At the MAFC’s annual conference in Virden on June 8, Rick Penner from the Carman-Dufferin Fire Department was honoured with the Long Service Award for his 45 years of dedicated service. The former Fire Chief in Carman, Penner was quite pleased to have received the 45-year award at the conference in Virden.
“I received an invitation a few weeks ago to attend the conference to receive my 45-year award,” said Penner. “The initial call and stuff was a surprise, if you will, so being able to attend and go to the banquet was great. I very much enjoyed going up to see some people that I hadn’t seen in a lot of years.”
The Carman-Dufferin Fire Department would like to thank the Oak Lake Mutual Aid District for hosting the conference event in Virden, MAFC President Kelvin Toews for presenting the award and to the entire MAFC for recognizing firefighters in Manitoba for the time they dedicate to their communities.
After 45 years of service with the local fire department, Penner still isn’t sure when he’ll retire as he’s happy to keep going at the pace he’s at now.
“I’m very involved with training in the department, as along with one of the other captains in the department, we do the Level 1 and Level 2 training for prospective firefighters for twelve fire departments,” said Penner. “That has been pretty rewarding to have people move through, as they spend several months with us, working on their skills and knowledge, and then their success at the end is a pretty good high.”
Penner also noted that the Carman-Dufferin Fire Department is at a very healthy state right now as they’ve recently hired four new firemen.
“We have great membership and great leadership. We’ve hired four new people and as we’ve had some past members resign due to other commitments. So they put out a call, and we have four new members. In the years to come, our fire department will continue to grow, develop and take care of the local community.”
