Four members of the Gamber and Community Fire Company Dive Team were honored with a presentation at the Westminster VFW on the evening of Saturday, December 17, 2011. The Firefighter of the Year Award was presented to the members for their efforts on Wednesday, September 7, 2011 when they executed numerous water rescue incidents throughout Carroll and Baltimore Counties. The dive team was alerted for the first of twelve calls around 11:30 a.m., not returning to the station until approximately 5:30 p.m. The team would then still go back out again several times throughout the night with the last call occurring at approximately 5:30 a.m. Thursday morning. The majority of the calls were for people who drove their cars into moving water, one victim was stuck inside a building surrounded by water, and one for an MTA bus that drove into the water. Gamber & Community Fire Company's Dive and Swiftwater Rescue Team members rescued a total of seven (7) people from their vehicles and assisted them to safety during these calls for service. The team members responding were Dale Bollinger (President), Tim Brown (Captain), Shawn Chenoweth (Lieutenant), and Paul Welsh (Firefighter/Rescue Technician) on Dive Unit 13 and Boat 13-1. Their commitment to public safety in being part of a specialized team proves their overall desire to provide assistance to the citizens they have vowed to protect.
