Firefighters honored with awards for service
Volunteer firefighters and their families, along with community members and supporters, gathered Feb. 3 for the Fortuna Volunteer Fire Department's annual Dinner and Awards Celebration at the Fortuna River Lodge and Conference Center.
Awards included firefighter and junior firefighter of the year, fire citizen of the year, years of service award and the fire chief's award. Recipients are chosen by the Fortuna Volunteer Fire Department's members, and not by management or the board of commissioners.
“This dinner is our chance to recognize those individuals that have gone above and beyond,” Fortuna Volunteer Fire Department Chief Rus Brown said. “It is also a chance to get caught up with some of our former members who we may not see throughout the year.”
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's Company No. 4 (Hydesville). Foley has 15 years of service with the department.
“This year's recipient has been a major contributor to our training program,” Brown said of Foley.
Brown said he knows how much effort it takes to put together drills and make them relevant.
“Robb is always coming up with new and exciting ways to train better,” Brown said.
Junior Firefighter of the Year was Emma Covington, who has been with the Fortuna Volunteer Fire Department since 2021.
The Fire Citizen of the year was Kirsten Foley, who manages the department's social media pages and is involved with many other fire department activities.
“Our recipient of the Fire Citizen award is someone who is willing to help out where it is needed,” Brown said of Foley. “She and her husband Robb (this year's Firefighter of the Year) make an unstoppable duo.”
Foley was praised for doing an “amazing” job at handling the department's social media.
“All we have to do is give her an idea and she takes off with it,” Brown said.
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.
Last but not least is the Fire Chief's Outstanding Service award, which this year was presented to Enoch Ibarra, who was unable to attend the dinner.
“Over 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,” Brown said.
“This year's recipient stepped up to take on a task that I have wanted to see developed for years,” he added, referring to Fortuna's Community Emergency Response Team (CERT). “I 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.”