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<\/div>\n<\/div>\nVolunteer firefighters and their families, along with community members and supporters gathered Feb. 3 for the Fortuna Volunteer Fire Department\u2019s annual Dinner and Awards Celebration. The event was held at the Fortuna River Lodge and Conference Center.<\/p>\n
Awards included firefighter and junior firefighter of the year, fire citizen of the year, years of service award, and the fire chief\u2019s award. The recipients are chosen by the Fortuna Volunteer Fire Department\u2019s members, and not by management or the board of commissioners.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis dinner is our chance to recognize those individuals that have gone above and beyond,\u201d Fortuna Volunteer Fire Department Chief Rus Brown said. \u201cIt is also a chance to get caught up with some of our former members who we may not see throughout the year.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Firefighter of the Year award (also known as the Captain Tim Smith Excellence in Firefighting award) was presented to Robb Foley, fire captain in the department\u2019s Company No. 4 (Hydesville). Foley has 15 years of service with the department.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year\u2019s recipient has been a major contributor to our training program,\u201d Brown said of Foley.<\/p>\n
Brown said he knows how much effort it takes to put together drills and make them relevant.<\/p>\n
\u201cRobb is always coming up with new and exciting ways to train better,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n
Junior Firefighter of the Year was Emma Covington, who has been with the Fortuna Volunteer Fire Department since 2021.<\/p>\n
The Fire Citizen of the year was Kirsten Foley, who manages the department\u2019s social media pages and is involved with many other fire department activities.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur recipient of the Fire Citizen award is someone who is willing to help out where it is needed,\u201d Brown said of Foley. \u201cShe and her husband Robb (this year\u2019s Firefighter of the Year) make an unstoppable duo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Foley was praised for doing an \u201camazing\u201d job at handling the department\u2019s social media.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll we have to do is give her an idea and she takes off with it,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n
Length of service awards were presented to volunteers who have served five years, and are awarded for every five years of service. Two longest services awards were presented to Brown for 40 years of with the fire department and Fire Department Chaplain Ted Silva for 35 years of service.<\/p>\n
Last but not least is the Fire Chief\u2019s Outstanding Service award, which this year was presented to Enoch Ibarra, who was unable to attend the dinner.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the years this award has been given to individuals who have stood out from the crowd, taken on extra tasks, and participated at a very high level,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year\u2019s recipient stepped up to take on a task that I have wanted to see developed for years,\u201d he added, referring to Fortuna\u2019s Community Emergency Response Team (CERT). \u201cI asked this gentleman if he would be interested in trying to start a CERT team in Fortuna and he took just a request and ran with it, and we now have a fully capable CERT team in Fortuna. Our community is better because of his efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n
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