January 19, 2025
By: Dwayne Page
A member of the Liberty Station has won the DeKalb County Fire Department’s most coveted award.
Alyssa Harvey is the 2024 Wilson Bank & Trust Firefighter of the Year. She is the first ever female DeKalb County Firefighter to win this award.
Harvey was honored Saturday night during the DeKalb County Volunteer Fire Department’s Annual Awards Program at the county complex auditorium. Wilson Bank & Trust was the headlining sponsor. The emcee was Alex Woodward, a firefighter of the Cookeville Highway Station.
Meanwhile, Lieutenant Andrew Harvey is the Liberty State Bank Officer of the Year and Alex Woodward of the Cookeville Highway Station was selected to receive the DeKalb Funeral Chapel “Git R Done” Award. The DeKalb Telephone Cooperative (DTC) Rookie of the Year Award went to Terry Phillips of the Four-Seasons Station and the Liberty Station was the FirstBank Station of the Year award winner. The Smithville Marine Station Commander of the Year award went to Frank Rodegeb.
Alyssa Harvey’s award was presented by Fire Chief Donny Green along with Chad Colwell of Wilson Bank & Trust
In making the presentation, program emcee Alex Woodward said Harvey was selected from firefighters demonstrating excellence in training participation, incident response, and community service.
“Alyssa serves the department in many different roles,” said Woodward.” She is very active in call volume and always ready to help and assist on the fire scene. Harvey maintains the firefighter attitude and spirit in working around obstacles and getting the job done both safely and efficiently in a timely manner. She is a team player and works well with others as a vital asset to the fire department,” Woodward continued.
“Harvey not only serves as an active member of the fire department, but she is also the mother of four children and works for the DeKalb County School system. Although she has a very busy and demanding schedule, Harvey attends fire meetings, work sessions, training, and responds to calls. She is also a member of two specialized teams within the fire department, the wild land and extrication teams. Harvey gives back to her community by volunteering to help with the DESA dinners, after school programs, teaching students fire safety and prevention, and installing smoke alarms for households in the community,” said Woodward.
“Another vital role is her being the Communication Outreach Officer, providing communication via text messages to the department with information regarding trainings, meetings, announcements, etc. She also publishes, creates and maintains all of the department’s social media outlets, with posts almost daily and resourceful information for the citizens of DeKalb County and the members of the department”.
“It can be seen why firefighter, Alyssa Harvey, is the 2024 Firefighter of the year”, said Woodward.
*Walmart DeKalb Fire Department Length of Service Awards
Nine members have earned Length of Service awards. The 5- & 10-year awards were sponsored by Walmart while Middle Tennessee Natural Gas sponsored the 15, 20 & 25-year service awards.
5 years of service: Jordan Lader (Johnson Chapel Station), Billy Parker (Johnson Chapel Station), and Blake Reffue (Equipment Officer)
10 years of service: Lieutenant Matt Adcock, Jody Lattimore (Short Mountain Highway Station), and Steven Lawrence (Blue Springs Station).
*Middle Tennessee Natural Gas DeKalb Fire Department Length of Service Awards
15 years of service: Nelson Davis (Cookeville Highway Station)
20 years of service: Jeremy Neal (Short Mountain Highway Station)
25 years of service: Michael D. Lawrence (Keltonburg Station)