LACFD - 2012 Valor Awards on May 21

Los Angeles County Fire Department
 HONORS EXTRAORDINARY ACTIONS

  Los Angeles – May 16, 2012 – Almost 57 years after he was killed in an “explosion of fire” while trying to save fellow firefighters during the Hacienda Brush Fire in 1955, Los Angeles County Fire Captain Glenn Rockey will be posthumously awarded the Medal of Valor by Fire Chief Daryl L. Osby.  Rockey will be among 25 members of the Los Angeles County Fire Department and 16 citizen heroes honored at the 2012 Valor Awards on May 21, at 7 p.m., at the Pasadena Convention Center. 

As a special tribute, Randolph Mantooth and Kevin Tighe, best known to audiences as Los Angeles County Fire Department Paramedics Johnny Gage and Roy DeSoto in the beloved 1970s television show “Emergency!,” will attend the award ceremony as special guests.

 Highlights of this year’s awards program include the crew of West Hollywood Fire Station 7 for assisting the City of Los Angeles Fire Department during a house fire and bravely working to free veteran LAFD Firefighter Paramedic Glen Allen from entrapment inside the collapsed home, suffering major injuries in their attempts.  In other emergency incidents, ordinary citizens who stepped up in extraordinary moments of bravery to assist firefighters or perform rescues themselves are also being honored.  Many of these heroes are teenagers who took quick actions and rescued victims from the ocean, a backyard pool, a remote motorbike trail, and also during the highly publicized stabbing of a South East High School student last September.

The award categories, which include Unit Citation, Certificate of Valor, and the celebrated Medal of Valor, will be presented for 20 separate incidents.  According to Fire Chief Osby, “The Medal of Valor is the highest honor bestowed upon a member of Department.  It is given to those members who have exhibited courage above and beyond the call of duty, risking their own lives to save another under conditions that place them at extreme personal risk.  I am proud to announce that five members of our organization will go home with this prestigious award next Monday night.”

The Los Angeles County Fire Department is an international leader of the fire service and one of the largest emergency service agencies in the world, providing fire protection and life safety services to more than four million people living and working in the County’s 2,300-square-mile area, and around the globe whenever needed. Visit www.fire.lacounty.gov, or find them on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

 On September 2 1955, Los Angeles County Fire Captain Glenn E. Rockey was killed on this La Habra Heights hillside during the Hacienda Fire, which also took the young lives of five members of the Los Angeles County ProbationForestry Camp 5-1, and severely burned seven others.  Fire investigators mark the spots where some of the men were killed. (Los Angeles County Fire Department Historical Archives)

 California Fire News 2012

Tweet - Follow @CalFireNews