Retiring Glassy Mountain Fire Department commissioners honored: (Left to right) David Vaughn, Landrum; Dennis Geagan, Landrum; Richard Dusa, Travelers Rest and Dwight Hammack, Tigerville.

Glassy Mountain Fire Department named its 2015 award recipients for service to the community. The awards were presented by Chief Robert Staples during Glassy Mountain Fire Department’s annual awards and holiday banquet.

2015 Troy Cecil Pruitt Career Firefighter of the Year Award was awarded to Engineer Greg Lamb of Tigerville.

2015 Troy Cecil Pruitt Volunteer Firefighter of the Year was awarded to Sergeant Rob Hitt of Taylors.

Fire Chief’s Award went to Kelley Murphy, Administrative Assistant of Travelers Rest.

Cadet of the Year Award went to Zachary Coates of Travelers Rest.

Officer of the Year Award went to Captain Chris Shavce of Boiling Springs.

Rookie of the Year Award went to Justin Tinsley of Travelers Rest.

Assistant Chief Bryan Bailey was recognized for his 19 years of service to GMFD.

Tenure awards were presented as follows:

1 Year: Paul Bradley, Zachary E. Coates, Mason Duncan, Chris Fort, Manuel Fuentes, Greg Lamb, Levi Murphy, Haley Roddy, Chris Shavce, Laurie Staples, Hunter Swayngham and Hunter Ward.

2 Years: Devon Blanchard, Matthew Conoly, Rodney Duran, Gerald Gage and David Rochester.

5 Years: Engineer Caleb Palmer and Captain Jason Sprouse.

15 Years: Lieutenant Ron Messer

Certificates of Achievement were presented to:

Firefighter 1 Certification: Zachary Coates, John Roggy and Justin Tinsley.

EMT: Matthew Conoly, Haley Roddy, Mason Duncan and Chris Spencer.

Firefighter 2 Certification: Mason Duncan, Manuel Fuentes, Mark Smith and Hunter Ward.

Fire Officer Designation: David Hindman

Paramedic: Sybil Russell

Merit Awards were presented to:

Max Heim: Runner Up – Most responses to Structural Alarms with 50 alarms this year.

David Rochester: Most responses to Structural Alarms with 54 alarms this year.

John Roggy: Runner Up – Most Station Stand-by (non-POC) – 503 hours.

Eric McCarson: Most Station Stand-by (non-POC) with 899 hours.

Shawn Jenkins: Runner up – Most In-House Paid On-Call with 456 hours.

John Roggy: Most In-House Paid On-Call with 41/24hour shifts and 19/12 hour shifts – 1212 hours.

Easton Howard: Runner up – Most At Home POC with 212/24 hour shifts and 68/12 hour shifts – 5904 hours.

David Rochester: Most At Home POC with 248/24 hour shifts and 30/12 hour shifts – 6312 hours.

Mark Smith: Runner Up – Most SC Fire Academy Courses Completed with 255 hours completed.

Manuel Fuentes: Most SC Fire Academy Courses Completed with 307 hours completed.

John Roggy: Runner up – Most Training Hours Completed with 357.5 training hours total, with 251 SCFA Hours Completed and 106.5 In-House Training Hours Completed.

Zachary E. Coates: Most Training Hours Completed with 391 training hours total, with 207 SCFA Hours Completed and 184 In-House Hours Complete; also attended the most in-house training sessions (Volunteer) with 32 sessions.

Engineer/Paramedic Greg Lamb: Runner up – Most Training Hours completed -Career with 424 Hours.

Captain David Hindman: Most Training Hours Completed-Career with 769 Hours.

In addition, four retiring commissioners were honored for their service including Richard Dusa, Travelers Rest; Dennis Geagan, Landrum; Dwight Hammack, Tigerville; and David Vaughn, Landrum.

“We are very proud of all our staff, both career and volunteer, and the sacrifices they and their families make on behalf of the department and our district, but we are always in need of more firefighters and first responders,” Chief Robert Staples said.  “We have many job opportunities available other than fighting fires including mechanical, electrical, technical, painting, legal assistance, etc. If anyone wants more information on how to become part of our team, they should contact me at 864-895-4306 or go to our website at www.gmfd.net.”

The Troy Cecil Pruitt Firefighter of the Year Awards are named in honor of the founding chief of the Glassy Mountain Fire Department (GMFD). Troy Cecil Pruitt had the vision of the need to create fire coverage for the district and worked tirelessly to see the GMFD become a reality.

The Glassy Mountain Fire Service Area was established in 1988 for the purpose of organizing a volunteer fire department to provide fire/safety protection and a first response emergency unit within the community. The Glassy Mountain Fire Service Area covers nearly 52 square miles with a population of approximately 3,000 residents in the area known as The Dark Corner in northern Greenville County which stretches from the east at the Spartanburg County line on Highway 14 to the west of Highway 25 and begins in the south near Highway 414 to the North Carolina state line. The district operates five fire stations — Glassy Mountain (Headquarters), Beaver Dam, Oak Grove, Dividing Water and Cliffs — with approximately 50 career and volunteer firefighters and first responders.

-Submitted by Sharyn Arnold