Firefighter of the Year Award
2023 Recipient
Lt. Justin Berry
Riverhead Volunteer Fire Department
FASNY’s Firefighter of the Year award recognizes extraordinary acts of heroism by New York state’s first responders.
Bravery was on full display the afternoon of Friday, Dec. 30, 2022, when members of the Riverhead Volunteer Fire Company in Suffolk County responded to a rapidly spreading fire at 16 Doris Avenue in Riverhead, N.Y.
After being dispatched to the blaze at 4:54 p.m., 1st Assistant Chief William Renten, Jr. and 2nd Assistant Chief Peter Kurzyna discovered that the police department was already at the residence and flames were showing. Officers had already assisted the first occupant, an elderly female, out of the front door with the aid of her walker. She told them a second occupant was still in the rear of the building.
The 1st assistant chief and 2nd assistant chief arrived on scene at 4:57 p.m. They immediately confirmed a working structure fire with entrapment. Chief Kurzyna took command and organized the attack on the fire, calling mutual aid, a rapid intervention team, fire marshals, and PSEG, the local utility, to the scene.
The first due engine arrived at 4:59 p.m. with Lt. Justin Berry, a seven-year RFD veteran, in the front seat. Lt. Berry, a Riverhead native who has worked for the Town of Riverhead Sewer District for the past five years, was instructed to assist Chief Renten in the rear of the structure where the victim was last reported to be.
At this point the fire had multiple vents and was spreading rapidly. With entrance through the front not an option due to heavy flames and thick smoke, Lt. Berry, wearing full protective gear with SCBA, climbed through the window without hesitation into the dark room that by now was as hot as a furnace.
Crawling around in blacked out conditions, he located the victim, a 77-year-old man, on the floor near a window. He picked him up and passed him through the window into the waiting arms of firefighters and police officers. The victim, who was unconscious due to smoke inhalation, was received by ambulance personnel at 7:03 p.m.
1st Assistant Chief Renten said he’s proud of Lt. Berry and all the volunteer firefighters who answered the call that day. Their fast action saved two lives and extinguished a fire that was destroying the modest ranch-style home.
“It is without any doubt that the actions of the first responders changed that fate of this victim, and the heroic actions of Lt. Justin Berry, who fearlessly put himself in harm’s way, saved that man’s life,” added Joseph Hartmann, chief of department, Riverhead Volunteer Fire Department. “Lt. Berry’s a really good firefighter. Very active and dedicated.”
2023 Firefighter of the Year Sponsored by:
Past Award Recipients
| 2022 | Jared Lloyd (Awarded Posthumously) | Spring Valley Fire Department |
| 2021 | Mark Miller & John Tighe | Lindenhurst Fire Department |
| 2020 | Delphi Falls Fire Department, Manlius Fire Department, Cazenovia Fire Department, Pompey Hill Fire Department | |
| 2019 | Jason Bernfeld | Melville Fire Department |
| 2018 | Peter DiPinto, Sr. | Brookhaven Fire Department |
| 2017 | Joseph LaRocco | Smithtown Fire Department |
| 2017 | John Hansen | Smithtown Fire Department |
| 2017 | Jennifer O’Brien | Smithtown Fire Department |
| 2017 | Patrick Diecidue | Smithtown Fire Department |
| 2017 | Thomas Kriklava | Smithtown Fire Department |
| 2017 | Timothy Duckham | Smithtown Fire Department |
| 2016 | Frederick Kopf | Baldwin Fire Department |
| 2015 | Jeremy Corsaro | Moyers Corners Fire Department |
| 2015 | Ryan Whitmore | Moyers Corners Fire Department |
| 2015 | Phil Vogt | Moyers Corners Fire Department |
| 2015 | Steve Zaferakis | Moyers Corners Fire Department |
| 2015 | Frank Crispin | Moyers Corners Fire Department |
| 2014 | Thomas J. Gorman | Bohemia Fire Department |
| 2013 | John Curley | Bellmore Fire Department |
| 2012 | Andrew Kolesar | West Haverstraw Fire Department |
| 2011 | Captain William J. “Billy” Bahr | Mahopac Volunteer Fire Department |
