Maple Ridge Firefighters honoured their longest serving members at an annual awards night on Saturday night at The Act.
The longest serving was fire chief Dane Spence, recognized for his 30 years of service.
Spence, who started as a volunteer firefighter, was the co-chief of the department with Peter Grootendorst beginning in 1998.
Grootendorst left for a position with the Justice Institute of B.C. in 2013, and Spence remained as the head of the department.
Spence said the awards night is held every year to mark career milestones and “share some camaraderie.”
There were four firefighters who received 25-year pins: fire captain Jim Sinclair, fire captain Brian Rioux, career firefighter Glenn Ettinger and fire lieutenant Kevin Perkin.
Twenty-year pins were awarded to fire captains Chris Bayley, Steven Franklin and Robert Ramsay.
A spirit award was given to firefighter Ben Koplar.
The award is to recognize the efforts of a paid-on-call member.
“Their contributions are all voluntary, non-compensated and come in addition to their regular job, family obligations and the expected commitments to fire department training and emergency callouts,” says the award description.