By THERESA HELWIG
For Public Opinion
SHIPPENSBURG — Vigilant Hose Company, Shippensburg, celebrated its 42nd Annual Awards Banquet on March 23 in which members were honored with their service to the company.
Members of the fire company trained a total of 4,935 hours over the past year. Jay Showvaker was recognized as the firefighter who spent the most hours training, with 189, and he also attended to the most fire calls at 269 hours.
The Fire Police of the Year Award went to Ken Nehf Sr., who was recognized for his activity with the yearly fundraising as well as being an active fire police responder.
Year’s work: Shippensburg’s Vigilant Hose Company honored several of its members for their service to the company. (Ron Cressler/R.C.’s Photography)
The Junior Firefighter of the Year Award was presented to Adam Nehf. He was recognized for attending the training sessions, station duty nights and being involved with fundraising.
Andrew Haun was given the Go Getters Award. The award is presented to a member who is always willing to put in extra work and provide help whenever needed.
Two Fire Chief awards were presented, to Richard “Pap” Sanders and Dave Byers. They were recognized for their assistance to the overall company as well as the fire chief. The two recipients served many hours with the station, only receiving one day off per week.
The Firefighter of the Year Award, which is recognized as the most distinguished of the company’s awards, was unanimously decided on by the chief officers.
It was presented to Showvaker. Showvaker completed training for the BVR series, firefighter 1, firefighter 2 and fire instructor 1 during the year. He was also in charge of organizing the cleaning schedules as well as the overnight driver coverage for each month.
A special plaque was presented to the Shippensburg Emergency Services Building Vigilant members for their “countless hours of support and dedication in the planning and construction of the Shippensburg Emergency Services Building (SESB),” read the plaque.
Kevin Nehf provided many hours with the planning and construction of the building. For this reason, he received the President’s Award.
Kevin Nehf was also presented with the Barbour Memorial Award for his leadership, integrity, compassion, vision and courage with the Vigilant Hose Company.