A volunteer with the Crossfield Fire Department (CFD) has been recognized with a service longevity award. At a CFD training evening in September, 32-year-old Jamie Fuhriman was presented with the Alberta Emergency Service Medal for 12 years of service. Fuhriman started with the department as a volunteer firefighter in 2006, but said she has seen her role transition in the last few years. She now acts as the department’s medical training co-ordinator, utilizing her skills from her full-time profession as an advanced care paramedic with Alberta Health Services (AHS). She also helps monitor CFD’s inventory of gear and equipment. According to CFD Fire Chief Ben Niven, one of Fuhriman’s biggest contributions to the department was bringing in the Medical First Response Program three years ago. “She’s been instrumental in developing our Medical First Response Program and running our inventory on gear and other equipment, with some help from other members,” he said. “She’s definitely an asset to the department.” While Fuhriman has been a volunteer with CFD for 12 years, her ties to Crossfield's fire department go back much farther – her father, Bob Paquette, once served as the department’s chief. “As a little girl, I kind of grew up through the fire department, just kind of being there with him,” said Fuhriman, adding her father helped pique her initial interest in the local fire-fighting community. But it was after an incident during her medical training with AHS that resulted in Fuhriman joining CFD as a volunteer. Twelve years ago, she said, she came across a motor vehicle accident on the highway and stopped to help out. CFD was also responding to the accident, she added, and she came into contact with Joe Holstein. He was the department’s chief at the time, and someone Fuhriman said she’d known for years. “He thought it was cool to see me all grown up and in the profession,” she said. “He was the one that [convinced] me to come out and give the fire department a go.” Twelve years later, Fuhriman said, the sense of family and community is what keeps her volunteering up to a dozen hours a week with CFD. “You have a much different relationship with everyone on the fire department than you do with your other job, just because of all the stuff you go through together – the calls you experience,” she said. “Just having those relationships is very rewarding. The camaraderie you develop and everything, just knowing that when you do go on a call that is more difficult and harder to handle, the support system you have within each other, to lean on, is really special.” Niven said Fuhriman is well deserving of the Alberta Emergency Service Medal – not just for her assistance to the fire department, but also her role with AHS. “I’ve known [Fuhriman] personally for over 20 years,” he said. “She’s been a good friend and a great contribution to the Town and to the fire department.”
