Awards, Commendations & Medals

Meritorious Awards

Wilbur Smart Firefighter’s Medal of Honor

The Fire Department’s highest award, awarded to a firefighter who distinguishes themselves conspicuously by an act of heroism at the risk of the firefighter’s life, above and beyond the call of duty, while engaged in the mediation of an emergency situation. 

• Wilbur Smart (14 June 1968)
• Charles VanNostrand (14 June 1968)

Firefighter’s Medal of Valor

This is awarded to a firefighter who is cited for various acts of heroism involving the risk of life. The act must be in excess of normal demands of duty, and of such a nature to involve serious and imminent threat to the safety of the public or fellow firefighters, but to a lesser degree than that required for the Medal of Honor.

Firefighter’s Life Saving Award

This is awarded to a firefighter who is directly responsible for the saving of human life from fire, water, hazardous materials, or a condition that clearly places the individual’s life in danger and they are unable to rescue themselves. 

• Captain Leon Nolen (9 November 2004)
• Firefighter Adam Teague (9 June 2011)
• Firefighter/Paramedic Trey Hurley (19 March 2012)
• Firefighter/Paramedic Trey Hurley (2014)
• Firefighter Tyler Lachowsky (2014)
• Firefighter Johnathan Thompson (2014)
• Firefighter Mark Evans (2014)
• Lieutenant Kristopher Roachell (2015)
  

Certificate of Commendation

This is awarded to a firefighter for exceptional meritorious service. It may be issued for work performed under unusual, complicated, or hazardous conditions or for work of exceptional quality.

• Captain Rodney Ashley (2014)
• Lieutenant Grant Warner (2014)
• Lieutenant Danny Akines (2014)
• Firefighter/Paramedic Mark Evans (2017)
• Lieutenant Allen Wells (2017)
  

Meritorious Unit Commendation

Awarded to a unit such as an engine or truck company, fire station, ambulance crew, or other group of individuals recognized as a unit within the fire department organization who have performed an act or acts of outstanding and distinguished service. 

• Engine 4, Medic 1, Black Shift (9 November 2004)
• Captain Leon Nolen, Firefighter Cordell Casey, Firefighter Sam Ford, Firefighter David Jones
• Engine 2, Medic 2, Black Shift (9 June 2011)
• Captain Randall Heffner, Firefighter Stoney White, Firefighter Clark Coleman, Firefighter Adam Teague
• Engine 1, Medic 1, Medic 2, Medic 3 (19 March 2012)
• Captain Dewey Coy, Lieutenant Robert Hazeslip, Firefighter Jonathon Thompson, Firefighter Ray Brazzell, Firefighter Adam Jones, Firefighter Trey Hurley, Firefighter Stoney White, Firefighter Andy Bates (2013)
• Medic1 Firefighter Mark Evans, Firefighter Allen Wells, Firefighter Scotty Strayhorn (2014)
• Medic 2 Firefighter Trey Hurley, Firefighter Tyler Lachowsky (2014)
• Rescue 1 Lieutenant Danny Akines, Lieutenant Grant Warner (2014)
• Engine 2 Captain Rodney Ashley, Firefighter Johnathan Thompson (2014)
• Engine 3 Lieutenant Kristopher Roachell, Lieutenant Grant Warner (2015)
  

Purple Heart

Awarded to an individual who was injured in the line of duty

• Lieutenant Jason Bowmaster (19 March 2012)

Citizen’s Certificate of Merit

This is awarded to members of the general public for actions that greatly assisted in the saving of human life. It may include actions by civilians who render medical aid to seriously ill or injured victims. 