| 2011 | Second Assistant Chief Brian J. Lena | Mahopac Volunteer Fire Department |
| 2010 | Jeff Hugunine | Verona Fire Department |
| 2010 | Aldo Cacciotti | Verona Fire Department |
| 2010 | Kevin Oatman | Verona Fire Department |
| 2009 | Assistant Chief Timothy R. Ellis | North Syracuse Fire Department |
| 2008 | Lieutenant John Ippolito Jr. | Bay Shore Fire Department |
| 2008 | Lieutenant Edward Kunz | Bay Shore Fire Department |
| 2007 | Lieutenant Al Cinotti | West Islip Fire Department |
| 2006 | Richard J. Gimbl | Holbrook Fire Department |
| 2005 | James Bucci | Rush Fire Department |
| 2005 | Peter Henry | Rush Fire Department |
| 2005 | Michael Terzo | Rush Fire Department |
| 2005 | Joseph Cirincione | Rush Fire Department |
| 2004 | Richard Prudente | Huntington Manor Fire Department |
| 2004 | Frederick Steenson Jr. | Huntington Manor Fire Department |
| 2004 | John C. Glidden III | Huntington Manor Fire Department |
| 2003 | Brian Stevens | Manlius Vol. Fire Company, Inc. |
| 2002 | Dedicated to those who died in the Line of Duty 9/11/01 | |
| 2001 | William H. Brown III | Ossining Fire Department |
| 2001 | John Simkins | Ossining Fire Department |
| 2001 | Donald J. Farrell | Cataract Hose Company #2 |
| 2001 | Raymond Valles | Ossining Steamer Company #1, Inc. |
| 2000 | Mark Sposato | Brewerton Fire Department, Inc. |
| 1999 | James S. Fredericks | Mohegan Volunteer Fire Association, Inc. |
| 1998 | Larry J. Stumpo | North Patchogue Fire Department |
| 1997 | Matthew F. Merecka | Freeport Fire Department |
| 1996 | David A. DiDio | Bellport Fire Department |
| 1995 | William H. Pyne III | Sayville Hook & Ladder Company #1 |
| 1995 | Kenneth T. Jones | Sayville Hook & Ladder Company #1 |
| 1994 | Paul A. MacMurray | Hudson Falls Fire Department |
| 1993 | Robert Pettigrew | North Babylon Fire Company |
| 1992 | George P. Motchkavitz | Great Neck Alert Engine Company |
| 1991 | Charles R. Zigrosser | Bayport Fire Department |
| 1990 | Robert Hitchcock | Blenheim Fire Department |
| 1989 | Robert A. Frank | Central Islip Fire Department |
| 1988 | Paul Edward Vinciguerra | Lindenhurst Chemical & Salvage Company #2 |
| 1987 | John L. Hyzer | Bainbridge Fire Department |
| 1986 | Michael F. Reid | Merrick Hook & Ladder Company #1 |
| 1985 | Thomas A. Phillips | S. W. Johnson Steam Fire Engine Company |
| 1984 | Frederic Furminger | Depew Fire Department |
| 1983 | Richard W. Gehrt | Smithtown Fire Department |
| 1982 | David L. Curley | Delhi Fire Department |
| 1981 | David A. Sedlock | Massena Fire Department |
| 1980 | George Jerry Dean | Gates — Chili Fire Department |
| 1979 | Randall R. Rhoades | East Syracuse Fire Department |
| 1978 | George Cannella | Islip Terrace Fire Department |
| 1977 | Alton L. Lewis | Montour Falls Fire Department |
| 1976 | Willard John Hoyt | South Schodak Fire Company |
| 1975 | John Richard Green | Merrick Fire Department |
| 1974 | John A. Keogh | Mattituck Fire Department |
| 1973 | Harry Charkow | Mattituck Fire Department |
| 1972 | Hobart A. Abbey | Forest View — Gang Mills Fire Deptartment |
| 1971 | Barry Simmons | Rhinebeck Fire Department |
| 1970 | Charles L. Ossont | Westmoreland Fire Department |
| 1969 | Thomas Nameth | Slater Chemical Fire Company |
| 1968 | Jake Parris | Patchogue Fire Department |
| 1967 | Gordon O. Schmidt | St. Paul Boulevard Fire Association |
| 1966 | Gary Elbert | Flower Hill Hose Company #1 |
| 1965 | Stephen R. Bucki | Harris Hill Fire Company |
| 1964 | Donald H. Price | Nyack Fire Department |
| 1963 | James H. Jackson | Andover Fire Department |
| 1962 | Russell Fleischman | Washington Engine Company #2 |
| 1961 | James Gilliam | Lewiston Fire Company #2 |
| 1960 | Donald Brown | West Carthage Fire Department |
| 1959 | Dominic C. Zappia | Massena Fire Department |
| 1958 | John Patrick Cronin III | Tallman Fire Company #1 |
| 1957 | William M. Belinson | Eggertsville Hose Company |
| 1956 | Edward Dixon | Great Neck Vigilants |
| 1955 | J. Robert Kramer | Lewis Tompkins Hose Company #1 |