KEESEVILLE -- The Keeseville Volunteer Fire Department has earned an international recognition for its outstanding performance and service to its community.

Among dozens of nominations, the local department was selected for top honors in the 2008 National Higgins and Langley Memorial Awards in Swiftwater Rescue, which recognizes the preparedness and teamwork from departments across the world.

Later this month, Fire Chief Lenny Martin and three other Keeseville volunteers will fly to Colorado to accept the award. Past winners at the awards ceremony include the London Fire Brigade, Queensland Fire and Rescue Service in Australia and the Calgary Fire Department.

"I was surprised to see that we won because there's so much to it, and it's a worldwide thing," Martin said. "To be recognized is one thing, but to take top honors is just incredible."

In a news release announcing this year's recipients, officials said the Keeseville Department received the highest honor for "their visionary determination to develop a pioneering swiftwater rescue program."

"To be in one of the poorest counties in the state and accomplish everything that they've done speaks volumes about the people in Keeseville," said Tom Dragoon, who nominated the local department for "going above and beyond the call of duty" during the June 2006 search for his son, Mark, who drowned while rafting in the Ausable River.

Within hours of his disappearance, Keeseville volunteers began coordinating search efforts, which extended over 10 days and grew to include 310 community volunteers and officials from 45 federal, state and local agencies.

When the department began swiftwater-rescue training in 2004, they were hampered by a lack of funding but have consistently been working to create a highly skilled rescue team.

"When we started out, we really had no budget and just the basic equipment," Martin said.

Four years later, they have a steady team of 45 volunteers, 10 of whom are trained to the technician level in swiftwater rescue and 20 who have received awareness-level training.

About this time last year, the local department was awarded $60,000 for second place in the national Firedog across America Awards.

Martin said private donations and last year's contest winnings helped the department get the equipment they needed to support the growing program.

Dragoon was extremely pleased the local chief and department has once again been recognized.

He said Martin "has done so much to make the swiftwater team what it is, and he just wants what's in the best interest of the department and the community. This is such a huge honor for him and the department.

"And as much of an honor as it is for Keeseville, it's also a huge honor for the North Country. It was the spirit of volunteers all through the North Country that brought my son home two years ago," he said, echoing sentiments Martin expressed Friday.