• James Price (26 July 2008)
• Officer Daniel Dimatteo (19 March 2012)
• Chris Button (2014)
• Linda Valley (2014)
• Terrance Hatcher (2014)
• Tracy Hatcher (2014)

Firefighter of the Year

• Claude Howard (1988)
• Charles Pope (1989)
• Donald Jones (1990)
• Billy Joe Ivy (1991)
• Paul Kyzer (1992)
• Steve Moore (1993)
• Ralph Roark (1994)
• Wayne Coleman (1994)
• Johnny Bradley (1995)
• Bill Allen (1996)
• Mike Lehman (1997)
• Lanny Lehman (1998)
• Dewan Laws (1999)
• John Barnes (2000)
• Johnny Bradley Jr. (2001)
• Sam Ford (2002)
• Robert Walls (2003)
• Dewan Laws (2004)
• Mark Looney (2005)
• Robert Walls (2009)
• Jeff Singleton (2013)
• Justin Martin (2014)
• Jeff Singleton (2015)
• Allen Wells (2016)
• Tyler Johnson (2017)
• Stepahanie Heatwole (2018)
• Jeremy Moody (2019)
• Mark Reese (2020)
• Keifer Richmond (2021)
• Caitlan Neal (2022)

 Paramedic of the Year

• Bill Plunk (1988)
• Kendall Snyder (1989)
• Joe Bratton (1990)
• Mark Smart (1991)
• Clayton Eads (1992)
• Eddie Hill (1993)
• Joseph Fili (1994)
• Bob Thornton (1995)
• Allen Marshall (1996)
• Robert Laws (1997)
• Louis Eckelhoff (1998)
• Clayton Eads (1999)
• Bill James (2000)
• Brett Stubblefield (2001)
• Clark Coleman (2002)
• Jeff Thrasher (2003)
• Steve Davidson (2004)
• Jeff Thrasher (2005)
• Andrew Bates (2009)
• Drew Cargile (2013)
• Joeseph Potts (2014)
• Kyle Meyers (2015)
• Cody Henley (2016)
• Payton Sullivan (2017)
• Cody Henley (2018)
• Bobby Tarno (2019)
• Parish Reynolds (2020)
• Bobby Tarno (2021)
• Keli Bratton (2022)

 Jr. Fire Officer of the Year

• Calun Fulton (2014)
• Drew Cargile (2015)
• Grant Warner (2016)
• Justin Martin (2017)
• Johnathan Thompson (2018)
• Adam Jones (2019)
• Adam Jones (2020)
• Frankie Vanderhoof (2021)
• Payton Sullivan (2022)

 Fire Officer of the Year

• Donald Jones (1990)
• Ron Peek (1999)
• Robert Laws (2000)
• Mike Lehman (2001)
• Joe Bratton (2002)
• Charlie Pope (2003)
• Louis Eckelhoff (2004)
• Bob Thornton (2005)
• Robert Roland (2009)
• Jason Riggs (2013)
• Robert Roland (2014)
• Adam Teague (2015)
• Allen Marshall (2016)
• James Amerine (2017)
• Danny Akines (2018)
• Drew Cargile (2019)
• Danny Akines (2020)
• Leo Foster (2022)

EMT of the Year

• Randy Crook (1992)
• Kenneth Watkins (1996)
• Clark Coleman (1997)
• Randall Heffner (1998)

John M. Vanderhoof Award

Awarded to an individual for outstanding performance and dedication to the Jacksonville Fire Department.

• Captain David Jones (2013)
• Chief Bob Thornton (2014)
• Linette Culpepper (2015)
• Captain Dewan Laws (2016)
• Adam Jones (2017)
• Justin Martin (2019)
• Grant Warner (2020)
• Cody Henley (2021)
• Allen Wells (2022)

AEMTA- Annual Awards for Outstanding Service/Performance

• 2015 - Arkansas Fire / EMS Service of the Year!
• 2017 - Arkansas Fire / EMS Service of the Year!
• 2018 - Runner up: Arkansas Fire / EMS Service of the Year!
• 2020 - Arkansas Fire / EMS Service of the Year!

Arkansas State Paramedic Competition 

• 2017 - 2nd Place
• 2018 - 2nd Place
• 2019 - Champions: 1st Place!
• 2020 - COVID Cancelled event

Arkansas Fire and EMS Competition

• 2017 - 3rd Place 
• 2018 - 3rd Place
• 2019 - Champions: 1st Place!
• 2020 - COVID Cancelled event

EMS Administrator of the Year

• 2018 - Captain David Jones

EMS Medical Director of the Year

• 2018 - Dr. Darren Flamik