Coeur d'Alene firefighters honored
Capt. Jake Bieker was celebrated as the Local 710 Union Firefighter of the Year during the Coeur d’ Alene Fire Department's annual awards ceremony on Friday.
Photo courtesy Coeur d'Alene Fire Department
Coeur d'Alene Firefighter-Paramedic Cody Moore was honored as the Employee of the Year, while Capt. Jake Bieker was celebrated as the Local 710 Union Firefighter of the Year during the Coeur d’Alene Fire Department's annual awards ceremony Friday.
The event at the Hagadone Event Center celebrated the outstanding accomplishments of 2024 and was attended by several hundred people.
"The event was a testament to the dedication and professionalism of our team," a press release said.
The ceremony featured the pinning of recently promoted Battalion Chief Joe Lind and Capt. Greg Thaxton. Engineer Brian Judge was also recently promoted.
Awards were handed out to recognize firefighters who ran 1,000-plus calls. The Ironman Award went to Firefighter Zackary Brawley for running the most calls, totaling 1,154.
Those running over 1,000 calls in 2024 were Firefighter-Paramedic Mike Bowlin; Firefighter Zackary Brawley; Firefighter-Paramedic Ben Kaiser; Firefighter-Paramedic James LaVille; Firefighter-Paramedic Sean Liebelt and Firefighter-Paramedic Morgan Zajicek.
Unit Citations were handed out to Firefighter-Paramedic Darren Tolan; Firefighter-Paramedic Joel Batchelder; Engineer Dave Tysdal; Firefighter Travis Hixson; Firefighter-Paramedic Mike Bowlin; Firefighter-Paramedic Nick Pozzesi; Capt. Nate Hyder and Firefighter Matt Glenn.
Awards of Merit were given to: Engineer Dylan Clark; Deputy Chief Bill Deruyter; Deputy Fire Marshal Craig Etherton and Deputy Fire Marshal Bobby Gonder.
An Award of Commendation went to Firefighter Blaine Porter.