Local

City of Russell Fire Department Hosts Awards Banquet

Written By: David Elliott Published Date: 05-13-2021

Dennis Johnson, Dylan Riedel, Tyler Reynolds, Rick Webb and Jacob Boxberger.

The City of Russell Fire Department hosted its annual awards banquet Wednesday evening at the Deines Cultural Center in downtown Russell.

Jacob Boxberger was named the 2020 Officer of the Year and presented with the Earl Hemphill Award for Outstanding Leadership.

Tyler Reynolds was named the 2020 Firefighter of the Year.

Dennis Johnson was named the 2020 Rookie of the Year.

(Pictured: Johnson, Fire Chief Dylan Riedel, Reynolds, Assistant Fire Chief Rick Webb and Boxberger.)

Dave Glauner, Elizabeth Kruger-Sehl, Dennis Johnson, Kyle Wilbourn and Tanner Krug were all presented with their badges.

Keegan Dick was officially promoted to Lieutenant, Mike Schneider was promoted to Captain and Rick Webb was officially promoted to Assistant Chief.

Dave Glauner was recognized for receiving National Certification Firefighter 1, Hazmat Awareness and Hazmat Operations.

Certificates of Completion were also awarded to Elizabeth Kruger-Sehl, Dennis Johnson, Dave Glauner, Kyle Wilbourn and Tanner Krug for Firefighter 1, Kruger-Sehl, Johnson, Glauner, Wilbourn and Krug for Hazmat Awareness, and Kruger-Sehl, Johnson, Glauner, Wilbourn and Krug for Hazmat Operations.

Nate Geist was recognized for 10 years of service and Alayna VanDerWege was recognized for her time spent with the Explorers program.

Steve Knopp, Jeff Florian, Jordan Harrison, Rick Webb, Mike Schneider, Jacob Boxberger, Tyler Reynolds, Elizabeth Kruger-Sehl and Dennis Johnson were recognized for participating in 40 percent or greater of all fire alarms and over 50 percent of the required number of fire drills that occurred in 2020.

Fire Department retirees Steve Knopp and Gary Flax were also recognized, thanked and presented gifts.