2017 CSFD Awards Ceremony

Please see the following announcement and invitation below, from Fire Chief Frank Babinec. We thank you, we congratulate you, and we hope you can join us!

I am proud to announce the 2016 Coral Springs-Parkland Fire Department’s Award Recipients.  These men and women are being recognized for their accomplishments over the past year.  We would like to invite you and your families to the 2016 Awards and Departmental Recognition Ceremony.  The date for this event will be Monday, March 13th @ the Heron Bay Marriott Hotel at 6:00 pm. 

As we look back at 2016, we would like to take a moment and reflect on some important life-changing calls, acts of selflessness and significant events which make us one of the premier Fire Departments in the State of Florida.  We look forward to bringing everyone together, to take some time and recognize the members of our organization that ran significant calls, and others who have made great contributions to our department. 

We are proud to recognize the following individuals and teams:

• Firefighter of the Year: Firefighter/Paramedic Robert Wood

• Supervisor of the Year: Lieutenant Patrick Staab

• Civilian Employee of the Year: Office Assistant Estelle Tesler

• Instructor of the Year: Captain June Ohlrich

• Explorer of the Year:  Rashad Ramsahai

• Medal of Valor: Assistant Fire Chief John K. Whalen

• Community Service Award: Captain Christopher Bator

• Community Involvement Commendation: Firefighter / Paramedic Talia Hunter

• Administrative Commendation:  Captain Ronald Abou-Semaan

• Meritorious Duty Commendation: Lieutenant Mark Myers and Driver Engineer James Miller

• Team Citation: Apparatus Design Committee: Lieutenant Frank Pekora, Driver Engineer Tom Palazzo, Driver Engineer Zachary Roseboom, Driver Engineer Vincent Bini, Captain Mike Matz, Driver Engineer Tim O’Connor, Driver Engineer Dave Eickwort, Captain Anthony Gonzalez, Captain Joe Russoniello, Battalion Chief Mike Caldaro, Driver Engineer Paul Pietrafesa, Assistant Chief Steve Frey, Fire Chief Frank Babinec, Fleet Supervisor Steve Harbin

• Team Citation: Rescue Design Committee: Captain Anthony Gonzalez, Lieutenant Chris Struss, Driver Engineer Dave Eickwort, Firefighter / Paramedic Eric Friedman, Lieutenant Frank Pekora, Lieutenant Janet Neita, Lieutenant Johana Cinque, Firefighter / Paramedic John McCarthy, Lieutenant Kathy Manza, Lieutenant Patrick Staab, Captain Ronnie Abou-Semaan, Driver Engineer Vincent Bini, Firefighter / Paramedic William Glover, Division Chief Juan Cardona, Assistant Chief John Whalen, Assistant Chief Steve Frey, Deputy Chief Mike McNally, Fire Chief Frank Babinec, Fleet Supervisor Steve Harbin

• Special Departmental Recognition: All members of the Coral Springs – Parkland Fire Department. This recognition is for the ISO Class 1 designation achieved in 2016.  All members will receive a pin signifying this great accomplishment.

• Case # 16-3038 Unit Citation: Lieutenant Martin Harvey, Captain Mike Latino, Driver Engineer Damon France, Firefighter / Paramedic Joel Feijoo, Firefighter / EMT Kim Warrick, Captain Jan Tripician, Assistant Chief John Whalen

• Case # 16-3542 Lifesaving Commendation: Dispatcher Hillarey Vullo

• Case # 16-4022 Technical Rescue Commendation / Unit Citation: Technical Rescue: Captain Danny Nyer, Lieutenant Frank Gonzalez, Driver Engineer Dave Eickwort, Firefighter / Paramedic Juan Garcia, Captain Joe Russoniello, Driver / Engineer Tom Palazzo, Captain Ivo Ceciliano, Driver Engineer Ricardo Piloto, Fire / Paramedic Adam Schreibman.  Unit Citation: Lieutenant Mark Myers, Firefighter / Paramedic Robert Thomas, Firefighter / Paramedic Brian Hobson, Lieutenant Travis Kane, Firefighter / Paramedic Richard Zino, Firefighter / Paramedic Adam Hamilton, Assistant Chief Steve Frey

