Dick Kinsey, Commander of the Short Mountain Highway Station was named “2010 County Firefighter of the Year” Saturday night during the department’s annual awards banquet held at the Smithville Church of God annex.
County Fire Chief Donny Green, who presided over the ceremony, said Kinsey met all the department’s criteria in earning this award. “Dick was awarded the firefighter of the year based on his community service, training attendance, and his fire call participation. He was scored on those three factors and he had the highest score. As a result he was awarded the 2010 firefighter of the year.”
Lieutenant Anthony Boyd, for the second year in a row, received the “Officer of the Year” award. Chief Green said the same three elements used to select the “Firefighter of the Year” are also used by the department in honoring the Officer of the Year, training attendance, incident response attendance, and community service. ” Anthony is one of our county wide lieutenants. He is a very active person in the department.. He does a lot of work behind the scenes, washing our turnout gear, etc. He participates in a lot of community service projects, such as seniors citizens events. He was involved at the Jamboree and he participates in other community service things that we do outside the department. As a result of his community service, his training attendance, and his fire call participation, Anthony was awarded the 2010 Officer of the Year.”
The “Rookie” award went to Kevin Adcock of the Short Mountain Station. Chief Green said this award is totally based on hours of training and goes to a firefighter in his first year of service to the department.”We base that award on training hours that they complete during their first year of membership in the department. We feel like that is a very vital part of their membership during their first year and we want to make sure they get good training. We try to recognize those firefighters who put forth the extra effort in making that first year on the department a good training experience. This year Kevin had the most training hours in the department and that’s how he was awarded the 2010 Rookie of the Year. He is from the Short Mountain Station and he has been in the department for about a year now.”
The Git-R-Done award goes to Billy Fuson of the Belk Station, who was unable to attend the banquet. According to Chief Green, Fuson has not only served the fire department but his country as well, having just returned from a tour of duty in Afghanistan. “He was deployed to Afghanistan a little over a year ago and returned in December. We award this to someone who has done something outstanding, not necessarily just in the department but outstanding in the sense that it reflected well on the community. This year we decided that no one was any more deserving than Billy Fuson. He has certainly served his country well and represented DeKalb County well. He has always been a very strong and active member of the department and as a result of his commitment and dedication to our country we felt that no one was any more worthy to be awarded the 2010 Git-R-Done Award than Billy Fuson.”
Two other firefighters, Assistant Chief Roy Merriman, and Lieutenant and Training Officer James Pennington each received a special award for their leadership in helping make the department’s training program one of the best in the state. In fact, for 2010, Chief Green said the county volunteer fire department was tops in the state for training hours. “There’s about 749 departments in Tennessee and we were awarded the number one volunteer fire department out of the whole state. We felt like these men were due recognition for heading up and coordinating our training program. It speaks well of our department and as a result we made a special presentation to Assistant Chief Roy Merriman and Lieutenant James Pennington for their efforts in making our training program such a huge success.”
Meanwhile Jerry Wayne Johnson, Commander of the Liberty Station received a thirty five year service pin. Captain Jeff Williams was presented a pin for twenty years of service. Lieutenant Jay Cantrell and Anthony Johnson and Darrell Johnson both of the Liberty Station were recognized for ten years,each receiving a pin for their length of service, and Lieutenant Bradley Mullinax and Jeff Rankhorn of the Belk Station each received a five year service pin. C.J. Tramel of the Short Mountain Highway Station, who was absent, will also receive a pin for five years of service.
Several members of the department were also presented cash awards, funded through a federal safer grant, which Chief Green said is to help retain and recruit firefighters.”In 2008, we were awarded a Safer Grant from the federal government that is a non-matching local grant and does not require any local funding, it’s 100% federal, to help us recruit and retain firefighters. Some of the things we’ve done is provide these training award incentives for firefighters such as length of service awards, firefighter of the year, rookie of the year, and for firefighters who made 100% of their monthly training or at least 75% of their monthly training. We’ve made those awards and we hope that’s a tool we can use to help encourage our firefighters to stay on board and continue being involved with training in our department.” Firefighters who made 100% of their monthly training each received $400 and those who made 75% of their monthly training took home $200 each.
100% Training Attendance Awards:
Kevin Adcock—Short Mtn. Station
Lt. Anthony Boyd
Lt. Jay Cantrell
Kelly Cantrell—Belk Station
Billy Crymes—Main Station
Larry Dalton—Austin Bottoms Station
Nelson Davis—Cookeville Hwy. Station
Chief Donny Green
Anthony Johnson—Liberty Station
Bradley Johnson—Main Station
Darrell Johnson—Liberty Station
Donnie Johnson—Liberty Station
Jerry Wayne Johnson—Liberty Station
Richard “Dick” Kinsey—Short Mtn. Station
Lt. Michael Lawrence
Jimmy Martin—Main Station
Kenny Maynard—Cookeville Hwy. Station
Ronald Merriman—Keltonburg Station
Asst. Chief Roy Merriman
Lt. Brad Mullinax
Jason Neal—Short Mtn. Station
Andy Pack—Belk Station
Robert Patrick—Keltonburg Station
Lt. James Pennington
Shawn Puckett—Midway Station
Jeff Rankhorn—Belk Station
Steve Repasy—Midway Station
Jason Rice—Keltonburg Station
Eric Snow—Main Station
Luke Tucker—Temperance Hall Station
Calvin Tramel—Midway Station
C.J. Tramel—Short Mtn. Station
75% Training Attendance Awards:
Lee Ansel—Blue Springs Station
Duncan Block—Austin Bottoms Station
Jacob Bond—Main Station
Gelasio “Marco” Chacon—Johnson’s Chapel Station
Kevin Cripps—Temperance Hall Station
Tyler Cripps—Temperance Hall Station
Bill Fowler—Temperance Hall Station
Gary King—Austin Bottoms Station
Logan Maynard—Cookeville Hwy. Station
Bob Myracle—Austin Bottoms Station
Dale Pack—Short Mtn. Station
Danny Parker—Johnson’s Chapel Station
Tim Pedigo—Blue Springs Station
Brandi Summers—Belk Station
Hugh Washer—Cookeville Hwy. Station
Captain Jeff Williams
Captain Mark Young
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