MARANA, Ariz. (KGUN) — On Wednesday, Northwest Fire District held its annual awards ceremony recognizing the work and accomplishments over the past year.
NWFD presented awards to community partners like the Town of Marana and personnel within the organization.
“I'm constantly in awe of our members,” NWFD Chief Brad Bradley said. “I feel truly blessed to lead an organization that is full of just absolute rockstars. These are some of the best folks anywhere in the country in the fire service industry.”
One of those recognized was Division Chief of Training, Ian Cassidy who has been with NWFD for about 23 years.
“It was surprising, but also very humbling and special just to be honored by your own folks,” Chief Cassidy said.
Cassidy received a commendation medal for his work in the training division.
“A lot of the work that he (Cassidy) has done is putting metrics to all of the things that we do and making sure that all of our processes are best practices,” Bradley said. “If they’re not, bringing them up to the standard of best practices and making sure that we’re really pushing the envelope in terms of making sure the training we provide to our members is the absolute best it can be.”
Cassidy says the program development and changes made would not have been possible without the six other people he works with.
“They’re the ones that really do the work and so this award was really just a reflection of what they’ve done,” Cassidy said.
Award Recipients:
- Commendation Medal: Division Chief Ian Cassidy
- Employee of the Year: Johanna Kraus
- Firefighter of the Year: Adrian Reyes
- Fire Officer of the Year: Captain Andrew Czosek
- Chief Officer of the Year: Battalion Chief Michael Rollman
- Fire Chief Citations: Assistant Chief Scott Draper, Raymond Thibault, Anne-Marie Braswell, Amy Allen
- Awards Work Group: Anne-Marie Braswell, Ian Cassidy, Calvin Misewicz, Nichole Robertson, Kristin Sillett, Pat Yarborough
- Community Partner Commendations: Guide Dogs for the Blind training program, Jim Miller, Town of Marana Parks and Recreation, Marana Police Department
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Madison Thomas joined KGUN 9 in July of 2023 as a multimedia journalist. She graduated from Arizona State University in May of 2023 with a degree in journalism and mass communication. She has lived in Arizona her entire life and grew up in Douglas. Madison is thrilled to share the stories from the community she grew up in. Share your story ideas and important issues with Madison by emailing madison.thomas@kgun9.com or by connecting on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.
