2A Polk County Itemizer-Observer • February 8, 2017
Polk County News
Fire district holds swearing in ceremony
By Emily Mentzer
The Itemizer-Observer
INDEPENDENCE — Polk
County Fire District No. 1
Chief Ben Stange said it was
an “Eye of the Tiger” kind of
moment.
“They’ve been training
hard; now they made it,” he
said at the Feb. 1 swearing
in ceremony for four career
firefighter/paramedics, five
volunteer firefighters, four
lieutenants and one cap-
tain.
The ceremony was held
in the Central High School
auditorium and was filled
with people to celebrate the
accomplishment of these
firefighters as they received
their badge and took their
oath.
“They are here because
what we do matters,” Stange
said.
He told stor ies of a
woman whose life was saved
by the actions of Independ-
ence police officers and Polk
firefighters. Because of those
actions, the woman was able
to spend Christmas with her
husband.
Without them, the out-
come would have been vast-
ly different, Stange said.
He told another story
about a house fire that was
out of control. It would be a
total loss.
The property owner told
the commanding officer, “It’s
just stuff. Don’t let anyone
get hurt.”
“It was Polk No. 1 moving
company,” Stange said, de-
scribing how firefighters
went to the side of the house
that wasn’t on fire yet and
pulled out anything they
could save. One firefighter
found three boxes inside the
night stand that contained
military medals.
When the medals were
given to the property owner,
he started crying, Stange
said.
“It’s just stuff, but it isn’t,”
he said. “If prevention fails at
some point, they know what
you do matters.”
EMILY MENTZER/ Itemizer-Observer
Polk County Fire District No. 1 held a swearing in ceremony at Central High School on Feb. 1.
Career firefighters/para-
medics:
TJ Greenhill, Scott
Edinger, Alex Ovchinnikov
and Jack Westerman IV.
Volunteer firefighters:
Jordan Guevarra, Station
90; Nick Heller, Station 70;
Ethan McKinney, Station 70;
Charles Prouty, Station 40;
Andrew Prouty, Station 40.
Charles and Andrew Prouty
enabled Station 40 to re-
open.
Lieutenants:
Brendan Shellito, Station
90; Rick Fletcher, Station 90;
Stephen Hoem, Station 90;
Jim Burke, Station 90.
Captain Chad Paoli was
also sworn in.
For more information
about Polk County Fire Dis-
trict No. 1: www.polk-
no1.org/.
EMILY MENTZER/ Itemizer-Observer
The ceremony featured four career firefighter/paramedics, five volunteer firefighters, four lieutenants and one captain.