Local Firefighter Honored

From The TriCounty Record:

On Friday, September 11, Heatherwood Retirement Community honored Honey Brook firefighters for their service.

In particular, firefighter Michael Kern was honored for being the longest serving active member besides Chief Tom Witman.

Four firefighters attended the appreciation pancake breakfast. They were Levi Stoltzfus, Mark Thomas, Bruce Harlan and Michael Kern.

Heatherwood community members also attended the breakfast.

The event started with Sales Director Terri Givens reading "What is a Fireman?" This poem included lines like "He is a gentle man beacuse he has seen the awesome power of violence out of control." and "He doesn't preach the brotherhood

of man, He lives it."

After the poem, Activities Director Jennifer Hacker presented Kern with his award "for his many years of service with the Honey Brook Fire Company."

"Thank you on behalf of the fire company and all fire companies," Kern said. "There is probably a list of names that could receive this award and on behalf of all those names, thank you."

"We wanted to honor our local fire department in memory of all the firefighters who put their lives on the line during 9/11," said Givens of the breakfast.

She said Heatherwood will make the event an annual event and she hopes to extend it throughout the community.

"We're hoping next year it's an even bigger event," she said.

The Honey Brook Fire Company was established in 1892 and serves Honey Brook and the surrounding tri county area, including West Nantmeal Township and portions of Salisbury Township and Caernarvon Township, Lancaster County.

The fire company also has an emergency medical service crew and the fire crew is entirely volunteer. In 2009, the company had 164 regular members.