Comox Fire Rescue recently held its annual awards banquet, where some of the firefighters were recognized for their years of service — in five year increments — while others were recognized for other contributions.
Firefighter Brittany Jones was recognized for her five years of fire service. Firefighter Jerry Snook for his 10 years of service.
Captain Bill Windram received a provincial long service medal for 35 years of service.
Firefighter Dave Davies received a federal long service medal for 30 years of service — combined with service in two other previous departments. Lieutenant Jerry Snook received a provincial long service medal for 25 years of service — combined with service in a previous department. Lieutenant Sandy Pridmore and Captain Corey Brooks both received federal long service medals for their 20 years of service.
Rookie of the Year was awarded to Brent Craven. Davies was awarded the Firefighter of the Year.
Lieutenant Terry Dean received the Stewart Rennie Memorial Award entitled, I Made a Difference!
Lieutenant Pascal Lafreniere received the Kevin Kimler Memorial Award, entitled Above and Beyond.
“I am so proud of all of our members,” said Comox Fire Chief Gord Schreiner. “It takes a very special person to volunteer for anything, let alone to be a firefighter, and an even better person to serve for many, many years. We are very demanding of our firefighters and expect a very high level of training and effectiveness from them. We are very fortunate, here in Comox, to have such a great group of firefighters assisting our community in so many ways. Our firefighters are our most important asset.”
Comox Fire Rescue has five full-time and 45 highly trained part-time members. Together they total about 400 years of service.
They responded to over 600 emergency incidents a year.