January 21, 2024
By: Dwayne Page
The DeKalb County Fire Department introduced a new award during Saturday night’s annual banquet to honor one of the twelve station commanders.
The first ever Smithville Marine Station Commander award was presented to Andy Pack, Station Commander at the Belk Station. Wilson Bank & Trust was the program headlining sponsor.
Meanwhile, Lieutenant Dusty Johnson repeated as the Liberty State Bank Officer of the Year, and Justin Bass was honored with the “Git R Done” Award.
The Station Commander award recipient is chosen by the fire department’s officers. Considerations for this honor include meeting or exceeding the following standard responsibilities of the Station Commander position:
*Leadership at the station level – setting the example for members
*Oversight and accountability of the station and equipment maintenance
*Loss Prevention
*Membership communication and engagement &Community Involvement
*Participation and attendance at monthly officers’ meetings
*Understanding and communicating department guidelines and policies, and
*Timely submission of incident reports and monthly maintenance checklists and mileage logs
Based upon these measures, the officers selected Belk Station Commander Andy Pack as the recipient of the first ever DeKalb County Fire Department Station Commander of the Year award.
For the second year in a row, Lieutenant Dusty Johnson has earned the Liberty State Bank Officer of the Year Award.
This honor goes to a recipient exclusively selected from officers of the department who serve at the rank of lieutenant or above and for achievements in training attendance, incident response, and community service.
“Lieutenant Dusty Johnson attended 100% of the trainings for 2023. He is in charge of the smoke alarm program for the fire department and installs most of them himself. Lieutenant Johnson is the head of the DeKalb County Rescue Squad and under his leadership the Rescue Squad has been well trained and very dependable, thanks to him. Lieutenant Johnson is always helpful when it comes to preparing Thanksgiving and Christmas meals with the DeKalb Emergency Services Association. He helps with so many different activities and is an effective leader with the fire department,” said program emcee Alex Woodward.
The 2023 “Git R Done” Award went to Justin Bass of the Main Station.
“Justin is the type of guy who gives up a lot of his time for the fire department,” said program emcee Alex Woodward in making the announcement. “He not only has one of the top call volumes for firefighters but does many things in the department that makes it what it is today. Bass assists in many things such as training and he became a role model for all new rookies at the beginning of their career at the fire department. Justin teaches the 16-hour Introduction to Fire & Emergency Services course and has a great niche for winning over new rookies. He has a good attitude toward helping new rookies pass their first class and welcoming them to the department and his influence has turned many good rookies into great firefighters. Justin also helps the training officer to ensure quality training is provided to students in the classes they teach outside of the 16-hour introduction course. He helps with any work sessions the fire department conducts and worked the fire booth at the DeKalb County Fair for several days helping raise money for the organization. Justin spends a lot of time making sure different aspects of the department run smoothly. Anytime he is asked to take on a project Justin is always willing to help with a smile on his face. He also volunteered for the DeKalb Emergency Services Association in helping serve over 700 meals during Thanksgiving & Christmas for the needy in the community. DeKalb County should be proud to have Justin’s Get R Done attitude that helps make the DeKalb County Fire Department run smoothly,” said Wooward.
Safe Industries sponsored 100% training awards which were or will be presented to the following 29 DeKalb County Firefighters (some were absent from the banquet Saturday night to receive their award):
Justin Bass, Anthony Boyd, Triston Brandon, Luis Caceres, Blake Cantrell, Joshua Davis, Keith Elkins, Donny Green, Luke Green, Christina Hovey, Dustin Johnson, Heather Lader, Jordan Lader, Steven Lawrence, Cindy Nixon, Will Odom, Matt Olson, Andy Pack, Billy Parker, Robert Patrick, Cheyenne Phalin, Terry Phillips, Shawn Puckett, Blake Reffue, Frank Rodegeb, Robert Sartin, Eric Snow, Brian Williams, and Alex Woodward.
Meanwhile, B&B Emergency Equipment sponsored 75% training awards which were or will be presented to the following 13 DeKalb County Firefighters (some were absent from the banquet Saturday night to receive their award):
Clayton Anstis, Bill Brown, Sandra Caffee, Kim Cantrell, Alyssa Harvey, Andrew Harvey, Kyle Hovey, Donnie Johnson, Tony Moore, Steven Phalin, Steve Repasy, Calvin Tramel, and Parker Vantrease.
(Other stories from the banquet will be posted later)