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Hero’s actions yield local, state, national honors - Palatka Daily News.Hero’s actions yield local, state, national honorsFree Access As a firefighter for the city of Palatka for the past three years, Ben Stevens likes to think he is making an impact on someone’s life every day, including those whom he meets on their worst day.One local family’s worst day happened May 12, 2025, when the 24-year-old firefighter and other crew members were called to a house fire in East Palatka.Because of Stevens’ part in the heroic endeavor to rescue those in the house fire, he was nominated by Chris Taylor, the chief of the Palatka Fire Department, for the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3349’s Palatka Firefighter of the Year award, which he won, for his actions in 2025.“Ben has proven to be a great employee for our city,” Taylor said.“He is always willing to help and go to training to help his fellow firefighters stay safe and remain prepared for anything.” Reflecting on the 2025 house fire, Stevens said that day started like any other workday.“We were taking care of our daily chores with our morning banter with the off-going crew when we heard the tones page out for a structure fire with confirmed occupants,” said Stevens, who lives in St.Augustine with his fiancée, Jordan Pilcher.When Stevens, Capt.Kenny Reed, firefighter Lauren Futch and engineer Zane Willsey arrived on the scene, they entered the house through the back window into a bedroom, isolated the room from the fire and began conducting a search to remove victims as they came across them.“As we located the individuals, we handed them out the window to rescue crews and police officers,” said Stevens, who is a member of the C-Shift.“As I was the last to exit the window, I found one more victim, an infant.” According to Taylor, who has 26 firefighters under his command, Stevens and his crew showed great courage and decision-making skills to get the job done even though the victims eventually succumbed to their injuries days after being taken to the Intensive Care Unit.“Ben showed great valor under intense conditions to rescue the three victims,” Taylor said.“Firefighter Stevens has proven not only on this day to show great pride in his job and take it seriously, but he has also bettered himself as a student of firefighting as a career.” That betterment includes Stevens completing 160 hours of hazardous materials training, as well as more than 200 hours of urban search and rescue training and officer training.He completed the minimum standards at First Coast Technical College, and after getting a job with the city of Palatka, he attended many classes and conferences, even traveling to North Carolina for one of them.“There will always be more classes and conferences to go to and learn from,” Stevens said.Taylor agreed.“You will most always find him working out or training, preparing for another battle with the elements,” he said.“His courage and dedication show that he is worthy of such an honor as Firefighter of the Year.” Stevens’ local recognition was compounded when he was named the 2025-2026 state and national Firefighter of the Year.The presentation was made during the May 14 Palatka City Commission meeting, with Mike Cline, the director of Veterans of Foreign Wars in Fort McCoy, handing out the state award and VFW District 14 Cmdr.Chester Lundy presenting the national award certificate.“As far as I am aware, this is the first time one of our firefighters has won the state award from the Veterans of Foreign Wars,” Taylor said.Stevens got his start as a firefighter after his neighbor, who was also a firefighter, talked him into it.“I can’t see myself being anything other than a firefighter now,” he said.“I plan to stick with it as long as I am able to.” Being a firefighter, Stevens has honed his workday routine.“A normal day starts by getting to the station around 7 a.m.to help wash trucks, start morning chores, daily checkoffs of the trucks and do whatever training we have planned for the day,” he said.“Then we work out, grocery shop, and cook lunch and dinner, and run whatever calls come our way, write reports and hopefully are in bed by a reasonable hour.” Stevens admits he has concerns about the dangers his job poses, but he knows he can rely on his extensive training to get the job done.“I’m sure it crosses every firefighter’s mind at some point,” he said.“Fires always put our training to the best, but all firefighters wear a self-contained breathing apparatus along with turnout gear to protect them from smoke, heat and poisonous gases.Knowing I can always get better at the job keeps me motivated to try and learn more every day.” During the presentation at the city meeting, Stevens was congratulated on his well-deserved recognition.“We thank him for his continued service to our community,” said Gerald Donnelly, commander of VFW Post 3349 in Palatka.Stevens said he is extremely honored to receive the state and national Firefighter of the Year awards, but he doesn’t feel his actions on May 12, 2025, make him or his crew special in any way.“Every firefighter that signs up for the job knows the risks at hand and knows that the job is inherently dangerous, and it should be expected by anyone in the fire service to do what we did,” he said.“We just happened to be the ones to show up.”