(Seguin) — The service, dedication and heroism by those in the Seguin Fire/EMS Department didn’t go unnoticed in 2019. Several members of the Seguin Fire/EMS Department (SFD) were recognized and honored for their dedication, commitment and going above and beyond to serve the citizens of Seguin at the department’s annual awards banquet held recently.
Fire Chief Dale Skinner says each year, awards are given to individuals who play a major part in that year’s success.
“We had the Rookie of the Year which was given to Daniel Rodriguez. We had Firefighter of the Year which was awarded to Edward Reid. Our Fire Apparatus Operator of the Year which was awarded to Kurtis Kernan. Our Supervisor of the Year was Captain Kevin Rhea and our EMS Provider of the Year (and Civic Duty Award) was Sergio Guardiola. Then, we had the commendations. We had Derek Clark received the Fire Chief’s Cross medal,” said Skinner.
Other awards include the Iron Man Award presented to Cody Boehm and a Unit Commendation Award presented to Medic 3 and Engine 3 personnel for a specific call in December. Members included Lieutenant Jeff Kirkpatrick, Fire Apparatus Operator Patrick Hoeffner, and Firefighters Jeff Joslyn, Claudia Lopez and Gerardo Martinez.
Skinner says the city’s entire department deserves plenty of praise and believes Seguin is always in safe hands.
“We are one of the best in the state of Texas and I may be a little biased but I’ve had the opportunity to work at other fire departments and the men and women of the fire department are top notch and as you said, if I could give every single one of them an award I would because they are all deserving. They did a great job serving this community. They did it with pride and always professionals. It’s just that this is such a thankless job and so we take an opportunity to recognize them at least once a year to let them know that hey, what you do means something to this community and to this department,” said Skinner.
Skinner says the SFD had a busy, record-breaking year of calls and activity during 2019. The department responded to 5,745 calls for service, made 4,114 EMS responses, conducted 787 fire inspections, performed 506 pre-fire plan surveys and attended nearly 12,000 man-hours of continuing education.
Seguin Firefighters honored, recognized at annual banquet
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