John Morrison visited the Vienna Volunteer Fire Department with his Boy Scout troop when he was 15, joined the department a year later and subsequently rose to the top.
“I never really grew out of the childhood loving-fire-engines-and-ambulances phase,” said Morrison, who became an Eagle Scout and has served as the department’s chief since 2010.
For his efforts, the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) on Aug. 8 bestowed Morrison with one of the organization’s two annual Fire Chief of the Year awards at the Fire-Rescue International conference in Atlanta.
The association and fire-apparatus maker Pierce Manufacturing since 1996 has given the awards to one volunteer chief and one career chief nationally. The career fire chief honored this year was James Clack of the Ankeny (Iowa) Fire Department.