Local EMT Elliot Zaret wins BLS Provider of the Year award

Please congratulate Elliot Zaret of Springvale Road! He has won Fairfax County’s 2012 Basic Life Support (BLS) Provider of the Year award.

As a volunteer Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), Elliot regularly rides and drives the ambulances based at the Great Falls Volunteer Fire Department (GFVFD). 

What sets Elliot apart from the many other skilled volunteers in the silent army of dedicated ambulance workers? Beyond his expert lifesaving skills that have aided countless citizens in their times of need, 

• Elliot empowers fellow volunteers. His gentle mentorship includes riding along with new volunteers and recent graduates from EMT training. By bridging the gap between the textbook and the real world, Elliot helps them feel confident in their ability to react quickly and correctly to emergencies.


• Elliot welcomes the community into the fire station. In 2012 he helped organized both the 70th Anniversary celebration as well as an Open House.


• Elliot shares his artistic gifts. He painstakingly rebuilt and restored the GFVFD’s decades-old wood dining table – not simply sanding and refinishing the table, but crafting it into a work of art, inlaying the station logo in the center and hand carving the legs. (See photos.)

If you would like to thank Elliot personally, he will receive the 2012 BLS Provider of the Year award from the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, February 12, 2013. Please join him in the Board Room at 12000 Government Center Parkway.