The senior member of the department, Mike Athey, was recognized for his 65 years of service to Shepherdstown with a plaque, presented by Honorary Fire Chief Abby Fluharty in the Storer Ballroom on Saturday night. Toni Milbourne

SHEPHERDSTOWN — For the first time since the onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic, members of the Shepherdstown Volunteer Fire Department (SVFD) gathered to recognize members for their service.

The annual event had returned on Saturday evening, although in a new location. Fire and rescue personnel, their families and guests gathered in Shepherd University’s Storer Ballroom. Also present were members of the Sharpsburg Volunteer Fire Department, who were on standby duty for Shepherdstown, so that SVFD members could enjoy the evening.

Following a brief thank you by Shepherdstown resident Roy Matlick, who recognized six volunteers who responded to a call, where Matlick suffered cardiac arrest, the next order of business was to crown Abby Fluharty as Honorary Fire Chief the coming year. Fluharty, whose father, Bryan, is a member of Company 3, has grown up around the station. Now a freshman at St. Maria Goretti High School in Hagerstown, Md., the teenager said she was excited to serve the company in her new role.

Top fire side awards were presented by Chief Ross Morgan. He announced the top five responders for the past year, including the highest number of calls, went to Troy Baker with 104. Second was Morgan himself with 97 calls; EMS Chief Marshall DeMeritt with 93; Morgan’s son, Zachary Morgan with 91; and Brian Honea rounding out the list with 75 calls.

DeMeritt followed Ross Morgan, with EMS top responder recognitions. Matthew Locke was recognized as the top responder, heading out on 193 calls. Tony Spates came in second, with 111 calls, followed by DeMeritt with 70, Addison Huber with 69 and Brian Honea with 63 EMS calls for the year.

Top fire call responders for Shepherdstown Volunteer Fire Department in 2022 included, from left, Brian Honea, Marshall DeMeritt, Troy Baker and Ross Morgan. Toni Milbourne

The department recognizes individuals with high numbers of calls, placing them into two separate “clubs” that have been established over time, named for various company members. The Tice Tennant Club is for those members who, through combined fire and EMS calls, reach a mark of over 200 calls for any given year. For 2022, Mathew Locke earned the honor by running a combined 267 calls.

The Leon Catrow Club welcomes those with a combined number of calls over 100. Several members earned this rank in 2022 including DeMeritt with 163 calls, Spates with 156, Baker with 155, Honea with 138 combined calls, Ross Morgan with 132, Zachary Morgan following with 126 and Huber rounding out the club honorees with 123 calls for the year.

In addition to call volume awards, the company members vote for Member’s Choice awards in a variety of categories. For 2022, the Outstanding Live-In member was Matthew Locke. Vice President Steve Matson was selected as Outstanding Staff Officer, while Jack Jenson took Outstanding Fundraiser honors. Zachary Morgan and Bryan Fluharty tied with the number of votes for Outstanding Fire Officer while Dennis Barron was selected as Outstanding Administrative Officer for the year.

Barron presented some fundraising awards in addition to the Member’s Choice Award, as he announced that for the first time since he has been treasurer of the company (since 1989), the SVFD is debt free. Even during the pandemic, the company continued to fundraise and has returned to public fundraisers with 66 days spent fundraising last year, not including event preparation time.

Ross Morgan took time to present his Fire Chief’s Award to his son, Zachary, who was instrumental in much of the fundraising effort, as he helped organize the department’s successful gun bash. He has also served as one of the chief organizers of the company’s apple butter festival.

Top EMS responders for Company 3 in 2022 included Brian Honea, Matthew Locke and Marshall DeMeritt. Also in the top five responders were Tony Spates and Addison Huber, who were unable to attend Saturday's awards banquet in the Storer Ballroom. Toni Milbourne

“Zachary has been instrumental in multiple facets of the department,” Ross said, mentioning Zac is responsible for maintenance of apparatus, maintenance of breathing equipment, small tools and more. “He brings good ideas to the table and does the right thing.”

DeMeritt presented the EMS Chief’s Award to Matthew Locke who ran the highest number of calls for the year. In addition, DeMeritt said, earlier this year when Chief Morgan and the members selected DeMeritt as the recipient of the Chamber of Commerce’s EMS responder from Shepherdstown, Locke allowed his name to be used to keep the award a surprise from DeMeritt.

“I am so thankful for that surprise,” DeMeritt said, while presenting Locke with the EMS Chief’s Award.

Years of service recognitions were given those celebrating multiple years of service. The senior member of the department, Mike Athey, was recognized for his 65 years of service to Shepherdstown. He was presented a plaque as part of the honor, along with a standing ovation by all in attendance.

President Craig “Twiggy” Simpson gave out the final award of the evening when he presented his award to DeMeritt who Simpson said, “went to battle for this department and fought for us.” DeMeritt led the charge to attempt to convince the county not to eliminate volunteer ambulance service but instead, to continue to build the volunteer/paid partnership. Depsite the county taking a different path, Simpson expressed that he could not thank DeMeritt enough for the efforts he put in on behalf of the department and the county citizenry.