Firefighter of the Year
James Grove is the guy behind the scenes.
“He’s a thinker,” said Fire Chief Mike Cousins. “He’s not one who says, ‘We just do it because we always do it,’ but why do we do it? He’s able to view things in a different light and think things out logically.”
Mike said it was obvious why his peers at the Thomas Township Fire Department nominated Jim as Firefighter of the Year.
“He’s got a great attitude,” Mike said. “He is always willing to help. [If] you've got somebody who is struggling with anything, he's going to just jump on and help those people out.”
A team lead in Morley’s TAC department, Jim has been serving his community as a volunteer firefighter for 13 years.
Casey Cichowski, a fellow firefighter, said Jim’s commitment to service and his attention to detail make him the best at what he does. It’s these superior skills that saved not only Casey’s life, but the lives of several other firefighters in the past.
“We went to a house fire and it appeared from the exterior that just the garage was on fire at the time,” Casey said. “We went to relieve another crew, me and him on the inside. Jim's in front and I'm behind him, and we go into the house and I literally run right into the back of him ‘cause he stops and he's looking up.”
The home had recessed lighting and Jim noticed it was glowing.
“So, these people were two rooms into a house with fire over their heads and had no clue,”
Casey said. “At any time that ceiling can collapse, and now we've got trapped firefighters.”
Jim and Casey pulled the other firefighters out of the home. They fought the fire from the front door as the ceiling collapsed.
“Jim was so good. He noticed everything coming through the door and he took all of it in – he looked and he paid attention,” Casey said. “He could have saved two, three, four lives that day. Just by being patient and surveying the scene, sizing everything up and making sure that we were being safe about how we're proceeding.”
For Jim, it was all in a day’s work.
“I was very shocked, to say the least, to be named Firefighter of the Year,” he said. “I’m not typically one that, you know, I don’t do it for that type of stuff. So, it was almost a little embarrassing I guess, if that makes sense. I was very thankful. It was very humbling to know that my peers thought I was deserving of it.”
Casey said while Jim is embarrassed by the recognition, it’s his mentality and his personality that makes him deserving of the honor.
“I've never seen a guy like Jim, I really haven't,” he said. “The guy’s got a heart of gold. When you get to an emergency scene, his knowledge and his understanding of those tools is so great. It literally cuts response time for everything we have to do.”
Casey added if it wasn’t for Jim, he wouldn’t have the confidence in himself to do the job.
“If it wasn’t for him, I probably would not be on this department,” he said. “If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't know the things that I know about apparatus and the tools that we use. Jim is absolutely, absolutely amazing, and I couldn't ask for a better firefighter to be on the department with, and I couldn't ask for a better friend.”