Northern Lakes Fire Protection District announces annual awards
Courtesy photos Pictured are 18 of 29 Northern Lakes Fire Protection District crew members who received 2017 Life Saving Awards. From left: Mike Avilla, Ryan Alltus, Brad Belmont, Fritz Wiedenhoff, Matt Legg, Burt Maines, Bill Clifford, Jarrod Pitts, Bill Daniels, Will Windom, Joe Mallrie, Bob Jaeger, Tyler Turrell, Justin Brodin, Scott Hochberger, Matt Usher, Marc Ghirarduzzi and Eric Sorenson. Other Life Saving Award recipients: Matt Dill, Josh Gernns, Forrest Muthersbaugh, Tyler Denham, Jerry Moreau, Amanda Tams, Phil Foley, Kevin Croffoot, Ralph Kramer, Garrett Kitterman and Chris Larson.
Deputy Fire Marshal Jim Lyon, right, receives Northern Lakes Fire District’s Employee of the Year Award from Chief Pat Riley.
Northern Lakes Fire Protection District, protecting approximately 108 square miles, recently held its Annual Awards Banquet at the Coeur d’Alene Shriners Club in Hayden. Eighty-six members and guests gathered to celebrate the past year’s achievements and hard work done in its duties. Seeing over a 5 percent increase in call volume during 2017, Northern Lakes responded to 4,924 calls for service between its two Hayden and Rathdrum stations.
Life Saving Award medals are given to crew members who play an integral part in the line of duty through prompt, alert and precise medical care or action, resulting in the saving of a life. This typically involves performing a field resuscitation of individuals in full cardiac arrest who are later released from medical care to return to a productive and functional life. This past year 29 crew members were involved in 11 lifesaving events with several personnel responding to multiple lifesaving calls.
“This is an unprecedented number of saves and exceeds national statistics for lives saved after a full cardiac arrest,” said a news release.
This year marks the first annual Board of Fire Commissioners’ Award of Excellence in recognition of, “Appreciation for your dedication and commitment to bringing acclaim and recognition to the Northern Lakes Fire Protection District” which was awarded to executive assistant, Valerie Knapp. She has been with the Northern Lakes Fire District since 2005.
Firefighter of the Year was awarded to Firefighter/Paramedic Burt Maines. Maines was selected by his peers for characterizing the best attributes of a firefighter during 2017. He has been with Northern Lakes Fire for 26 years.
For his commitment and contributions to the success of the district, Deputy Fire Marshal Jim Lyon was recognized as the Employee of the Year. Lyon has been with the fire district since 2011.
Four Northern Lakes Fire personnel were given special recognition for reaching 25-year and 35-year benchmarks in uninterrupted dedication to Northern Lakes Fire District (formerly Hayden and Rathdrum Fire). The Length of Service Award for 25 years went to Battalion Chief Kevin Croffoot, Capt. Ralph Kramer and retired Fire Chief Dean Marcus. Recognized for more than 35 years of continued service was Support Services volunteer Jim Monroe.
This year’s recipient of Northern Lakes Fire District’s Community Partner Award was the Coeur d’Alene Press after being nominated by fire personnel who stated; “The Press has shown continual support in getting out life safety messages for NLFD and the Kootenai County Fire Prevention Cooperative. They have always been professional and aware of safety concerns while reporting on emergency scenes and willing to highlight public education and safety events, even when reporters’ and photographers’ time were spread thin.”