The Northumberland County Fire Chiefs Association presented, The Fire Services Long Service Medals, Fire Services Exemplary Service Medals and the Graduation of the 2017 Class of Recruits at the Alderville Community Centre on County Road 45 on Thursday, April 5, 2018.
The Master of Ceremonies for the evening was Fire Chiel Allen Mann.
Port Hope Fire Chief C. Ryan Edgar sang the national anthem, followed by welcoming comments by a number of dignitaries along with a smudging ceremony by Alderville First Nation councillor Julie Bothwell.
The 2017 valedictorian, Port Hope firefighter Peter Benson gave remarks to the guests in attendance.
Chief Mann offered a few comments to the new recruits.
“First of all, thank you to each and every one of you for stepping forward to serve your community.”
“Throughout your career as a firefighter you will hear the term “professional firefighter.”
“What does professional firefighter mean?”
“It’s not about whether you’re a full-time, a part-time, a volunteer firefighter or how much you’re paid.”
“I would suggest that it’s about how well you train, how well you do the job, how well you represent your department, your community and how well you represent yourself.”
“You will respond to good calls where a positive outcome is determined at least in part by your actions.”
“That’s a good feeling.”
“You will also respond to some not so good calls, where in spite of your best efforts the outcomes are, I’ll just say, less than desirable.”
“I can tell you that the public is always watching and judging you by how professional you are.”
“So, with that being said, I’d like to challenge you to be a “professional firefighter” and make yourself, your family and your community proud.”
“The fire departments of Northumberland work hard to come together in partnership with a goal of providing the residents and visitors of Northumberland with the best possible fire protection service that we can.”
“We plan together, we train together and when the going gets tough, we respond together.”
“Our mutual-aid system in Northumberland is recognized across the province as an example of how it’s supposed to work.”
“You’ve maybe heard the phrase, “the whole is better than the sum of all the parts.”
“That’s us, we are better when we pull together as one.”
The 2017 Recruits recipients are as follows”
Township of Alnwick/Haldimand
Alex Begg, Garth Bridgman, Sean Crowe, Darren Goodwin, Grant Hefferman, Jason Holzmann, Jason Maxey, Cole McBride, Mark Mitro, Craig Smith, Dawson Tinney.
Hamilton Townsip
Nick Anderson, Trent Clapperton, Bryan Curtis, Jared George, Elijah Graham, Brooks Heenan, Paul Kolobutin, Mike Lang, Hayley McNabney, John Mifsud, Robert Parsons, Brittany Pryce, Paul Sanche
Municipality of Port Hope
Jon Anthony, Peter Benson, Brandon Bliss, Scott Carreira, Kris Fairservice, Paul Griffin, David Hutnyk, Christopher Jackson, Mark Johnson, Nicholas Marcuz, Jordan Stevenson-Smith, Matthew Thompson, Lucus Toupin.
Medal Recipients
Town of Cobourg
20 year Federal Service Medal
Chris Post Firefighter
20 year Provincial Fire Services Administrative Assistant Award
Beverly Martin Administrative Assistant
25 Year Provincial Service Medal
Rick Martin, Acting Captain
Sue Martin, Companion Pin
Kevin Schroeder, Acting Captain
Lori Schroeder, Companion Pin
Hamilton Township
20 year Federal Service Medal
Trevor Clapperton, District Chief
30 year Provincial and Federal Service Bars
Gary Ferguson, Captain
Scott Minifie, District Chief
40 year Provincial and Federal Service Bars
Shawn Linton, Firefighter (retired)
45 year Provincial Service Bars
Ken Clapperton , District Chief (retired)
Municiplaity of Port Hope
20 year Federal Service Medal
Ian Archibald, Lieutenant
Phil Cranston, Lieutenant
25 year Provincial Service Medal
Darren Clarke, Captain
Tami Staples, Companion Pin
Municipality of Trent Hills
20 year Federal Service Medal
Brad Patfield, Station Deputy Chief
30 year Provincial and Federal Service Bars
Tim Blake, Fire Chief
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
