WESTLOCK – The Westlock Fire Department honoured their finest Oct. 29 at the 2022 Firefighters Ball at Memorial Hall, an event that saw several local firefighters lauded, including this year’s Firefighter of the Year, deputy fire chief Kris Olsen.
“Kris has always been that guy to go above and beyond, not just as a fire officer but in the community as well,” said fire chief Stuart Koflick. “(For years) he was very much involved with junior forest wardens and currently, he is involved with the Barrhead Air Cadets. He is a commissioned officer as a Lieutenant.”
The Firefighter of the Year award recipient is nominated by the department’s membership and is chosen by an independent third-party. Koflick noted a challenging two years, beginning at the start of the pandemic as several volunteer firefighters moved out of the community.
“I’ve lost about five experienced members (including three firefighters, a lieutenant, deputy chief and a captain) so we’ve had people move up and fill a lot of big shoes and Kris is one of those,” he said. “He’s really earned that award. Kris was promoted to deputy chief, he was the most deserving and qualified member for that.”
Koflick said the deputy fire chief’s role involves coordinating training for firefighters and overseeing day-to-day operations, in addition to responding to calls.
“Over the last two years Kris has done a fantastic job filing that role,” explained Koflick, noting that it’s difficult to pick just one person, as everyone in the department is deserving of recognition for the work they do. “Kris has done a phenomenal job and has put a lot of time into making sure this department has the training and is able to provide qualified firefighters.”
Long-service awards
The department also presented service awards — Robin Brett received his five-year service recognition and Lt. Trevor Ehrenholz and Capt. Brian Hegedus received theirs for 10 years of service.
“We’ve all heard stories about what’s expected of us in our jobs, but there are a lot of people that go above and beyond that in every department and we have a program to recognize that,” said Koflick, noting that moving forward they’ll present the awards yearly at the Ball.
“It’s important to do it in public and that’s why we decided to present the awards at the ball."
The Alberta Emergency Services Medal, an honour for 12, 22, 32 and 40 years of service in emergency services sector in Alberta, was also handed out to Ehrenholz and Olsen who each count 12 years of service.
