William Thurley and Lyle Boundy, pictured with Chief Jeff Fluker on the left, by a vote of the membership, were selected as co-Firefighters of the Year for the Bethany Volunteer Fire Department.
They received the award Saturday night at the Batavia Country Club during the department's annual installation and awards banquet.
During the evening's remarks, Steve Breckenridge, administrative president, noted the importance of the department to the community.
"The fire department is our community's largest service organization," Breckenridge said. "As we don't have any formalized groups like Kiwanis or Rotary. There's a 20 percent chance that sometime during the year, you're going to need some of these volunteers to come in and help you. Without their dedication and commitment, our community would suffer. My point is that we need more volunteers. We need to find more neighbors and enlist their assistance in keeping our community safe. We don't just need firefighters or EMT personnel. We need accountants. We need carpenters, metalworkers, anyone would be a huge benefit to our organization."
Chief Jeff Fluker, left, received the EMS Award.
Wayne Walker Douglas, in black, was honored for his life-long dedication to the department.
Walter Wenhold delivered the invocation and closing prayer.
Top responders in 2022 were Lyle Boundy, Carl Hyde, Vicki Wolak, Jeff Wolak, and Brian Britton (unable to attend, not pictured).
Jeff Wolak received the President's Award from Steve Breckenridge.
Jeff Fluker presented the Chief's Award to Vicki Wolak and Debbi Donnelly (unable to attend, not pictured).
Emergency Management Coordinator Tim Yaeger administer's the oath of office.
The Bethany Volunteer Fire Department.
