Rural Metro Fire Department celebrated its employees during the 43rd Annual Awards Ceremony at the Grants Pass Golf Club last weekend.
Rural Metro Operations Chief Austin Prince emceed the event attended by nearly 140 employees and honored guests, and hosted by Mary's BBQ at the local club.
The event was shared with a formal retirement ceremony for Rural Metro Fire Chief Phil Turnbull and his impressive 50-year career of serving others -- 44 of them in Josephine County. Distinguished guests paid tribute to Chief Turnbull.
The evening concluded with the formal swearing-in and badge-pinning of Steve Nelson as the new Rural Metro Fire Chief. He was also honored for 35 years of service.
In between, many awards were presented including Firefighter of the Year to Dane Dellsite, Reserve Firefighter of the Year to Steven Teague and Recruit Firefighter of the Year to Pat Reilly. Instructor of the Year was Firefighter David Tackett and the Clinical Excellence Award went to Engineer Trevor Johnson.
Company Officer of the Year was Captain Ethan Coates and Support Service Excellence was won by Fleet Manager Brett Provost. Training Division Appreciation went to Firefighter Mike Sturm.
Lifetime Achievement and Career Legacy awards were presented to Mike Hanna, Charlie Phenix and Jes Webb. Jeremy George was promoted from Engineer to Lieutenant. A number of other Rural Metro employees were also honored for their years of service.
