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Wellsville honors Cooper as 'firefighter of the year'
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By Jeremy Wilkins
March 4, 2005 | WELLSVILLE -- With
over 20 years of firefighting behind him, a 20-year
service award from those years and a Firefighter
of the Year award, firefighter Clair Cooper continues
to enjoy every minute.
Cooper, a Wellsville native and 20-year member
of the Utah State Fireman's Association, was given
his 20-year service award back in June of 2004
and named Wellsville's Firefighter of the Year
on Jan. 29 of this year.
"He's a leader, not a follower," says Reed Bailey,
Cooper's fire chief. "He's the first one on the
truck and ready to go, he's there whenever you
need him."
Aside from being a leader who is serious about
his job as a firefighter, Bailey also said Cooper
is always smiling, fun to be around, has a good
sense of humor and is constantly making others
laugh, and "not everyone can be like that."
"Really I enjoy it all. There's not a bad part
of it to tell you the truth," Cooper said. "It's
fun, but you've got to have your seriousness when
it comes time." |
STANDING TALL:
Clair Cooper is "the
first one on the truck,"
says his chief. / Photo by Jeremy Wilkins |
Cooper speaks highly about his fellow firefighters
in the department as if they were his own family and
about how important it is to be "a close-knit bunch
of guys."
"It's a family deal," said Cooper. "When you go on
a fire you've got to get along because your life depends
on it."
With regard to the recent fires early this year in
Smithfield and Logan, Cooper said he is lucky to have
never been dispatched to a fatal fire and is definitely
aware of the dangerous nature of his job as a firefighter.
"When you go into a house and you've got a hose and
there's flames flying, there's times you think just
what the heck am I doing in here. There's three of you
and you open the door and you go flying in and you're
knocking flames down and stuff like that, you think
about it."
In spite of the dangers involved in firefighting,
Cooper says his family is very supportive of the work
he does and he would encourage anyone who has the opportunity
to join a volunteer fire department to "go for it, because
you learn a lot of good stuff and like I say, somebody's
got to do it."
At 50 years old, Cooper says he'll probably stick
around as long as they'll let him.
VINTAGE VEHICLE: A
1941 fire truck makes appearances in Wellsville parades.
/ Photo by Jeremy Wilkins
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