SAINT SIMONS ISLAND, GA – Friday, April 4, was the night of the annual Glynn County Fire Department Volunteer Firefighter Appreciation Banquet. This night is looked forward too every year by many personnel of the Glynn County Fire Department, both paid and volunteer.  This banquet is the one night out of the year that volunteer firefighters and volunteer support staff are recognized for the hard work that they do on an annual basis.  Volunteers are just that, volunteers, they volunteer their time when called out to a fire or just simply performing duties around the fire stations.  It takes a special kind of person to awake during the middle of the night and make that decision to get up and go to that fire when the tones go off or simply turn that pager off and go back to sleep.

This year the banquet was held at the King and Prince Beach Resort on St. Simons Island.  The seafood buffet was superb and the wait staff was very polite and professional.  Even with the large crowd that was in attendance, the food on the buffet never ran out.

There were many special guests and guest speakers in attendance on this wonderful night.  Special guest speakers included, Glynn County Commissioners, Uli Keller, Cap Fendig and Carl Johnson. Commissioner‘s Uli Keller and Carl Johnson spoke about how much the volunteers have always been appreciated for their hard work.  Commissioner Carl Johnson even made the comment, “as long as I’m in office, the volunteers will be taken care of”.  Becky Rowell, who is the Assistant County Administrator, was also in attendance.   There were several retired Glynn County Firefighters in attendance as well.

Many awards and recognitions were distributed to several volunteers for their hard work during the past year.  In the Ballard Division, Karen Howard was honored with the award for Glynn County Volunteer Firefighter of the year for 2007.  Chad Everett received an award for recognition as the 1st Assistant Chief for the Ballard Division, and Doc Carroll received an award for recognition as the 2nd Assistant Chief for the Ballard Division.

In the St. Simons Island Division, Bobby Putnam was awarded with the Glynn County Volunteer Firefighter of the year for 2007.  Bobby Putnam was also recognized as becoming the 1st Assistant Chief for the St. Simons Division.  Diane Walters was also recognized as becoming the 2nd Assistant Chief for the St. Simons Division. 

Recognition awards for ‘years of service’ were also presented.  Volunteer firefighter Josh Bain and Hayward Johnson were honored with an award for five years of dedicated service with the Glynn County Volunteers.  Bobby Putnam also received recognition for his 25 years of dedicated service to the fire department

Congratulations to all those who received awards on this night and congratulations to all the volunteers who dedicate their free time to the Glynn County Fire Department.  Although there were several people in attendance and many names not mentioned, this night is truly appreciated by all the volunteers, both firefighters and support staff of the Glynn County Fire Department.  On behalf of all the volunteers of the Glynn County Fire Department, a special thank you to Chief Al Thomas for continuing the tradition and allowing this banquet to be conducted each year.

Kudos to Chief Thomas, and Volunteer Chief Combs for a job well done.