Slightly Off the Mark: Albion Firefighter Service Awards photos

On Saturday evening the Albion Fire Department held our annual dinner to recognize significant others, supporters and officials, and members who reached service year milestones. (Or, as I put it when I hit 40 years, survived.)

It was held in the Augusta Hills Event Center, which used to be surrounded by a golf course. Before that it was the town of Augusta, Noble County Seat (population: not many, but they had a courthouse and a jail.)

I'm only going to post a few photos to keep my blog from breaking, but you can see the whole post on the AFD/Fire Auxiliary Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/albionfd. Here's the whole list of recognized firefighters:

One year- Ryan Jones and Rob Davis (They got an AFD coat. I mean they each did, not one to share.)

Five years- Connor Marks and Bob Amber (But this isn't Chief Amber's first smoke-eater job.)

Twenty years- John Urso

Twenty Five years- Michael Davis

Thirty years - Bryan Peterson

Thirty Five years- Gregg Gorsich

Forty years- Kevin Libben

The committee, headed by Brian Tigner, did a great job setting things up, and on a related note I'm now a big fan of brisket.

(I didn't take these photos, by the way--I believe the Chief's wife did. I was busy stuffing myself full of brownies at the time.)

In his 40 years Kevin Libben has served in every major position on the AFD, including mucking the horse stalls as a rookie. If you don't think that's major, see what happens if you don't muck the stalls. Beside him is present Chief Bob Amber, who is, comparatively speaking, a greenhorn.

Gregg Gorsuch was not able to make it, so I won't make fun of him. A past Chief, he's worked as both a volunteer firefighter and a farmer, so he's clearly a glutton for punishment.

After 30 years, Bryan Peterson was forced to retire from the AFD due to a rare disease that causes uncontrolled beard growth. Bryan was rewarded with his helmet shield and turnout coat name tag, but he has to turn the latter back in if we ever get another firefighter named B. Peterson.

Mike Davis has completed 25 years as a firefighter, a job his father also held. I believe I trained Mike when he started, but he turned out okay, anyway.

John Urso is another who attained captain, Assistant Chief, and Chief status, not all at once. He's been on the AFD for 20 years, so long that some people can remember his hair color.

I'll risk crashing my blog with one more photo, of the most important group of all: the spouses of AFD firefighters. They are, from left to right: female. But we've had several women firefighters, so sooner or later there'll be an out of place looking man standing in the group.