WCFR Lt. John Webster recognized for national First Responder Caring Award

One of Walton County’s top first responders has now been named one of the nation’s top responders and he was recognized for this honor at Tuesday’s Board of Commissioners meeting in Monroe. Lt. John Webster has been instrumental in making sure that other local public safety departments, businesses, residents, schools and organizations are given the resources and educational tools to be able to respond to a mass casualty event should it ever happen in one of our communities. For this leadership, Capt. Jack Armstrong nominated Webster for the 2018 Dynarex First Responder Caring Award and he was chosen to be the recipient.

In his nomination of Webster, Armstrong noted the 1,000 plus local people he had educated in the Stop the Bleed program as well as other life-saving responses.

“He certified all our schools, public safety and hundreds of citizens. He has created a top educated Active shooter program and acquired ballistic gear for local firefighters. With the schools, his efforts allowed grant funded STB kits to be placed in all facilities,” Armstrong noted. And those numbers have only gone up since then. In recognizing Webster’s Award, WCFR Asst. Chief Kevin Haney said that that the training covered churches, about 2,100 people in the community, and that every school and every school bus in the county now has the STB kits as a result of Webster’s efforts as well as local government buildings. Webster also secured ballistic vests for the fire department and active-shooter bags.

Webster has been with Walton County Fire Rescue for more than 10 years since retiring from Gwinnett County Fire after more than 27 years of service. He brought all that experience with him to Walton County and has earned the respect of his fellow public safety officials.

Webster received the top award from a field of more than 1,000 other nominees, but he was humble in accepting the recognition, saying that the award is for all those who have worked on the programs from WCFR as well as county and city public safety departments, the local hospital and Walmart Distribution Center, all who contributed to the successful implementation of the programs.

Dimitri Kakavelakis wrote a feature for the latest issue of Walton Living Magazine on the Mass Casualty Training in Walton County. Click or tap on this link to read the article in the digital version of the magazine.