Lisle-Woodridge Fire District Honors the Year's Best

Members of the Lisle-Woodridge Fire District, families, and civilans gathered at in Lisle Thursday night to pay homage to those whose quick action and bravery go beyond the requirements of the job.

Firefighters and medics have responded to more than 4,500 calls so far in 2011, from a July 3 in Lisle, a wrong-way crash on Interstate-88 which resulted in , to numerous unresponsive victims. In some cases, they must even protect their own: Tom Schultz was honored for breaking the fall of a fellow firefighter from a two-story balcony during a fire call.

However, not all awards were doled out for lifesaving efforts. Pastor Mark Schulz of in Lisle received an Award of Recognition for his assistance coordinating the memorial services for Chief Emeritus Paul H. Boecker this June. Award of Appreciation recipient Tim Broniewicz secured more than $200,000 in grant funding to benefit the fire district.

The event kicked off the fire district's .

Other honorees include:

Firefighter of the Year: Larry Munch;

Award of Appreciation: Tim Broniewicz, Dave Fazio, Rodney Homerding, Luke Peterson, and the Lisle-Woodridge Fire District Honor Guard;

Award of Exemplary Action: Robert Harper, Jay Perrell, Jerry Symonds, Chris Venice, and Ron Wilke;

Award of Commendation: Tim Capua, Jay Caron;

Award of Merit: Tom Schultz, Jeff Toepper;

Company Citations: Brian Barnes, Chris Bradley, Becky Brenn, Rudy Chmelik, Karl Fitzloff, Joe Malczyk, Matt Meszala, John Moll, Andy Orth, Luke Peterson, Wade Portner, Josh Runge, Karl Schmidt, Lee Schoenhofen, Paul Sherrod, Marty Thompson, Carl Trippett, Steve Watkins, Scott Wiezalis, Dave Zinther.

Members of LWFD are participating in Friday evening's Silent Parade, which is expected to pass through the at 6:30 p.m. and end at Trinity Lutheran Church.