Members of the Bonnyville Regional Fire Authority (BRFA) Station 5 came together to celebrate each other and their accomplishments.
On May 14, the local fire department commemorated a promotion, new faces joining their family, and bid farewell to one of their own.
"A lot of people put in a lot of hard work, dedication, and time to achieve some of this stuff," explained Capt. Dwayne Ethier, BRFA training officer. "So a little recognition on that as well as your hard work for the department itself as well as the significant others and the spouses. They put in just as much hard work as we do."
This year saw the Station 5 family grow by four, as recruits climbed the ladder to become firefighters.
Justin Veenstra, Ryan Melvin, Brendon Thacker, and Chris Reid received their pins.
For Veenstra, the title has a family tie for him.
"I've wanted to do this for a long time. My dad was a firefighter, and that's kind of why I wanted to follow in his footsteps. It's all new, all different, not the same at all, and it's really fun," he expressed.
Completing the recruit requirements was just one step in a new adventure for Reid.
"Putting in the 80 hours, going through the whole training process, it was really neat to be kind of through the initial process and look onto the next chapter of fire training."
After passing their 1001 driving operator course, which allows them to drive a fire truck, Curtis Blanchette and Steven Georzen accepted model versions of the rig to mark the occasion. Dylan Cummins also received his certification, but wasn't in attendance.
Blanchette was in the spotlight twice during the evening. He was promoted to lieutenant, and joined the officer core.
Hanging up his gear after six and a half years of service was Joey Masters.
As a thank you for his time with the station, Masters was presented a plaque.
"Tonight was hard to go through. It's been six and a half years with a great department, great friends, and a second family," Masters said, adding he was going to miss everyone at Station 5.
With the dedication from all the members of the BRFA, Ethier stressed that everyone deserved to be recognized.
"As a training officer, I get to see every single one of your skills and capabilities. There isn't a day that goes by that I'm not impressed with what you guys are capable of doing, and working together as a team. It gives me goose bumps when I see you guys work together."
Cpt. Dustin Ruck described the evening as unique due to all of the accomplishments made by the members.
"We celebrated all different levels of the firefighter career. We celebrated the new recruits, promotions, trainings, and retirement. Just to show we're a family, and we do go through phases."
