Special honors on Fire District 13 meeting agenda

Cake for breakfast, and recognition for three people, made Fire District 13’s regularly scheduled morning meeting a special day.

Firefighter Tony Curran was named one of four people to receive EMS Provider of the Year from Skagit County Emergency Services on Thursday.

According to a press release from Fire District 13, during the last year Curran has responded to 411 emergency calls, assisted transporting 116 people to hospitals and assisted paramedics in four successful CPRs.

“I try my hardest to do what I can on call, but it is not just me, it’s the whole crew,” Curran said. “I got the award, but I have to give credit to the rest of my crew.”

Curran lives at the fire station, where he is part-paid, part-volunteer.

At the meeting, Fire Chief Roy Horn praised Curran and said he was proud to nominate him for this year’s award.

Also on Thursday Kevin Chao, Emergency Medical Services for Skagit County Interim Director, was also named an “Honorary Lifetime Member of Skagit County Fire District 13.”

In a resolution the district board expressed gratitude to Chao for his service. Chao recently resigned from his position with Emergency Medical Services.

Chao said it was very meaningful to him that Fire District 13 would do this for him, and he considers it a true honor.

“It’s a pleasure to work in a system where we have providers who do the job for the right reasons. People don’t often notice their professionalism,” Chao said of Fire District 13. “And they’re mostly volunteers, so it’s nice to see stuff like that.”

Horn said the fire district knew Chao was resigning and wanted to take the opportunity at the meeting to appreciate all the support he’s given the district over the years.

“You know, you respect your coworkers and go along, but you never stop and say, ‘Damn, I couldn’t have done this without you,’ and that’s what we did for Kevin today,” Horn said.

Bruce Shellhamer, who was appointed to the three-man Fire District 13 Board of Commissioners last month to fill a vacancy from a member resigning, was officially seated on the board during this meeting.

“This was his first meeting as a commissioner and it went really well,” Horn said. “His head might have been spinning a little, but we’ll get him up to speed.”

Fire District 13 serves an area that surrounds the Town of La Conner and includes the communities of Shelter Bay, Swinomish, Pleasant Ridge and the Channel Drive neighborhood.