Last Wednesday the Dauphin Fire Department got together to recognize the achievements of some of their members.
A semi-formal awards ceremony was held at the fire station.
Fire Chief Cam Abrey says that there’s usually a presentation to acknowledge their members either at the Firefighters ball, or the Council appreciation Dinner.
“We try to take advantage of those two events to do any kind of presentation, but due to the COVID restrictions, we haven’t been able to do anything since 2020. So last night was our opportunity to play catch up on some of these awards.”
Many crew members had to wait a while to receive their recognition because of the pandemic.
“Most of these awards and recognitions are from 2020. The 2021 recipients would have been the Level 1 students who received their badges.”
Badge presentations and the swearing-in ceremony included those that have completed their Level 1 Fire Fighting training since the fire station’s last awards event.
Tyler Abrey, Brendan Bogoslowski, and Evan Butler were presented with their badges; Daniel McKay, Brendan Greening, and Chris Davidson were unable to attend and will receive their badges at a later date.
Also acknowledged were those that completed the Level 2 Fire Fighting training. Recipients were presented with a Maltese Cross keychain. Recipients included Nathaniel Yury, Cameron Popiel, Jordon Steiner, Devin Kiesman, Sabrina Anderson, Tyler Abrey, Brendan Bogoslowski, and Evan Butler.
Retiring members were given gifts as a memento of the time dedicated to the safety of the citizens the station serves.
Those recognized included Richard Snyder, Ryan Clyde, Stuart Sinclair, Dave Height, Marie Sorlie, and David McInnes.
Dave Height says that his time with the Dauphin Fire Department was a good experience.
“It’s a good group of men and women to work with. Being able to represent the citizens of the city of Dauphin and the RM, was an honour and a privilege. It was nice to give back to the community.”
Several firefighters were recognized for their years of service.
Dave Butler and Justin Barsewsky were recognized for five years, and Kevin Hollyoake was recognized for 15 years.
Dave Butler says it’s always good to be recognized for the time and effort that they spend with the department.
“I’ve been with the Dauphin Fire Department for a little over five years now. I’ve been with the Gilbert Plains Fire Department for about 27 years as well. Whenever the guys were short I would help out, and just over five years ago Cam asked me if I would like to join the fire department on an official basis and I said certainly.”
Justin Barsewsky was recognized for his five years of service and was awarded Jack Carey Memorial Firefighter Of The Year 2020.
“It’s an honour to be able to receive that award, even to just get nominated for it. Lots of firefighters will get nominated for it, and those who’ve been nominated and haven’t gotten it, I mean to me it’s just as much of an honour to be nominated and to be able to win it. It’s awesome.”
The Exemplary Service Medal recognizes the men and women dedicated to preserving Canada’s public safety through long and outstanding service.
Those who received this medal are Allan Gray for 40 years of service, and Raymond Lofgren for 20 years of service.
Raymond was supposed to receive this award in 2001, which is when he retired.
“There’s an application process, and the person who was supposed to send in the application didn’t do it, so it got stalled for a few years. It was exciting to be recognized for the work I’ve done.”
Several members received the MAFC Long Service award. This includes Greg Acevedo for 25 years, Kenneth Ushkowski for 35 years, and Gary Hollyoake for 45 years, which was the longest period of service recognized.
To finish off the evening, the City and RM of Dauphin gave blankets embroidered with the DFD logo to each of the firefighters.
