Randy Shafer, a 13-year veteran of the Dixon Fire Department and Vacaville High School graduate, is the city’s Firefighter of the Year for 2018.
Shafer’s honor comes after him being recommended for and selected by the department’s Awards Committee. He attributes his award to “hard work, dedication to the department, mentoring younger and newer firefighters with less experience, knowledge of my job and being there for what the department needs.”
Shafer was inspired to enter the field of firefighting through his stepfather, who was a firefighter for the Vacaville Fire Department. “I got exposed to the fire service early through him,” he said.
Shafer began his experience as a junior firefighter for the Vacaville Fire Protection District when he was still in high school. In 2006, he joined the Dixon Fire Department as a firefighter and paramedic and became an engineer in 2015. Among his duties are apparatus maintenance, Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus maintenance and off-road driver training.