Gaston Rural Fire District

And the awards go to ...

About a year ago, Aaron Miller saw a poster about a firefighter academy starting the next day. On a whim he stopped by and signed up.

He completed the Firefighter I academy. Then the Firefighter II academy. He's dedicated countless hours at drills and calls, and even more helping out at the station doing any type of chore we need.

Fellow volunteers elected him Sergeant at Arms of the Gaston Volunteer Fire Department. He helps out at events, even helps instruct drills.

Not surprisingly, he's Gaston Fire's Firefighter of the Year, announced May 1 at the annual Awards Dinner at Elk Cove Vineyards.

Officer of the Year has been around longer. Forty years longer to be exact. He's Assistant Chief Chip Hoodenpyl. After 41 years he might coast a little, but he doesn't. Not even close. He always ranks among the top responders for calls and for drills attended. He leads by quiet example. No yelling, no insults. Just rolling out of bed at 2 in the morning for even the most routine call.

He shares stories gleaned from decades of service, all meant to help younger volunteers handle calls that might seem stressful to someone without Chip's experience.

This year saw three special awards for work behind the scenes.

One special award went to the person responsible for the evening's festivities. Deon Kellar is a firefighter and emergency medical technician, but those titles don't begin to cover all she does for Gaston Fire.

Events for the public are a big part of what we do, from the Easter Egg Hunt to the Pancake Breakfast, to Halloween and Christmas. Organizing those events takes weeks of planning, shopping and organizing a sometimes rag-tag army of volunteers. Deon does it all, plus she shows up early in the morning to cook and prepare and stays late cleaning up. But while we don't always see the hard work she does behind the scenes, her contributions do not go unnoticed.

The same can be said for another honoree, Justin Mesenbrink. Justin is a full-time career firefighter at Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue's busiest station in downtown Beaverton.

When he comes home he puts on a red lieutenant's helmet as a Gaston Fire volunteer. Like Deon, however, Justin puts in most his hours behind the scenes.

One of his major projects has been to standardize equipment on Gaston's three fire engines. That's no small task considering each engine carries an array of gear from many types of hoses and nozzles, axes, chain saws, defibrillators, medical supplies, flotation devices, exhaust fans, 'jaws of life' extrication tools, radios, manuals ...

At an emergency there's little time for firefighters to fumble around looking for the proper piece of equipment. Justin spent months planning how make the best use of the storage compartments.

Justin shares his vast knowledge of all types of equipment as an instructor at our Monday night drills.

A third special award went to Ken Bilderback, the volunteer Public Information Officer who joined the department 1n 2008 after a 30-year career as a newspaper reporter, editor, webmaster and marketing manager.

There were other rewards as well, plus a wonderful presentation from Paul LeSage, retired assistant chief at Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue and current director of the Washington County Consolidated Communications Agency.

We'll post videos and details in the coming days.