Steve Repasy got the nod for the DeKalb County Volunteer Fire Department’s 2011 County Firefighter of the Year at the department’s annual banquet Saturday night.
Repasy received the honor  based on his accomplishments in training, as well as his response to fire calls and his community service participation.
Fire Chief Donny Green told the assembly that Repasy was an invaluable member of the department, and that his service this year has been an example for others to follow.
"Steve was nominated this year and his evaluation was of his fire calls, training attendance, and his community service,” Green said. “The fire calls and training attendance stand for itself. He excelled in both of those.
“As far as his community service, Steve has been very instrumental in helping us with our extrication program. He is a retired metal worker so he has been able to help us fabricate some of our equipment that we use on our extrication truck. He has been able to do some things that have saved us a lot of money with our extrication program. We didn't have to hire it done or we didn't have to buy the pieces of equipment that he actually fabricated.
“Many people may have noticed out in each community where we have a fire station, we have put fire station signs up in front of the fire halls,” Green continued.
“Steve took a lead role in getting these signs erected and put up across the community. He has spent a lot of his personal time. These are things we look at which are above and beyond the normal training and fire response. These are things our firefighters do out in the community and we try to look at the firefighters who excel in those things each year in selecting these awards, and for those reasons Steve Repasy was selected as our 2011 DeKalb County Fire Department Firefighter of the Year,"  Green concluded.
Officer of the Year honors went to Lieutenant Jay Cantrell, the department’s equipment officer.
The chief said that the award went to Cantrell for his help in maintaining the department’s equipment, and his assistance in getting the county ISO rating lowered last year.
"Jay spends countless hours working on buildings, equipment, and vehicles to help keep our maintenance costs down,” Green said. “The most notable thing that Jay does is that he keeps all of our equipment maintained.
“Proof of that is that during our inspections with our ISO evaluations this year, we were commended highly on the maintenance of our vehicles and the safety features that have been kept up on these things.
“Jay has played a very instrumental part in our department and as a result of that it has benefitted the community greatly because, as everyone knows, we have the reduced ISO rating and a huge component of that evaluation in that survey with ISO was how the equipment and buildings are kept up. Jay played a major role in that and for that reason Jay was selected as the 2011 Officer of the Year," Green shared.
Rodger Sweet took the Rookie of the Year award.
According to Green, this award is based on hours of training and only firefighters in their first year of service are eligible.
"We feel like during the first year of a firefighter's membership, the most important thing they can do is train, so that is the sole criteria that we use in the Rookie of the Year selection,” said Green.
“For 2011 Rodger had 174 hours of training, which is a significant amount of training. Included in that 174 hours was the 64-hour basic firefighter school and also the 22-hour live burn that is done at the fire academy. He has also done extra training to improve his fire fighting abilities.
“We certainly want to recognize that because Rodger has done a good job, as well as all these other guys that have come along this year. We define a rookie as any firefighter who has been on the department for a year or less. We pull all those training hours and then we determine who has the most training hours. Rodger had the most training hours for 2011," Green concluded.
Twelve firefighters were presented pins for serving the department for five years or more, including Green, who has been with the department for 25 years.
Duncan Block, Ryan Carlile, Gelasio Chacon, Larry Dalton, Cathy Jones, Bob Myracle, Wesley Slager and Paulino Solorzano were all honored for five years of service.
Jason Rice was recognized for being with the department for 10 years, while Gene Foster and Howard Pyles were presented 15-year awards.
David Agee, Anthony Boyd, Jay Cantrell, Kelly Cantrell, Gelasio Chacon, Nelson Davis, Bill Fowler, Anthony Johnson, Bradley Johnson, Darrell Johnson, Donnie Johnson, Dustin Johnson, Jerry Wayne Johnson, Kristie Johnson, Gary King, Richard Kinsey, Michael D. Lawrence, Ronald Merriman, Roy Merriman, Bob Myracle, Jeremy Neal, Andy Pack, Shawn Puckett, Jeff Rankhorn, Steve Repasy, Jason Rice, Robin Summers, Rodger Sweet, Calvin Tramel, and Jeff Williams all received 100-percent Training Perfect Attendance awards.
Lee Ansell, Jacob Bond, Kyle Casper, Billy Crymes, Billy Fuson, Donny Green, Shane Hickman, Cathy Jones, Jimmy Martin, Kenny Maynard, Logan Maynard, Bradley Mullinax, Billy Parker, Danny Parker, James Pennington, Richard Roberts, Paulino Solorzano, Hunter Stanfield, Bradley Taylor, Hugh Washer and Chris Wyke all received 75-percent Training Attendance awards.