San Juan Island Fire & Rescue Honored for 2019 Service

SJIF&R Firefighter of the Year: (From L to R) Deputy Fire Chief Noel Monin, Kathleen Salinas and Fire Chief Norvin Collins

Fire Dis­trict Com­mis­sion­ers and hon­ored guests recent­ly attend­ed an annu­al awards din­ner and cer­e­mo­ny rec­og­niz­ing San Juan Island Fire & Res­cue (SJF&R) mem­bers for their ser­vice dur­ing 2019.

Kath­leen Sali­nas was pre­sent­ed with 2019 Fire­fight­er of the Year award for her out­stand­ing con­tri­bu­tions on a num­ber of ini­tia­tives and her com­mit­ment to her com­mu­ni­ty and to SJF&R. Kath­leen is a vol­un­teer fire­fight­er and Emer­gency Med­ical Tech­ni­cian (EMT) and she was select­ed for her lead­er­ship in com­mu­ni­ty risk reduc­tion and fire pre­ven­tion through the Fire­wise pro­gram and her over­all work as a com­mit­ted, respond­ing fire­fight­er, EMT and fire boat operator.

Brad Smith received the 2019 Rook­ie of the Year award for his com­mit­ment and per­for­mance dur­ing train­ing, as well as his excel­lent response work on calls. Vol­un­teer fire­fight­er Smith has exhib­it­ed out­stand­ing pro­fes­sion­al­ism, com­mit­ment and per­for­mance as one of our newest vol­un­teer firefighters.

At this year’s cer­e­mo­ny, Fire Dis­trict Com­mis­sion­ers and SJIF&R Chief Norvin Collins announced the pre­sen­ta­tion of four new awards:

The first Unit Cita­tion Award was award­ed to the Marine Respon­ders, the oper­a­tors and crew of San Juan Island Fire­boat One. The Marine Respon­ders were rec­og­nized for com­mit­ment to extra duty train­ing and response calls in 2019. San Juan Island Fire & Res­cue Cap­tain Kurt Long accept­ed the cita­tion on behalf of the 17 qual­i­fied boat oper­a­tors and crewmembers.

Chief Collins award­ed the first Fire Chief’s Award to Robin Gar­cia. Robin is a pay­roll deputy under San Juan Coun­ty Audi­tor Milene Hen­ley. In her role with the Auditor’s Office, Robin pro­vid­ed out­stand­ing sup­port to San Juan Island Fire & Rescue.

The inau­gur­al Commissioner’s award was pre­sent­ed to Com­mis­sion­ers’ Award to Har­ry See for his many years of com­mit­ted ser­vice in a wide num­ber of roles with SJIF&R and for his con­tin­ued leadership.

The inau­gur­al Hon­orary Life Mem­ber Award was pre­sent­ed to Fire Com­mis­sion­er Albert Olson for his years of ser­vice to the dis­trict as a fire­fight­er, fire ten­der oper­a­tor and Com­mis­sion­er. Com­mis­sion­er Olson has served as a ded­i­cat­ed vol­un­teer with SJIF&R since 1997.

Spe­cial recog­ni­tion was giv­en to SJIF&R’s top vol­un­teer respon­der in 2019. Brooke Sevi­er respond­ed to 150 emer­gency calls in 2019.

Total SJIF&R emer­gency response mile­stones rec­og­nized include:

• 100 Emer­gency Respons­es: Ian Jou­jan, Austin Fos­ter, Kath­leen Sali­nas, John Salinas,
• Adam Greene, Chuck Dall­dorf and Michael Jacobsen
• 250 Emer­gency Respons­es: Dave Mount­ford, Craig McConnell, Den­nis Sears, Jer­ry Sears and Vic­tor Capron
• 500 Emer­gency Respons­es: Ron Stanger, Erin Gra­ham and Brien Sesby

Recog­ni­tion for Total Years of Ser­vice to SJIF&R included:

1‑Year of Ser­vice: Alan Arrow­smith, Leo De Bruyn, Nate Fihn, Cam­mille Lay­ton, Iza­ac Newell, Erik Rez­abek, Jen­ny Shrum, Brad Smith, Karen Gen­try, Sue Ann Sta­b­ley and Kelsey Venegas

• 5‑years of Ser­vice: Sam Ibold and Nick Wainwright
• 10-years of Ser­vice:  Gilbert Venegas
• 15-years of Ser­vice: Brien Sesby
• 20-years of Ser­vice: Mark Tomp­kins and Jon Zerby
• 25-years of Ser­vice: Ron Stanger
• 30-years of Ser­vice: Peter and Susan Risser

SJIF&R Rookie of the Year: (From L to R) Deputy Fire Chief Noel Monin, Brad Smith and Fire Chief Norvin Collins

Fire Chief’s Award: Fire Chief Norvin Collins and Robin Garcia

Commissioner’s Award: (From L to R) Fire Commissioner Albert Olson, Commission Chair Bob Jarman, Harry See and Commissioner Frank Cardinale

Honorary Life Member Award: (From L to R) Fire Chief Norvin Collins and Fire Commissioner Albert Olson

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The San Juan Island Fire & Res­cue was estab­lished on Octo­ber 6, 1958. The fire depart­ment cov­ers about 55 square miles, includes all of San Juan Island, as well as Brown and Pearl Islands. For more infor­ma­tion, please vis­it http://www.sjifire.org/

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