Forest Grove Fire & Rescue honors personnel at annual awards banquet

Forest Grove Fire & Rescue honored its personnel at the department’s annual awards banquet last Friday, recognizing years of service, individual achievement and two firefighters of the year. Chaplain Joel Peterson, who has served the department for 20 years, received both a years-of-service award and the Fire Chief’s Award for his work with the department’s CPR training program. Lieutenant Rob Webb was recognized for 15 years of service. A Shift — Captain Matt Rawls, Lieutenant Peter Smith, Firefighter Brad Shinpaugh and Firefighter John Gray — received a unit citation for responding to two separate critical assault medical incidents that occurred hours apart. Firefighter Greg Cates received the Award of Excellence for leading the department’s most recent career fire academy, which the department described as its largest. Deputy Fire Marshal Chad Toomey and Lieutenant Ted Penge also received Fire Chief’s Awards. Toomey was recognized for taking on several large department-wide events, and Penge for his shift leadership and management of fleet purchases and maintenance. The department’s two firefighter-of-the-year awards, split across paid and volunteer firefighters and voted on by peers, went to volunteer Firefighter Jeff Bade and Captain Will Murphy. FGF&R thanked the Banks Fire District for covering Forest Grove’s response area during the banquet so on-duty personnel could attend with their families.