Sanford, Fla. – The Seminole County Fire Department (SCFD) recently held is annual
awards Ceremony at the Sanford Civic Center, which was emceed by Orlando’s FOX
35’s Good Day Orlando’s Danielle Knox. More than a dozen awards were given out to
those who had gone above and beyond for the Department over the last year.

Longtime Geneva resident and Retired Deputy Fire Chief Jeff Ward was honored with
the “Pioneer Award,” which is presented to a retired member of the Department who
has left a lasting legacy on the organization. Ward served in the Fire Service for more
than 30 years and was instrumental in helping develop SCFD’s Training Center and
SCFD’s involvement with the Urban Search & Rescue Task Force 4.

“The majority of Chief Ward’s career was spent developing, supporting and mentoring many of the company officers and firefighters that gave SCFD the ability to be an All-Hazards Department,” said nominator Lieutenant Matt Jaynes. “Chief Ward helped us establish a premier Department having the most highly trained personnel in all different aspects of Special Operations. It’s rare you can look back at one person’s entire career and see how every day, when they came to work, they worked to better the job, the people, and better the Department in order to best serve our citizens.”

In addition, Seminole County citizen Jonathan Cruz was honored with the Citizen Award for his bravery in helping save residents from an apartment fire last year in Casselberry.

Other awards:
-Firefighter of the Year – Dan Felician
-Paramedic of the Year – Matt Humphrey
-Lieutenant of the Year – Theresa Krebs
-Chief Officer of the Year – Jason Moore
-Fire Department Employee of the Year – Robert Green
-Rookie Firefighter of the Year – Jackson DeCuir
-Fire Prevention Employee of the Year – Amanda Bannon
-Emergency Communications Employee of the Year – Marissa Mathews

Special Recognition Awards:
-Katrina Elliot Gentry, Retired Firefighter
-Michael Pattison, Technology Coordinator
-Sean Thomason, Firefighter

Community Service Award:
-Battalion Chief Christopher Baker and Lt. Chris Torres

Partnership/Special Thank You:
-First Responder Therapy Dog Winston & his mom Eric Bock, based in Chuluota