The 36th Annual Columbus Division of Fire Awards Banquet was held on Friday, Feb. 13, at the Villa Milano Banquet & Event Center in Columbus. The banquet celebrated the hard work, bravery, and compassion of members of the Columbus Division of Fire, and partners in area fire departments.

Please join us in congratulating this year’s honorees.

• Bronze Maltese — Firefighters Brendan Bobo and Wesley Chapman
• Distinguished Service Award — Lt. Kyle Haertling, Firefighters Cody Jenkins, Taylor Fogle, Drake Doersam, Joshua Lang, John McFarland
• Award of Excellence — Captain Jacob Farrell, Lt. Daniel Blanchard, Firefighters Brendan Chambers, Andrew Murphy
• EMS Award of Merit — Lt. Andrew Farrand, Firefighters Philip Nelsen, Cole Moore, Jarad Joliat, Thomas Covert, John Willison
• Public Safety Award of Excellence — Franklin Township Fire Department’s Captain Chris Helser, Lt. Nick Shirtziner, Firefighters Cole Coovert, James Nann, Carvel Mullins IV, Stephen Dickson, Thomas Hilliard, Tom Hart, and Treston Elbin
• Fire Chief’s Award — HazMat 4, Acting Deputy Chief Jeff Dhume, Battalion Chief Bryan Bishop, Captains Jim Ciroli and Jake Rotthoff, Lieutenants Eric Keener and Nick Davis, Firefighters Jerica Barnett, Cody Beacom, James Blair, Joe Broughton, Cory Conrad, Carl Cunningham, Stephen Elliott, Jeffrey Evans, Firefighter Timothy Grover, Byron Jackson, Curtis Kaiser, Ryan Kelly, Derek Lotz, Ray Masa, Thomas Massara, Brad Mathias, Cody McGirr, Scott Miller, Shawn O’Bryan, Jonathan Roback, Joe Robinette, Josh Singleton, Britton Stultz, Matthew Tibbs, Charles Willis, Heath Wiseman, and Robert Kelley
• Box 15’s Max Haverman Award — Firefighter John Lent
• Brett Barber County Firefighter of the Year — Firefighter/ Paramedic John Shearer with Westerville Division of Fire
• Civilian of the Year — Kelly Siemer
• 1 Unit Firefighter of the Year — Firefighter Jacob McCorkle
• 1 Unit Firefighter of the Year — Firefighter Phil Michalowski
• 2 Unit Firefighter of the Year — Firefighter Sean McCray
• 2 Unit Paramedic of the Year — Firefighter Stephen Peer
• 3 Unit Firefighter of the Year — Firefighter John McFarland
• 3 Unit Paramedic of the Year — Firefighter Chris Tietz
• High Quality Performance Award — Battalion Chiefs Mitch Brooks, Scott Sanders; Captain Robert Sowers Jr.; Lieutenants Quentin Cowdrey, Dale Emswiler, Joseph French, Tim McGill, Jeff Mills, Geoffrey Rhoads, Kylie Salvadore, Brian Smith, Matthew Syx, Steve Treinish, and John Wisenbarger; Firefighters Kyle Adkins, Nathaniel Alshaibani, Kevin Arnold, Skylar Baise, David Bartz, Travis Boyd, Thomas Brock, Jared Burkey, Eric Camacho, Benjamin Canniff, Bob Carpenter, Joseph Cashman, Colman Chaney, Winslow Choina, Canon Choumphonkeokiengkai, Matthew Chriszt, Daniel Coffman, Matt Collins, Rob Conley, Luke Cornelius, Thomas Covert, Zach Diakiw, Nathan Dunmoyer, Barry Eley, Oliver Faulkner, Darren Fields, Matthew Flanagan, Colten Foil, Samuel Foster, Christopher Fought, Alex Gibson, Alphonso Grant, Connor Hamer, Brandon Harm, Jason Hood, Jeff Janovak, Jeremy Johnson, Jared Joliat, Isaac Jordan, Joseph Kern, Devon Lee, Paul Leech, Brennan Lehman, Kevin Mason, Joshua Mathes, Ryan McClelland, Nathaniel McDonald, Samuel Mitchell, Alexander Moore, Cole Moore, Brandon Morgan, Anthony Mueller, Philip Nelsen, Kyle O’Brien, Hayden Palmer, Daniel Patton, Zachary Raker, Luke Randle, Joe Robinette, Amber Salsburey, Caleb Sample, Damian Santos, Max Sauer, Robert Selikson, Nautica Smith, Mason Soviak, Ronnel Spates, Brock Stonerock, Joshua Storrer, Bryan Such, Robert Thiel, Jake Trott, Jason Vincent, Troy Webster, Bradley West, Dan Whalen, Joshua Williams, Christopher Winterhoff, and Matthew Zitzman