they are seeing in changing legislation. “Learning what works for them, trials, failures, successes” was all part of the fun for the MV Chief.

As part of this networking Buys said MV Fire was invited to train with Boise, Meridian and Nampa Fire Departments at their training facility, “which is really huge for a volunteer department.”

Chief Buys said considering recent developments and discussions around the Meadows Valley EMS District, “this was a nice recognition” and that it “shows that not only a small area, but literally the whole state, thinks we’re doing an incredible job.” As the award states, congratulations on “your outstanding contributions to excellence in emergency medical care.”