The team has been shortlisted in the category of Flood Response in recognition of their work during the summer flooding of 2007.

From now until July 3 the public have the opportunity to show their support to the team by voting for them by visiting www.localgovernmentchannel.com/awards or by using SMS text messaging - simply text to 80039 quoting LGATV followed by Category Number 7 and Lincolnshire.

Lincolnshire County Council and Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue is calling on everyone in the county to rally behind the team and get voting to give them the recognition that they deserve.

The team were selected for their dedication to duty during the flooding. During one 24 hour period they took over 1495 calls. The staff reported for duty during their days off and annual leave and were responsible for deploying fire crews to rescue members of the public from potentially life threatening situations.

Chief fire officer Mike Tomas said: "The floods could have been catastrophic for the county if it wasn't for the hard work of a great number of people in our service. Why the control team has been singled out for these awards is connected with their relatively low profile.

"Staff in the control team are really the unsung heroes of the service. They do not get a lot of public recognition for the work they do in the same way that frontline firefighters do but they are vital to the service we provide.

"During the floods, their dedication really came to the forefront, with people coming in when they were supposed to be off duty without even having to be asked. They then performed long shifts and in some cases had to be told to go home as they wanted to see the work through.

"The impact of their work can only be guessed at in terms of the way it prevented further damage in the county from the flood water."