RAY CITY— Firefighter/photographer Rick Pennock has been awarded the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Firefighter of the Year Award. Pennock’s name was submitted for consideration by Ray City Fire Chief Robert A. Mikell. Pennock was selected from a pool of more than 250 firefighters in Berrien County, Mikell said.

Among the achievements Mikell listed for Pennock was the work he did during extensive wildfires in April of 2007. Not only did Pennock, who was new to Ray City’s Fire and Rescue Team, help fight the fires, he simultaneously documented the event with his camera. Before coming to Ray City, Pennock worked as a photographer and videographer for First Responder News, a fire service-related newspaper in North Adams, Mass.

Pennock has been with the Ray City Fire and Rescue Team for almost three years. He has taken on responsibility for raising public awareness of things like the hazards of in-home grease fires, creating a Web site with the do’s and don’t of how to deal with such life-threatening events. His videos and photographs have been featured on local and national news outlets like CNN News, Mikell said.

Pennock and fellow firefighter Dave Gilbert refurbished a retired fire truck belonging to Ray City’s Fire Department and turned it into a memorial for all those Georgia firefighters who lost their lives in the line of duty. The firefighters’ names are listed on a plaque that adorns the truck. Pennock named the truck Rosie, after a fifty-year old woman who became a firefighter after her husband died, and who later succumbed to brain cancer, he said.

The VFW gives an annual award to a law enforcement officer, paramedic, firefighter, and other personnel who performed significant public service the previous year. The certificate of appreciation reads: “In special recognition and highest praise for alertness, personal courage and ever efficient guardianship of life and property.”

“I was shocked,” Pennock said. He and his colleagues had been doing some work when he was told he had been selected for the award. He said he had a lot going on at the time and had forgotten all about it.