South Lake Tahoe Fire Rescue honors many at annual awards ceremony

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - "This is a good day for the South Lake Tahoe Fire Department," said Chief Jeff Meston as he began the annual awards ceremony, celebrating the men and women of SLTFR.

To begin the afternoon, Chief Meston officially welcomed Battalion Chief Jay Manning to the department. Manning came on board at the end of November from Visalia, California where he worked for 18.5 years for the fire department. His wife Stephanie pinned his uniform as son Jacob and daughter Harley looked on. The family is wrapping up their move to the Sierra.

Next up was the newest member of SLTFR, Firefighter/Paramedic Tyler Mahr. He made the move to South Lake Tahoe from the San Diego area where he got his degree and worked for Mercy Ambulance. His dad, North County Division Chief Kevin Mahr witnessed his son's pinning along with his wife Heather. Tyler's girlfriend Keeli Kramer did the honors of pinning his uniform.

The awards presented:

STAT Volunteer of the Year: Mike Cullen
Dispatcher of the Year: Jen Ezell
Firefighter of the Year: Trent Renner

Phil Harwood of the City's Public Works Department was presented with an Honorary Engineer plaque for always going above and beyond in keeping the fire fleet running.

Meritorious awards were presented to Sebastian Knapp, the City's IS Administrator for keeping the department's computer system up and running; and awards to Justin Keys and Trent Renner (both past and present firefighters of the year) for keeping the department's recruits trained through an academy.

The close-knit staff of SLTFR is like one big happy family, but their families at home were thanked for their support as their spouses work long hours to protect South Lake Tahoe. In the past year, the department welcomed five new baby girls and one baby boy.