Lee County Fire/EMS hands out honors

LEESBURG — Four individuals were recognized for exemplary service to Lee County by Lee County Fire and EMS Chief David Forrester at the Lee County Board of Commission meeting on Tuesday.

“Every year in public safety, the Exchange Club picks a firefighter and paramedic of the year in all of the surrounding counties,” Forrester said.

Selected for honors by their peers were Jonathan Sangster, who was awarded Firefighter of the Year, and Wendy O’Lear, who was chosen as Paramedic of the Year.

“I’ll tell you a little but about Jonathan,” Forrester said. “I’ve known him all his life. I got involved with him in the fire service. At an early age, Jonathan came to work for us in Lee County.”

Forrester said that Sangster left to “pursue his love of outdoors” and work on a plantation. While working on the plantation, Sangster was diagnosed with stage 3 Hodgkin’s lymphoma. After a year of treatment, he was cured and returned to Lee County Fire/EMS. Sangster also served with the National Guard during the first part of his career as a fireman with Lee County.

“He (Sangster) has been an asset to Lee County,” Forrester said. “He’s the kind of person that we look for that we want to serve the citizens of the county.”

O’Lear was told, Forrester explained, to be a full time employee with Lee County Fire/EMS, she would have to cross-train with the county’s fire program on top of her qualifications as a paramedic.

“Wendy was a little skeptical of that,” Forrester said. “She had 14 surgeries on her knees, four total knee replacements, and she knew that firefighter training is pretty strenuous.”

Forrester said that despite all of the crawling through the fire training, O’Lear never once complained. She pushed on to train and got her state firefighter certification. O’Lear also volunteers in the department’s in-house training program to teach EMTs. She was also acknowledged for her leadership skills.

The highest award given by the fire service is the Valor Award. Chandler Freeman and Richie Williams received this award. Freeman came to Lee County as a paramedic who cross-trained to be a firefighter, and Richie Williams came as a firefighter who cross-trained to be an EMT.

“On September the 12th, this year, at 3:17 p.m., we received a call for a structure fire at 726 Grave Springs Road,” Forrester said. “This call was called in by a passing motorist who saw smoke coming from the top of a house. While all our people were en route, especially them (Freeman and Williams), we received additional information that the occupant was possibly still in the house.”

According to Forrester, Freeman and Williams arrived on the scene at 3:21 p.m. and reported heavy smoke from all sides of the house. They entered the house with zero visibility and in extreme heat conditions to extract the occupant. They found the victim in the kitchen, but when they went to remove the person, the ceiling collapsed on them. They lifted the ceiling off of them and removed the victim from the building who was then air lifted out for the smoke inhalation. The victim survived.”

Forrester ended with, “This is truly the kind of employees we want in Lee County to serve the citizens of this county. Because of this, I award both of you with the Valor Award.”

Gypsy Crow