Members of the Fredericktown Community Fire District, along with their loved ones or guests gathered on Saturday night for the annual firefighter awards banquet ceremony. Sitting down as a family, the department enjoyed dinner while photos from previous years were shown on the big screen.
As the dinner came to a close, Chief Scott Mast took to the front of the room to begin the awards portion of the evening. The opening award of the evening was the “Flame of Distinction”, which was presented to Mark Phillips of Mid-State Waste. Phillips has played a key role for the FCFD in delivering and pickup of junk vehicles over the years that are used for department training. The ability for firefighters to train in extrication in-house throughout the year reduces costs and enables crews to stay prepared for the next call. In addition to his efforts throughout the year with training vehicles, it was his assistance at a motor vehicle crash in the fall of 2017 that made a difference in the life of someone who was trapped.
Fire Cadet Noah Smith, received the 2017 Outstanding Cadet Performance award. He was recognized for his efforts at a recent structure fire in Pike Township. He displays confidence, initiative, knowledge of his skills, and a love of serving the community. His efforts have been recognized be members of the department throughout the year. Cadet Smith is a senior in high school.
The awards banquet is also the time of the year when new firefighters who have completed their initial training and met all probationary requirements are officially sworn in. Taking his oath from Chief Mast was Firefighter Josh Staats. Pinning Firefighter Staats was Lieutenant Cody Beacom. Firefighters were then recognized for their years of service with members being presented with an award. Firefighters at year one receive their ribbon and with every five years are presented with a star device to be placed on the ribbon.
A very new, but notable award being presented at the banquet this year was designed to recognize the amount of work that members are putting in over the course of their career. Based around the total number of emergency responses in their career, firefighters are awarded this at specific milestones for service. Presenting the awards were Lieutenants Jeremy Moss and Charles Swank, who explained the award and presented it to the members who reached the achievement. At 500 runs a member receives the award, and then at each additional 500 there is a device presented to the firefighter to place on the ribbon. Members recognized were:
500 Calls of Service – Scott Mast, Dwayne Canter, Tony Schwartz, Shane Smith, Jason Bostic, Bronson Mast, Heath Kempton, J.P. Murphy, and Jason Whaley.
1000 Calls of Service – Scott Mast, Dwayne Canter, Tony Schwartz, Shane Smith, Jason Bostic.
1500 Calls of Service – Scott Mast, Dwayne Canter, Tony Schwartz, Shane Smith
2000 Calls of Service – Scott Mast, Dwayne Canter, Tony Schwartz
2500 Calls of Service – Scott Mast, Dwayne Canter
The lieutenants however were not finished with their awards once those hitting the 2500 mark were announced. Two special awards were announced and discussed by Lt. Moss for the members who reached a monumental 3000 runs over the course of their career thus far. Over their years of service, Chief Mast was recognized for his 3,152 calls and Assistant Chief Dwayne Canter for his 3,072. Lt. Moss and Swank put the level of dedication and work efforts into perspective as to the amount of work and effort that it takes to accomplish this level of service, the amount of time away from family, missing dinners, being woken up at all times of the night, and sacrificing for others. The strong work of Chief Mast and Assistant Chief Canter over the course of their career thus far at the FCFD has been instrumental in the many accomplishments at the department.
Receiving the Chiefs Award was Firefighter Jason Bostic. Awarded to him for his efforts in securing financial grants to the district, Bostic in 2017 was able to obtain $38,722 in money to replace radios, SCBA bottles, and provide firefighters with new hoods to reduce cancer exposure. Over the last nine years, Bostic has written almost $200,000 in successful grants to improve equipment and training without increasing burden on the taxpayers.
To close out the awards, Chief Mast presented the Firefighter of the Year award. This is the only award voted on by the membership, and for the second year in a row the person chosen was Lieutenant Kevin Suain. Lt. Suain is a valuable member of the FCFD family, being active on the dive team, an officer, an instructor for the fire cadet program, and generally takes care of anything that needs done around the firehouse. This is the second year that Lt. Suain was chosen for this award.
With the awards finished, those in attendance were able to watch the 2017-year in review video, which highlighted photos and clips from responses and department activities throughout the year.
The Fredericktown Community Fire District operates from two stations within the 115 square mile district in northwest Knox County. Fire and rescue services are provided by a team of 26 firefighters with varying levels of experience from the basic 36-hour to the 240-hour professional firefighter certification.
