Sangamon Sun

At the Dec. 5 Lincoln city council meeting, the council members recognized firefighter Savannah Conrady for her recent achievements at the fire academy. Conrady was hired by the city of Lincoln Fire Department in August and then went to Champaign for the Illinois Fire Service Institute Academy from September through November.

"I know she's going to be an awesome employee for us for the next 35 plus years, much longer than I'm going to be here. And she'll be a great asset to the department," Lincoln Fire Chief Robert Dunovsky said at the meeting. 

While Conrady was in the academy, she learned and trained in fire safety operations, hazmat operations, and vehicle machinery operations. There were 60 people in the academy and 53 graduated. At the end of the academy they hand out awards in various categories, one of which is the Clark-Rutledge Award.

The award is named in honor of Jack Rutledge and David Clark, two firefighters. The award is presented to individuals who demonstrate mastery of basic firefighting skills, go above performance levels of their peers, possess a positive attitude, good social skills, ethics, leadership, enthusiasm, dependability, and selflessness, among other specific criteria.  Conrady was the first firefighter from Lincoln to earn the award.