{"id":33838,"date":"2023-11-18T12:16:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-18T17:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=33838"},"modified":"2023-11-23T17:28:52","modified_gmt":"2023-11-23T22:28:52","slug":"cyfs-honours-acting-captain-for-exceptional-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/cyfs-honours-acting-captain-for-exceptional-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"CYFS honours Acting Captain for exceptional leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It was something of a full circle moment for Central York Fire Services Acting Captain Phil Montgomery when he was called up to the stage on Thursday night to accept the kudos of his peers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an up-and-coming firefighter, Montgomery was trained by Jim Allan, a retired firefighter who was described as a man who \u201cexemplified what skills, knowledge and attitude stand for.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Allan at his side, Montgomery, now a trainer himself, was this year\u2019s recipient of The Jim Allan Award, an honour that exemplifies the very qualities attributed to its namesake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Introduced in 2018, the Jim Allan Award recognizes individual members of the CYFS for their \u201csignificant contribution to the development of CYFS personnel as well as their personal dedication to training and education.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Assistant Deputy Chief Claude Duval, Montgomery received the most nominations from his peers than anyone since the award\u2019s inception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe started with Central York Fire Services in 2003, was promoted to his current rank in 2016,\u201d he said. \u201cHe is a shift training instructor in specialty disciplines such as road rescue, water rescue, firefighter survival, rapid intervention teams, and high-rise firefighter. He constantly seeks further knowledge and skills by attending specialty courses, most of them on his own time and from his own money. Acting Captain Montgomery\u2019s generosity at this time to help others learn and make his department better is remarkable. He volunteered to assist the training division during the 2023 recruit class. His classes are always conducted professionally and safely while maintaining a high level of engagement. Every recruit from the 2023 class were hoping they will end on his crew [or] at the very least end up on his platoon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His peers described him as \u201ca great leader and a great educator,\u201d a man with \u201ca contagious positive attitude,\u201d and someone who is not inclined to use the word \u201cno\u201d or the phrase \u201cnot today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accepting the award, one of the first people Montgomery thanked was Allan for \u201csetting an amazing example of passion for training\u201d and for \u201ctaking a chance on a young firefighter 17 years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am passionate about training,\u201d he said, joking the \u201ccat was now out of the bag.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt has been an amazing experience. I would like to thank the current training department for giving me the opportunity to get involved in training and obviously the chiefs and deputies for giving a firefighter the chance to have an impact within the fire service.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thursday\u2019s ceremony was also an opportunity to honour members of the CYFS for 20, 25, and 30 years, as well as members who have shown grace under fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year\u2019s honourees included<\/p>\n\n\n\n

20 YEAR \u2013 FEDERAL EXEMPLARY SERVICE MEDAL:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boyden, Francis (Captain)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bryan, Darryl (Firefighter)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cook, Gordon (Firefighter)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crane, Vincent (Captain)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gibb, Andrew (Captain)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Knights, David (Captain)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Linklater, Ryan (Captain)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marshall, Quinn (Captain)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meijs, Jeff (Captain)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Milliken, Liam (Captain)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preston, Robert (Firefighter)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shier, Matthew (Acting Captain)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simard, Alex (Acting Captain)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

25 YEAR \u2013 PROVINCIAL LONG SERVICE MEDAL<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donohue, Scott (Captain)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dunkerley, Jason (Firefighter)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Madill, Kevin (Captain)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mitchell, Shaun (Captain)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

30 YEAR \u2013 FEDERAL EXEMPLARY SERVICE BAR & PROVINCIAL LONG SERVICE BAR<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cooke, Paul (Retired Captain)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mumford, John (Firefighter)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among those on hand to honour the recipients were Newmarket-Aurora MP Tony Van Bynen, Newmarket-Aurora MPP Dawn Gallagher Murphy, Aurora Mayor Tom Mrakas, Newmarket Mayor John Taylor, and Councillors from both municipalities, including Ward 2 Aurora Councillor Rachel Gilliland who chairs the Joint Council Committee governing the CYFS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saluting the members, instead of giving a formal speech, Councillor Gilliland read out a letter she wanted to share with First Responders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThank you for spending countless hours at the firehouse training to save lives. Thank you for waking up at 2 a.m. to help save a family whose house burnt into flames. Thank you for saving the life of someone\u2019s father when he went into cardiac arrest or used the jaws of life to extract a woman from a crashed car. Thank you for being so selfless that you don\u2019t even think twice when you run into a burning building. You are heroes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou may not feel like you are but I can promise you there is a little boy or a little girl who is looking up to you. A little boy or girl who dresses up just like you for Halloween every year. And children who are awestruck when a truck passes by. Thank you for teaching us how to stop, drop and roll and spending your days teaching children and adults why fire safety is so important. Thank you for constantly running towards what others run away from.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Added Mayor Tom Mrakas: \u201cCongratulations to the award recipients this evening for your hard work, leadership, and tremendous contributions. Your commitment to protecting our residents and making our community a safer place to live is admirable. We are all very appreciative of the role CYFS has within our community and all Central York Fire Services staff should be very proud of their outstanding efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MPP Gallagher Murphy also paid tribute to the CYFS team for their \u201cdedication and hard work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am proud of this department\u2019s excellent record of promoting safety and minimizing risk through your prevention efforts, educating the community and your commitment to best practices and innovative approaches,\u201d she said. \u201cI would also like to thank your families for all they do to support you. It may not seem like a lot, but without your help, your firefighter could not make the difference that they have made and continue to make now. Thank you for having grace and compassion when your partner runs out the door to save a life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":33839,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/2023-11-18-01.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-8NM","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-23 12:40:16","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33838\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}