Smithville Volunteer firefighter Hoyte Hale received the “Highest Attendance Award” Friday night during an appreciation dinner for city firefighters at the Smithville First United Methodist Christian Fellowship Center.
The award was presented to Hale by Smithville Fire Chief Charlie Parker.
Hale, currently deputy chief and a 30 year veteran of the department, attended the most incidents, training, and activities during 2014. “Because we are a small department, it’s hard for us to pick one firefighter of the year due to the dedication shown by all our members so we’ve taken the position that the firefighter who makes the highest attendance of calls, trainings, etc. we will mark their accomplishments. You can look at that as dedication because they are dedicated to rolling out of bed in the middle of the night, taking off work in the middle of the day, and leaving family dinners, etc. We mark their accomplishment as being one of the most dedicated by being the highest respondent to incidents and training. Out of the 220 incidents we had, Hoyte made 172 of them so that shows the dedication he had to the department,” said Chief Parker.
Other firefighters with high attendance responses to their credit were Lieutenant Jon Poss with 148 calls, Randall Hunt 146, Lieutenant Danny Poss 141, and Captain Jeff Wright attended 95 calls.
Two firefighters, Cody Fults and Dalton Roberts, were recognized as “Rookies of the Year”. “We want to recognize them for their extra work and dedication. They walked in off the street and wanted to know what it would take to be a firefighter. We started from there. That’s a real good accomplishment these days to have somebody this young who is that interested and dedicated,” said Chief Parker.
Meanwhile city firefighters were recognized for years of service including the following:
C.J. Tramel- 1 year
Dalton Roberts- 1 year
Cody Fults- 1 year
Bradley Johnson-1 year
Patrick Edge-2 years (in his 2nd tenure with department)
Becky Atnip-2 years
Shawn Jacobs-(Alderman and Auxiliary member)
Tyler Ludwig-2 years
Kevin Adcock- 4 years (2nd tenure with department)
Cory Killian- 4 years
Glen Lattimore- 7 years
Stephanie Wright- 9 years
Randall Hunt- 10 years
Gary Johnson-10 years
Wallace Caldwell (Chaplain)-11 years
Wink Brown- 17 years
Greg Bess (Photographer)- 20 years
John Poss (Lieutenant)- 24 years
Jeff Wright (Captain)- 29 years
Hoyte Hale (Deputy Chief)- 30 years
Donnie Cantrell (Lieutenant)- 35 years
Danny Poss (Lieutenant)- 35 years
Charles Parker (Chief)- 35 years.
In addition to the firefighters and their spouses, the event was attended by Mayor Jimmy Poss and Aldermen Danny Washer, Gayla Hendrix, Josh Miller and Shawn Jacobs and members of their families. City officials expressed appreciation to the firefighters for the work they do and their commitment to helping improve the operation of the fire department to keep residents safer.
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