BATTLING FOR GOOD; TOP FIREFIGHTER WORKS FOR HEALTH, SAFETY IN VALLEY.Byline: Greg Botonis Staff Writer LANCASTER - Randal Gee has spent 12 years working in the Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley for the Los Angeles County Fire Department Not to be confused with Los Angeles Fire Department. The Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACoFD), serves unincorporated parts of Los Angeles County, as well as 58 cities and towns that choose to have the county provide fire and EMS services, including the City of La , first as a volunteer and now as a paramedic par·a·med·ic n. A person who is trained to give emergency medical treatment or assist medical professionals. paramedic . His dedication and service resulted in his being named Lancaster's Firefighter of the Year. ``I grew up in this area and, to have the opportunity to come back here and work and then to be named Firefighter of the Year, it's a great honor,'' Gee said. ``The job itself is wonderful. I work for probably the No. 1 organization in the world.'' Gee, 32, was honored Monday along with Lancaster's Deputy of the Year, Richard Nolte, at a Lancaster West Rotary Club luncheon. Rotary Club President Mike Pope said Gee's and Nolte's work symbolizes the major Rotary message: Service above self. Besides serving his community as a firefighter and paramedic, Gee is a mentor for troubled youths, through the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, in an effort to give some local students a chance to change their lives in a positive direction. Gee speaks to teens at drug- awareness seminars. He is a safety officer and an assistant to the instructors from the department's Regional Assessment Center. ``This job is about serving the community and being a role model for our youths,'' said Gee. ``I believe that you're supposed to give back to the community. This job kind of allows me to be role model, and I wanted to put that to good use.'' Gee moved to the Antelope Valley with his parents when he was 12 and first settled in Llano lla·no n. pl. lla·nos A large, grassy, almost treeless plain, especially one in Latin America. [Spanish, plain, from Latin pl , attending Almondale Junior High. He later attended Paraclete High School Paraclete High School is a Catholic High School in Lancaster, CA operated independently of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles. 186 seniors graduated in the 2006-2007 school year. , where he played baseball and football and was a member of the Key Club, doing volunteer work around the community. After high school, Gee went to Los Angeles Valley College LAVC redirects here. For the software library, see libavcodec. The university is adjacent to Grant High School. Often called "Valley College" or simply "Valley" by those who frequent the campus, it opened its doors to the public on September 12, 1949, at which time the campus was before transferring to Antelope Valley College Antelope Valley College is a comprehensive community college located in Lancaster, California, USA. It is operated by the Antelope Valley Community College District, with a primary service area of 1,945 square miles covering portions of Los Angeles and Kern counties. . In early 1988, he started volunteering as an on-call firefighter, working six years at Station 79 in Pearblossom and then two years at Station 84 in Quartz Hill. He also worked for Wilson Ambulance Service as an emergency medical technician e·mer·gen·cy medical technician n. Abbr. EMT A person trained and certified to appraise and initiate the administration of emergency care for victims of trauma or acute illness before or during transportation of victims to a health care until he was hired by the Los Angeles County Fire Department full time in 1996. ``I didn't know what I wanted to do until I got into firefighting,'' said Gee. ``I got a taste of it volunteering, and that was it. I was hooked.'' He worked at Stations 117 and 130, also in the Lancaster area, before he was assigned to Station 33 in downtown Lancaster in 1998. Gee lives in Lancaster with his wife, Christine, and children, Korinna, 4, and Zachary, 6. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) Paramedic Randal Gee won Firefighter of the Year honors on Monday. Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News |
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