On June 1 of this year, local resident Chad Tucker was having some trouble breathing and was being driven to the hospital by his wife when they decided to stop by the fire station to have him checked out.

Within minutes of their arrival Tucker had a heart attack and had to be resuscitated not once, but twice by firefighters and paramedics in the parking lot.

Tucker and his family joined the department at their meeting and thanked the department for all that they do.

“You are very special people and I cannot thank you enough for all that you did”, said Tucker with tears in his eyes.

The second award of the evening was for firefighter of the year, which is voted on by department members.

Only two years into his membership on the department Erich Smith received the award for his dedication to the department no matter the day, time or type of incident.

“He always has a good attitude and is smiling when he’s around”, said Kris Bair as he presented Smith with the award.

Election of Officers

Roger Bennett will be serving his 3^rd consecutive year as fire chief and Chris Tomlinson will be the assistant chief in 2011.

The board of directors for 2011 will include Darrell Resler, Chris Holloway, Wayne Krider, Ben Rinker, Kris Bair, Bruce Shanabarger & Justin Snyder.

Ben Rinker was given the Firefighter of the Year award for his dedication to the department and it’s members. “Always willing to help out and be involved”, said firefighter Chris Tomlinson who presented Rinker with the award. Every week firefighters are asked to come down to the station and do maintenance on the trucks, clean the station and provide general housekeeping and Ben is always there willing to help out.

Tadd Shively received an Award of Heroism for saving the life of a woman from a burning mobile home in January of this year. Shively was the first firefighter to arrive on the scene and found heavy smoke coming from the mobile home and a woman still inside waiting for the fire department to show up. He acted quickly and safely in getting not only the woman but himself out of the mobile home before flames errupted from one of the rooms.

The department also elected their leadership for next year which is as follows:

• Fire Chief: Roger Bennett
• Asst. Chief: Wayne Krider
• Board of Directors: Darrell Resler
• Board of Directors: Chris Holloway
• Board of Directors: Ben Rinker
• Board of Directors: Kris Bair
• Board of Directors: Justin Snyder
• Board of Directors: Bruce Shanabarger
• Board of Directors: Ron Slagal

These two men and the entire department could use a round of applause, so feel free to do so below.