The Fountain Hills Rotary Club paid its annual tribute to public safety personnel serving the Fountain Hills area at its March 18 meeting.

Each year the club recognizes outstanding personnel serving in the Fountain Hills, Rio Verde and Fort McDowell fire departments as well as the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and Fort McDowell Police Department.

Rio Verde Fire District Chief Gary Bradbury accepted on behalf of Jamie Hughes, named Firefighter of the Year for 2015.

Bradbury said Hughes has been with the department since 2004, adding he always comes to work with a positive attitude and ready to help.

Hughes is a member of the RVFD state wildland fire team that responds to fires outside the state of Arizona, as well as within the state, each year. He has been on that difficult duty for several years.

Hughes is also involved in many programs for the department. He leads the community lockbox program, which allows firefighters to access homes in an emergency without forcing entry. He plans and installs the lock boxes, which contain a key, whenever homeowners request.

Hughes is also a certified car seat technician.

Fort McDowell Fire Chief Mark Openshaw accepted on behalf of his department’s Firefighter of the Year, Chris Koenig.

Openshaw said Koenig has been with the department since 2008 and was previously named Firefighter of the Year by Rotary in 2009.

Koenig is responsible for maintaining EMS supplies for the department and is a coordinator for in-house training. He also is active in keeping technology up to date in the department.

Koenig also serves as acting officer for his shift, meeting the challenges of doing the duties in place of a captain if necessary.

Openshaw noted that Koenig is also an Ironman competitor.

With the Fort McDowell Police Department, Sgt. Tom Gonzales announced that the Officer of the year is Acting Chief Jesse Crabtree.

Crabtree serves as acting patrol lieutenant and was recently named as acting department chief with the retirement of Chief Jesse Delmar.

Gonzales said Crabtree has a strong commitment to the Fort McDowell Police Department and, after 18 years, continues to be a “first in and last out” kind of worker.

Maricopa County Sheriff’s Capt. Dave Letourneau said Deputy Jose Torres takes a great deal of pride in police work and is out there every day working hard to make the community safer.

Letourneau noted this is the second recognition received by Torres this year, and it said it is notable that people turn out to support him when he receives these awards.

Letourneau said he is able to rely on Torres to handle delicate situations for him, carrying them out just as he would address them.

“Also, his boots are ridiculously shiny,” Letourneau said. “This shows the pride he takes in what he does.”

Firefighter Roger Quigley has been on the job with Rural/Metro since 1984 and in Fountain Hills since 1988. Fire Chief Randy Roberts said Quigley has been driving the engine all of those years and has never had an accident.

Along with his perfect driving record Quigley also oversees the program for maintaining the department’s breathing apparatus (SCBA).

Roberts aid Quigley was challenged with keeping the units operable until this past year when they transitioned to new SCBA equipment.