Madrid Receives 2017 LBE Award

(Aden Seidlitz, NM Acting State Director; Hector Madrid; Eric Walker, NM State AFMO)

Hector Madrid

State Fire Management Officer

Bureau of Land Management
Honored for Motivation and Vision

Hector Madrid has been selected as a recipient for the 2017 Paul Gleason Lead by Example award. Four individuals from across the wildland fire service have been chosen to receive this national award.

The award was created by the NWCG Leadership Committee to remember Paul Gleason’s contributions to the wildland fire service. During a career spanning five decades, Paul was a dedicated student of fire, a teacher of fire, and a leader of firefighters. The intent of this award is to recognize individuals or groups who exhibit this same spirit and who exemplify the wildland fire leadership values and principles.

Hector was recognized for his strong leadership and unwavering pursuit to improve the BLM line-of-duty death gratuity payment process. Empathy for our fallen and their families became Hector's bias for action. Even though he knew this would be a challenging task, Hector did not hesitate to move the effort forward. Hector's three-year battle ended with a policy that allows the agency to make a payment to the family of a line-of- duty death within days of the incident. This change has had an enormous positive impact on surviving families and our most valuable resource—its people.

Congratulations on a job well done!