BEST FIREFIGHTER

Capt. Bill Beaty – Fire Station #2

Bill Beaty says being a firefighter was his childhood dream. “I like the work, I like helping people,” he says. “There’s a bit of an adrenaline rush at times. You get to ride in a big red truck and make lots of noise. We get to tear stuff up sometimes. It’s a little bit of everything.” Beaty serves as captain of the second shift at Fire Station #2 in Springfield, and while he modestly claims his fellow firefighters set him up to win “Best Firefighter” as a joke, he admits to giving firefighting everything he’s got. “I try to do the job right and look out for my crew,” he says. Driver engineer Mike Dozier, one of Beaty’s close friends at the fire station, says Beaty is a good firefighter because “he likes his job, and he cares about what he does.” And it doesn’t hurt that Beaty makes a mean pot of chili, either. Runner-up: Kevin Lloyd