Matt Flumerfelt
MOODY AIR FORCE BASE — Dave LaPlante has been fighting fires for over 25 years. A crew chief with the fire department at Moody Air Force Base, he was recently voted Moody’s Firefighter of the Year.
When approached for an interview, he said, “I’m not good at talking about myself. I’ll tell you that right up front.”
“Obviously he’s the best we have,” said Moody AFB Deputy Fire Chief Steven Seward. “He’s a very knowledgeable firefighter who brings a lot to the table. He’s multi-faceted. He does not only airport firefighting and structural, but we also use him for hazmat and confined space. He does an awfully lot of volunteering in the community. He’s part of the Lowndes County Fire Department at the Bemiss Road station. He’s a tremendous asset.”
LaPlante said his grandfather and father are both retired firefighters, his brother is a firefighter, and he has an uncle who is a firefighter.
“I pretty much grew up in a fire house,” he said.
At 40, he’s old enough to remember the days when firemen slid down poles through a hole in the floor when responding to a call. He did his training at Shanute AFB in Illinois, which, at the time, was the Department of Defense Fire Academy. It has since been moved to Goodfellow AFB in San Angelo, Texas, he said.
This is not the first award LaPlante has received. He has been voted Firefighter of the Year by the Exchange Club, has won the Air Force heroism award, as well as the Florida Volunteer Firefighter of the Year Award. He is also a member of the Georgia Search and Rescue (GSAR) Task Force II.
Asked how he felt when told of his most recent award, he said, “It’s always a good feeling to know that what you’re doing is the right stuff, and the people above you see that it’s the right stuff, and it’s their way of saying you’re doing a good job.”
LaPlante was stationed at Moody during his four-year Air Force enlistment.
When he got out, he said he was offered a job at Moody as a civilian firefighter and has been there ever since. Before that, he worked as a firefighter in Florida.
Firefighting at Moody is a little different than other firefighting positions, he said. The main difference is that the firefighters are trained and certified to fight aircraft fires. Another difference is that they are required to respond on all medical calls on the base. They are the primary caregiver until relieved by the base medics, he said.
He said his first fire call was in response to an attic fire.
“The two worst feelings I’ve ever had in my life as far as the fire side of it goes is the first fire I went into and the first fire that I stood outside and sent people into,” LaPlante said.
Asked whether he’s ever had to help get a cat out of a tree, he said, “Our favorite saying for cats in trees is that you’ve never seen a cat skeleton in a tree. Eventually they’re going to come down.”
LaPlante is a family man. He and his wife, Westy, have two children, Breanna, 17, and Alexis, 12.
