Boca Raton Names 2012 Firefighter of the Year

Firefighter James Haag has been selected as our 2012 Firefighter of the Year.

James Haag has been a Firefighter with the City of Boca Raton for eight years. In his short time on the Department, he has accomplished the following:

• In his first year on the job, James became a State Certified Hazardous Materials Technician and has become an intricate part of our Hazardous Material Team. He took this to the next level as an instructor and has helped teach several classes training other Hazardous generic cialis soft tabs Material Technicians.
• James joined our Advanced Life Support (ALS) Competition Team and has been competing for seven years around the country at his own expense, taking home multiple awards.  In October his team placed 1^st at the Flagler County EMS Competition.  In June they took 2^nd place at the Randy Boaz Competition in Miami, and in November, his team took 3^rd place at the Temple Terrace Competition.
• James assisted with the creation and running of Boca Raton Fire Rescue’s own annual ALS competition, which is going on its 7^th year.
• James has also participated on the Department’s Combat Challenge Team.
• In 2011, James took over the responsibility of running the Department’s annual Sweet Heart Ball at Banyan Place.  This is a community outreach program held once a year for the senior citizens near the Valentine Day holiday.
• Following the 2010 Boca Helping Hands structure fire, James was recognized by the Florida State Fire Marshal for finding and preserving blood stains on window blinds, which ended up being a key piece of evidence needed to solve the arson case.
• Last year, James was recognized by the Palm Beach County EMS Providers Association as the “Paramedic of the Year” for all of Palm Beach County.  The basis of that award was his actions at an especially challenging vehicle crash on I-95 with occupants trapped and extrication needed.

For all these reasons we congratulate Firefighter James Haag as our 2012 Firefighter of the Year.

James will be recognized for his achievements by the Fire Rescue Services Department on Friday, March 1, 2013 at 9:00AM in the 6500 Building Auditorium and by the 100 Club of South Palm Beach County at their Annual Awards Ceremony on Wednesday, March 20, 2013 at 7:00PM at the Royal Palm Yacht & Country Club.