January 21, 2020
By: Dwayne Page
Dustin Johnson, a Lieutenant of the DeKalb County Volunteer Fire Department, has repeated as the Liberty State Bank Officer of the Year.
Johnson received the award during Saturday night’s annual department awards dinner at the County Complex.
Rhonda Caplinger of Liberty State Bank and DCFD Chief Donny Green made the presentation.
This award goes to an officer of the county fire department who serves at the rank of Lieutenant or higher. Judges from the Spring 2019 Citizens’ Fire Academy scored the nominations based upon the following considerations: Training participation, incident response, and community service.
“In addition to his routine Lieutenant duties, Dusty serves as the Fire Prevention/Safety Officer and does a tremendous job planning, coordinating, and installing free smoke alarms in our communities. In 2019, he and his team installed 428 smoke alarms in homes across DeKalb County. For 2019, Dusty made 100% of his monthly training drills while also completing other outside training courses. When it comes to incident responses, he is consistently among the top achievers,” said Chief Green.
“If you know Duty, you know he unselfishly sacrifices his time for community service. As a member of the DeKalb Emergency Services Association, he played a big role in helping plan, prepare, and deliver meals to the needy last Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve. Dusty also serves our community in his role as Captain of the Smithville/DeKalb County Rescue Squad,” added Chief Green.
“Leadership is not a title; it’s an action. Dusty’s leadership makes the DeKalb County Fire Department better and we are proud to honor Lieutenant Johnson as the Liberty State Bank 2019 Officer of the Year,” said Caplinger.