• Case # 16-5749 Letter of Commendation: Captain Joe Russoniello, Driver Engineer TomPalazzo, Firefighter / Paramedic Juan Garcia

• Case # 16-7202 Lifesaving Commendation: Lieutenant Martin Harvey, Firefighter / Paramedic Hayden Buckner, Captain Mike Latino, Driver Engineer Damon France, Fire / Paramedic Robert Wood, Assistant Chief John Whalen

• Case # 16-7300 Lifesaving Commendation: Captain Dave Schneider, Lieutenant Frank Gonzalez, Driver Engineer Jeff White, Firefighter / Paramedic Kevin McCann, Firefighter / Paramedic Nick Miller

• Case # 16-12195 Unit Citation: Captain Kevin Sullivan, Lieutenant Yair Soto, Firefighter / Paramedic Aurice Burrell, Firefighter / Paramedic John Atwater, Firefighter / Paramedic Raul Torres

• Case # 16-1213789 Unit Citation: Captain Mike Latino, Lieutenant Jason Valentine, Driver Engineer William Partlan, Firefighter / Paramedic Kevin O’Connell, Firefighter / Paramedic David Pirro

• Case # 16-14014 Lifesaving Commendation: Captain Dave Schneider, Lieutenant Laz Ojeda, Driver Engineer John Calloway, Driver Engineer Dave Loy, Firefighter / Paramedic Mike Naese

• Case # 16-14322 Lifesaving Commendation: Captain Rich Antonini, Lieutenant Kandice Dominguez-Oltz, Driver Engineer John Calloway, Firefighter / Paramedic Joel Feijoo, Firefighter / Paramedic Kevin O’Connell, Assistant Chief Jason Gonzalez

• Special Recognitions:

• Members who received awards from outside agencies:  The following were recognized by Broward Health as Paramedic of the year for 2015, and were awarded in 2016: Jason Valentine – Broward Health North, Martin Harvey – Broward Health, Justin Parrinello – Dr. Nabil El Sanadi Award, Susan Toolan – Mike Murphy Innovator of the Year, Dave Schneider, Yair Soto, Jeff White, Kevin McCann, Nick Miller, Megan Jayne – recognized by Broward Health for outstanding treatment of a patient during a call with an elderly patient who suffered a stroke, Chris Bator – recognized by the Fire Chief’s Association of Broward County as Fire Officer of the Year for his outstanding and tremendous efforts with the South Florida Regional Safety and Health Collaborative, Coral Springs – Parkland Fire Department Community Emergency Response Team – CERT Team of the Year, Steve Mitchell – CERT member of the year,

• Other members who have given outstanding service to the Coral Springs – ParklandFire Department:  Margate FF/PM Steve Catalano for his dedication in creating a custom-made a wooden ladder for Caisson Unit 726, in honor of our brother, Paul Pietrafesa.  Senior Producer/Editor Ryan Himmel for his countless hours of dedication to the Coral Springs- Parkland Fire Department with training videos, historical support in videos and photos, countless projects for social media, and his commitment to documenting the final services for our brother Paul Pietrafesa.  Steve Harbin, Todd Malmsberry, Jackie Watkins, and Brian Sylvia from the City of Coral Springs Fleet Services Office for their stellar abilities in the complete rehabilitation of our Caisson Unit 726 in record-setting time to allow our brother Paul Pietrafesa to take his final ride on a Coral Springs Fire Department antique apparatus. 

These men have dedicated their time and efforts to support our mission, even though they are assigned to other departments in our city or other fire rescue agencies.  We cannot thank them enough.

• Retiring: City Manager Erdal Dönmez and Dispatcher Rich Grossman

Congratulation to all the award recipients!

In addition to the above, we will be honoring those individuals who have been recognized by members of the community and commended for their outstanding care, or for actions that went above and beyond the call of duty.

I sincerely hope you will join us on March 13th to celebrate all of our hard working department members and the accomplishments they achieved in 2016.